The 2024 Texas Book Festival has announced the list of cookbook authors for the 29th edition of the free event, including Khushbu Shah, restaurant editor of Food and Wine magazine who is debuting her first cookbook.
The festival will also showcase celebrity baker Anne Byrn; James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Kristina Cho; NYC-based food writer and restaurant critic Marisel Salazar; San Antonio restaurateur Steve McHugh; Austin’s favorite hunter chef Jesse Griffiths; and plant-forward and pescatarian-friendly blogger Michelle Braxton. Authors will participate in lively presentations, conversations and cooking demonstrations.
Amrikan is the first cookbook by food writer and editor Khushbu Shah.
Aside from presenting her first book, Amrikan: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora, Shah will partricipate in a fundraising brunch collaboration with Olamaie executive chef Michael Fojtasek on Sunday, November 17. Tickets are $135 and include a signed copy of the book, which features 125 recipes acquired from her own experiences where, in her words, “the main ingredient is the Indian American culinary lexicon.”
“I love spending time in Austin and eating in Austin. The city is home to some of my all-time favorite restaurants, including Olamaie. I’m excited and honored to be collaborating with their super talented team,” she says.
“We’re very excited to host Khushbu Shah and Amrikan at Olamaie for The Texas Book Festival,” Fojtasek says. “The book is beautiful and approachable. It’s exciting to share a cookbook that reflects the multitude of influences experienced by Khushbu. We believe Southern American food contains similar types of opportunities for all of us to celebrate the diversity that is our nation.”
Founded in 1995 by Laura W. Bush, a former librarian and then First Lady of Texas, along with Mary Margaret Farabee and a dedicated group of volunteers, the Texas Book Festival is the largest book event in Texas and one of the premier literary festivals in the nation, as well as a nonprofit organization that connects authors and readers through year-round, statewide programs.
This year’s edition will also offer a platform for Atlanta-based blogger Michelle Braxton’s first formal book, Supper with Love. Complementing her popular blog, her debut cookbook features easy-to-prepare and flexible plant-forward and pescatarian recipes, made with wholesome and seasonal ingredients.
Kimchi Meatloaf is one of the recipes featured in Steve McHugh’s Cured: Cooking with Ferments, … [+]
Another author debuting a cookbook is Steve McHugh, chef owner of Cured restaurant and executive chef of Landrace in San Antonio, a pioneer of using and preserving local seasonal ingredients who is looking forward to sharing a deeper look at the recipes and techniques within Cured: Cooking with Ferments, Pickles, Preserves & More.
“I’m so honored and grateful to be included amongst the incredibly talented authors at the 2024 Texas Book Festival,” says McHugh. “The cookbook is really a definitive guide for curing and preserving ingredients like meat and seafood, fermenting vibrant vegetables, transforming fruit into jam, and more — all with the goal of capturing seasonal ingredients at the peak of flavor to showcase the best of the past and present.”
Latina food writer, receipe developer and TV host Marisel Salazar is also presenting her first cookbook, Latin-Ish: More Than 100 Recipes Celebrating American Latino Cuisines, a collection of food recipes shaped by Latino culture’s diaspora and migration, resulting from her multicultural background and many years of research and travel.
She says that the Texas Book Festival is a natural platform for presenting her cookbook. “Tex-Mex is a major theme of the book,” she says. “In fact, I wrote it while I lived in San Antonio and dedicated the book to San Antonio.” At the festival, Salazar will partricipate in a Cuisines Session: Tastes of Tradition: Celebrating Culture Through Food, and will make Kogi Kimchi Burritos in a cooking demo the following day.
Marisel Salazar is a James Beard Award judge, creator of Michelin Guide’s Eating Off Duty column, … [+]
Acclaimed veteran writers will also be sharing new books and cooking demonstrations. Anne Bryn, author of the popular Cake Doctor series, will present her new collection, titled Baking in the American South: 200 Recipes and Their Untold Stories (A Definitive Guide to Southern Baking) while Kristina Cho shares new recipes in her anticipated second cookbook, Chinese Enough: Homestyle Recipes for Noodles, Dumplings, Stir-Fries, and More. Her first one, Mooncakes and Milk Bread: Sweet and Savory Recipes Inspired by Chinese Bakeries, won two James Beard awards in 2022 in baking and dessert book categories.
Last but not least, Austin chef and restaurant owner Jesse Griffiths will be promoting his self-published The Turkey Book: A Chef’s Journal of Hunting and Cooking America’s Bird, which follows his James Bear Award winning The Hog Book: A Chef’s Guide to Hunting, Preparing and Cooking Wild Pigs.
“Being at The Texas Book Festival is very exciting, as I usually find myself in the company of outdoorspeople or the hospitality industry, and not such a wide array of writers. I’m humbled to be recognized as a fellow writer and to be featured among such a talented and capable lineup,” he says.
The Turkey Cookbook is the third book on how to hunt and prepare wild game by Austin chef Jesse … [+]
“The wild turkey is an emblematic American species. Personally, I really enjoy the often-fruitless pursuit of wild turkeys, and feel that they are the best wild game meat for the kitchen,” adds Griffiths. “While many beautiful books have been written about the hunting of turkeys, none were focused as much on them as something exciting to cook, and what information was out in the world surrounding their preparation was often lacking.”
“After writing and publishing The Hog Book, I wanted to continue with the same educational trajectory, but with a decidedly different and surprising topic. Hogs, being invasive and destructive, are the opposite of the wild turkey, which has been carefully conserved and protected for many years.”
What he hopes home cooks can learn from The Turkey Book is that turkeys – especially wild ones -are very giving in the kitchen if you view them as a wonderful resource.
Wild Turkey Kiev is one of the recipes featured in Jese Griffiths newest cookbook.
“Oftentimes, the legs, offal and wings are overlooked, or even skipped altogether. I think that a thoughtful approach to preparing all the different and delicious parts of the wild turkey helps to illuminate what a great resource each of these birds is, and that this respect can be shown in the kitchen. After a long, arduous hunt, the bird should be honored to its fullest.”
The festival will take place over the weekend of November 16 and 17, with events happening in downtown Austin and at the Texas Capitol, featuring renowned authors, panels, book signings, and activities. All are free of charge except for the sessions with the headlining authors, Malcolm Gladwell and Matthew McConaughey.