Scott Hutcheson

Book Contract

I've been sitting on this news for a couple of months but didn't want to officially announce it until I had the fully executed contract in-hand. Well, its in hand. I signed my first book contract.

About 20 years ago I got this sense that I would someday write a book. I didn't know what I would write about or whether it would be fiction or nonfiction, but I knew there was a narrative slowly forming inside of me and that it would eventually have to come out. It took its own sweet time and began to finally externalize almost two years ago when I started blogging. I reconnected with a college friend and his wife, who is also a long-time friend. They are both bloggers and writers (see here and here) and I was inspired by them and started this blog which began as daily ramblings about life but very quickly settled around three themes - food, family, and community and the dynamic interplay among those three aspects of life.

From there I began writing a food column for my local paper. What began as pretty standard restaurant reviews and recipes quickly evolved to a that familiar three-word theme: food, family, and community. The blog gave birth to a new blog - The Hungry Hoosier which was an attempt to develop an identity for my writing that focused specifically on Indiana - local family-owned restaurants and markets, seasonal recipes, etc. The Hungry Hoosier seemed to quickly find an audience and the phone started to ring and the inbox began to fill bringing new opportunities - some TV work here, some magazine work there, and new potentials for collaboration. 

About three months ago I met Christine Barbour, another Indiana food writer and brand new blogger. It was not long before our conversations resulted in discussions about collaborating on a book. Now we're under contract with Indiana University Press to write Home Grown Indiana: A Food Lover's Guide to Good Eating in the Hoosier State. That is a long title so my shorthand for it is HGI. The book will be part travel guide, part cookbook, and stories of the people behind the food. We will divide the state into five regions and for each region we will profile about five high-quality growers, producers, and artisans offering great food - farmstead cheeses, pasture-raised beef, free-range chicken, heirloom vegetables, honey and syrups, and other foods. The book will also feature restaurants using local foods on their menus, and recipes utilizing these great local products. Hopefully HGI will be an indispensable guide for both Indiana residents and visitors interested in fresh, seasonal, local eating.

So there you go, that's the book. We begin work immediately and have until March 1st to submit our manuscript. We anticipate publication in the fall of 2007. I'm sure I'll provide updates from time to time. Wish me luck!   

Food Fiction from The Cook's Library

One of the highlights of last week's trip to Southern California was a visit to The Cook's Library (8373 W. Third Street, Los Angeles, CA, 323-655-3141) a bookstore dedicated exclusively to food-related books. I saw a great many titles there that I had never seen before. I have a fairly extensive collection of cookbooks and other food-related volumes, a couple of hundred I guess. Many of which line the tops of my kitchen cabinets and can only be retrieved by standing on a chair. It has actually been a long time since my last purchase. The Internet seems to be such an inexhaustible source for recipes and other food information, I had forgotten the joy browsing.

I spent a good deal of time looking through some food fiction selections and settled on Cooking for Harry by Kay-Marie James. It was the perfect light read for the flight home. At 200 pages it can be read in one sitting. I really enjoyed it and saw a lot of myself in Harry. The following is an excerpt from Booklist's review.

This brief, lighthearted novel describes the surprising changes wrought in a middle-class Pittsburgh family when, after many years of overeating, one of them decides to go on a diet. Harry and Francie Kligler have settled into a comfortable routine after nearly 25 years of marriage. Harry, who hates his day job as an office functionary, devotes all of his spare time to his real passion, gourmet cooking. Francie, who has always encouraged her husband's hobby, is quite content with their lifestyle. Both of their lives change forever after a visit to a doctor scares Harry into dieting. He stops cooking altogether and begins exercising. Although all of these changes are good for him, they aren't really working out for his wife and family. Francie, who has had to take over the cooking and shopping chores, is beginning to feel neglected by Harry and left out of his new activities. Casual readers will enjoy this fast-reading, breezy book.

There's lots of food woven though the narrative. I don't know if "food fiction" is an official genre but there is a growing number of novels in which food plays a central role. I found a pretty good list here from the Edmonton (Canada) Public Library. What about you, do you have a favorite piece of food fiction?

Yum Yum Dim Sum

When traveling for business I try to always pick up a little something for the boys. Henry now expects and anticipates this even before I leave. "Henry, Daddy's going to be gone a few days on a business trip." To which he replies, "What are you going to bring me?" Oliver is not yet old enough to have this expectation but I usually bring him something too. Yesterday, I spent some time walking the streets of Santa Monica and picked up a great little book for Oliver. I found it at a small store called Papillon, a very chic boutique with clothes and toys for babies and toddlers. There were quite a few food-related items including a great series of books called "World Snack Books" I picked up Yum Yum Dim Sum by Amy Wilson Sanger. It is never too early to start food education!

Boomtown USA

Jack Shutlz is a a guy who understands the impact of independent restaurants and other food entrepreneurs can have on a local community, especially small towns. Jack's focus is broader than food but discusses it frequently on his blog. Today he profiles Suttons Bay Trading Company, an Indiana-based spice blending company. His book Boomtown USA: 7-1/2 Keys to Big Success in Small Towns is available here.

