I had always dreamt of opening a small food shop in the West Village where I live, but realized that New Yorkers already had access to amazing foods everywhere from Union Square market to Smorgasburg to name just two. What about the rest of America? How could friends on the West Coast get access to all the amazing foods being produced in New York and vice versa? Hey presto, the idea for Many Kitchens was born – an online marketplace would solve this very problem. My two great passions in life are books and food. So, on May 4th 2012, after 15 years in publishing, I bid farewell to my wonderful colleagues at Penguin and decided to start a new life promoting and selling artisanal foods from around the country and eventually the globe. It was a huge leap of faith and I’m loving every minute of it.

 

If I could pick one word to describe the essence of what I want Many Kitchens to be, it would be ‘generous’. I have been overwhelmed by the generosity I have received in setting Many Kitchens up; not just from friends (you know who you are!) but friends of friends – basically total strangers giving me their valuable time, incredible knowledge and much needed advice. I would like to pay that generosity forward. Be Generous to our customers, generous to our food producers, generous to our colleagues, our employees and the food community in any way we can. I have always been impressed by my great friend Ben Pentreath, who has set up a very successful architecture and design firm and who epitomizes the word ‘generous’. I have never read an interview with him in which he hasn’t promoted another business. Learning from him and others who I admire, I want to always promote foods that we find and love whether we are fortunate enough to be selling them on Many Kitchens or not.

 

So who are we and what can we do for you? The amazingly creative Truax and Co., who designed the site, came up with the name ‘Many Kitchens’ which I love because it doesn’t limit us to just food. We want to source everything from the best pies to the perfect colander. Everything will be tasted and tested by us and while taste is of course subjective, we hope that you will begin to trust us and our choices. The weekly blog will include features with recipes from me and the Amazing Aurora Satler who I’m so grateful has come on board.

 

So join us on this mission to share the best artisanal food from around the country. If you haven’t already, please sign up (top right) – we want to hear from you and learn about your discoveries at local farmers markets. Let’s be generous and help these producers grow rather than keeping the secret to ourselves! We’ll be launching our e-commerce site later this fall but wanted to give you a sneak peek of some of the food we’re selling. Doesn’t everything look delicious?!