Life, Art, Community, and Cookery
Institute 193 is excited to announce Life, Art, Community, and Cookery, a cookbook and community history of Lexington's Alfalfa Restaurant, forthcoming from Marina Ubaldi Ritter and Lucinda Zoe with Michael Kelsey and the Carrot Cake Collective.
Life, Art, Community, and Cookery: Stories and Recipes from Alfalfa Restaurant documents and preserves the social and cultural history and treasured recipes of Alfalfa, a restaurant that opened in Lexington, Kentucky in April 1973. Focusing on the origins, founding principles, and values of Alfalfa, it covers the restaurant's first 25-30 years at 557 S. Limestone.
The authors engaged local artists and artisans to contribute their work and highlight their talent in the creation of the book – painters, poets, photographers, watercolorists, writers, and designers have all contributed to this book. While documenting and preserving the legacy, history, and recipes of this iconic cultural institution, Life, Art, Community, and Cookery also combines social history, family album, scrapbook, and a cookbook alongside personal narratives and first-person accounts taken from the Alfalfa Oral History Project at the University of Kentucky. The book was conceived and designed to reflect, document and preserve the creative landscape and culture that sustained and nurtured the Alfalfa community for close to 50 years.
Contents include the Origin Story, told through personal narratives and oral histories, a Photo Album and Scrapbook featuring 130-150 black & white photos and press clippings, posters, and event flyers, 130 seminal recipes, and original art work by 14 artists. In addition to photos collected from the community, the work of Kentucky photographer Guy Mendes is featured, as he documented Alfalfa for many decades has contributed his collection of seminal Alfalfa anniversary photos to the book.
Life, Art, Community, and Cookery: Stories and Recipes from Alfalfa Restaurant
Marina Ubaldi Ritter and Lucinda Zoe with Michael Kelsay and the Carrot Cake Collective
Illustrated by Patricia Hatcher
Hardcover, full color, 312 pages
9.5 x 7.5 inches