Kitchen Things

Many home cooks—and professionals, as well—swear by the tried-and-true implements they’ve used for years: the Foley Food Mill that works like a charm every time; the manually operated juicer that’s a tradition of family breakfasts; the cast iron skillet that’s been handed down through the generations. For serious cooks, there’s nothing like a familiar implement, a thing that works exactly as you expect it to.

Similarly, most people usually have a library of favorite recipes on which they rely: some passed along from relatives and friends, others from mentors and teachers. These are the recipes cooks return to time and time again, in part because they evoke memories of the people who have enjoyed them and prepared them in the past.

Kitchen Things, by master photographer and respected novelist Richard Snodgrass, celebrates these well-loved objects and recipes and showcases them in an unexpected way—a way that touches upon the science of food, the physics of cooking, the sensory pleasures of eating, and indeed the very nature of life itself.

In his reflections, the author is aided by his patient, persistent, and very perceptive wife, Marty, and her mother, from whose Western Pennsylvania farmhouse kitchens the objects and recipes were sourced. The gentle, often humorous repartee between the author and these wise and knowing women forms a running narrative throughout the book.

“Kitchen Things reads like a personal cooking diary that brings me back to the everyday joys I discover with simple tools like salt and pepper shakers and wooden spoons. Paired with black-and-white photography, archived 'farm-kitchen' recipes, and personal anecdotes from the author, an undeniable sense of nostalgia and love for the common kitchen comes from reading this book.”
— Michael Mina, celebrity chef

“The photographs that appear in Kitchen Things are simple, but striking. These vintage tools, presented on a black slate, force you to use your imagination and conjure memories. As I flipped through the pages, I began to create scenes in my mind—a sun-filled killed in the 1950s with yellow and white wallpaper and thin creaky, wooden chairs. The counter-top is covered with bowls of eggs, whole milk, flour, and several of these kitchen things scattered about. I want the pie that’s baking in the oven so badly, I can smell it!”
— Daniel Krieger, freelance food photographer, nycfoodphotographer.com

“Richard Snodgrass is a storyteller. You can feel a story being told in every one of his photographs. And when combined with his writing—more stories—the result is singular work full of passion and compassion.”
— Linda Connor, photographer and founder, PhotoAlliance

“For the antique collector and lover of all things vintage, Richard Snodgrass' book is a coffee-table must. It brings those things in great-grandma's cupboard to the page - corn shucks that resemble driftwood daggers, for example, or a Mexican whisk that looks more like a disco ball. Through conversations with his wife and her family, author Snodgrass explains their significance. There are some recipes of ‘the things they ate’ thrown in for good measure.”
—SFgate.com