My Fundamentalist Education

If you are a product of a Christian education or have children in a Christian school you mind find My Fundamentalist Education of interest. I heard Christine Rosen interviewed yesterday on NPR. The following is an exerpt from Booklist - Rosen, fellow of the Ethics & Public Policy Center in Washington, grew up in a Fundamentalist Christian community in the seventies and eighties. In this poignant, unsparing, and funny memoir, she recounts the years between preschool and seventh grade, during which she attended a strict, religious school; embraced Bible teachings; entertained fantasies of becoming a missionary; and anxiously looked for signs of the End Days and the Antichrist. Rosen speaks frankly about her growing disenchantment with patriarchal doctrines that ultimately contributed to her break with Fundamentalism, and she allows that, as a preteen girl, "perhaps I would have done better hearing more about Darwin and less about harlotry." Still, she speaks with moving appreciation about her religious education's great rewards, and as she pursues direct questions about belief--"How enduring is childhood faith?"--she makes sharp observations about the experience of childhood and how young people learn about the world.

Hungry Planet: What the World Eats

I heard about this book on NPR this afternoon. Imagine inviting yourself to dinner with 30 different families... in 24 countries. Imagine shopping, farming, cooking and eating with those families... taking note of every vegetable peeled, every beverage poured, every package opened. Well that's what photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith D'Aluisio did for their new book. The husband-and-wife team wanted to see how globalization, migration and rising affluence are affecting the diets of communities around the globe. Each chapter of their book features a portrait of a family, photographed alongside a week's worth of groceries. There's also a detailed list of all the food and the total cost.

Desert-Island Cookbook

If you could take only one cookbook with you to a desert island....okay you would also have a grocery store and a fully functional kitchen on the island...what would it be? For me it would be the first cookbook I ever owned, The Frugal Gourmet by Jeff Smith. I bought this when I was about 20 years old and it has been in my kitchen ever since. I think "The Frug," as I call him, influenced both my cooking and my writing about food. For him food was a metaphor for deeper truths. He got started in his food career by teaching a seminary course about food and religion. So, what cookbook would you take to that desert island?

The Suburban You

I just finished reading The Suburban You by Mark Falanga. It is a very funny look at the post-modern suburban landscape through the eyes of a upper-middle class everyman. Here is what Publishers Weekly has to say - Falanga is a familiar character: the transplanted urbanite who must make major adjustments when confronted with eccentric neighbors, block parties, Little League and lawn sales. Falanga writes a column, "Male Call," for the Chicago Tribune and launches his career as an author with this comedic portrait of suburban living. Several anecdotes are affectionate, authentic and gently amusing, although the writing lacks energy and sparkle. Falanga describes many events straightforwardly, mostly forgoing witty, illuminating details. What gives the book a surprising—and possibly unintended—darkness and tension are the vignettes depicting Falanga's wife. He says she's his best friend, yet their squabbles are so consistent, and so subtly hostile, that they emerge as unsettling rather than funny. She deprives him of the grape juice he loves, forces him to eat Chinese food he despises, insists he surrender towels he favors and denies him sex when he chooses a video she doesn't want to see. Other stories come as a relief from this ongoing warfare. Standout characters include a Superdad who brags about his kids and a friend throwing himself a 40th birthday party who talks about his self-help groups and imposes a touchy-feely mode on guests. Falanga covers typical suburban conflicts, but his stories tend to skim over issues and aren't substantial enough for a book.

Ping....Film Strips

You've probably got to be pretty close to 40 or older to remember film strips from grade school. The new book, Change Your Underwear Twice a Week: Lessons from the Golden Age of Classroom Filmstrips by Danny Gregory is very entertaining. I remember one teacher who would put a filmstrip on and doze off between the "pings" letting him know it was time to advance to the next frame. Publishers Weekly has this to say about the book:

Funnier than your favorite episode of "Huckleberry Hound," and more satisfying than a Velveeta cheese sandwich, this clever new book by Danny Gregory will zap you back to your elementary school years faster than your mom could bark "stand up straight!" Change Your Underwear Twice a Week transports us back to tender years, when life was simpler and America was innocent.

This is the first book to collect the popular film strips, once widely shown to U.S. school children in the decades following World War II. Designed to make us feel safe, tow the line with authorities, or get excited about the moon and outer space, the lessons are brought back here in vintage Technicolor or black and white.

Pregnancy Update

It's hard to believe that in four months we will have another child. Henry is already referring to himself as a "big brother." Lisa looks beautiful and feels good.

The photo above is from when we were expecting Henry. We're planning to get some new photos in November.

For anyone expecting a son or raising boys, I recommend a couple of books:

Real Boys by William Pollack, Ph.D.

The Wonder of Boys by Michael Gurian, Ph.D.

Anyone want to add to the "recommended reading" list?