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A letter from Bluedot Living Kitchen’s editor about Vanessa Seder, a regular contributor.
To photograph Vanessa Seder (she’s on this issue’s cover), Bluedot photographer Sam Moore took a nine-minute ferry from his house on Peak’s Island, Maine, then headed up to Vanessa’s house in Portland. They shot several setups that day, among them the mix-and-match porridges you saw in our last issue, and a collection of soups you’ll see in our winter–early spring issue out in late January. Sam was there to take portraits of Vanessa and shots of her at work. Usually, though, she photographs the dishes she makes from her recipes herself. And because she often does several shots for the same magazine, she keeps a variety of props — dishes, linens, silverware, cutting boards. She’s the queen of secondhand food styling props. “I look for them from many sources — estate sales, pottery studio sales, antique markets.” I saw some of the places she frequents when we walked one day around Portland’s Washington Avenue neighborhood (and wished I had reasons to buy more dishes).
Vanessa’s also written several cookbooks, among them Secret Sauces (which you can read more about here), and Warm Your Bones. That book, she tells me, grew out of that first pandemic winter. “We were stuck inside during the dark/cold season in Maine, and shopping was risky — and there wasn’t much on the store shelves. Neighbors and friends came to me with questions about what to make with what little they had in their pantries.” (We’re always in favor of avoiding food waste by using up what you have.) Warm Your Bones was also a journey, she said, “about using food to get through the dark and cold moths, and finding reasons and ways to gather and connect.” You can read more about the book (or better yet, buy it for someone for a present — maybe yourself!).
When I last talked with her, Vanessa had just returned from New York, where Warm Your Bones had been a finalist in the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) awards. The book has won or is up for several other prestigious awards. (See more Vanessa recipes.) Congrats, Vanessa!
If you’re looking for more cookbook ideas for holiday gifts, check out our roundup of vegan cookbooks. Still shopping? We have TONS of planet-friendly kitchen gadgets in our new Shopify store. Check it out!
And have a lovely, warm, and cozy holiday.
– Jamie Kageleiry
P.S. Did you know that you can search our entire recipe database in eMags for more Vanessa Seder recipes or for certain ingredients? Just go to the top of the library page. Subscribe now and get access to all of our previous issues, plus our recipe collection!
