Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks  

Art & Culture

Tiny Vintage Cookbook Store Offering Fabulous Gifts for Your Favorite Chef

Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks exterior east village

About Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks  

 & why it made the Carpe City list

  • If you are looking for a unique gift for the gourmand in your life, look no further.
  • This quaint shop is still going strong after 20 years, offering hard to find, out of print and antiquarian cookbooks.
  • Bonnie is the real deal. Her shop is adorable, her cookbook knowledge superb and her selection of books and gifts is very well curated.
  • We at Carpe City love our small mom and pop shops. There are too few in the city. Come by Bonnie’s and support small business in NYC!

Carpe City Trivia

What was the first cookbook sold in the United States?

First published in London in 1727, The Compleat Housewife, or, Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’s Companion by Eliza Smith was republished in the American colonies in 1742 by William Parks Publishing in Williamsburg, VA.

Full of fabulous (for the time) recipes like “Wild Fowl of All Sorts,” “Lamb Pasty” and “Butter’d Apple Pye,” there are recipes for every month of the year as well as “a collection of nearly two hundred family receipts of medicines; drinks, syrups, salves, ointments, and many other things of sovereign and approved efficacy in most distempers, pains, aches, wounds, sores, etc. never before made publick in these parts; fit either for private families, or such publick-spirited gentlewomen as would be beneficent to their poor neighbours.” For the more adventurous eater, recipes can be found for “Calves Head hash’d” or even better “Roasted Tongues and Udders” and “Katchup” made with anchovies, wine, lemons, nutmeg and horseradish.

For you epicurean history buffs, here is a version available on Amazon minus the old fashioned typeface.

The Compleat Housewife on Amazon

Speaking of history buffs, did we mention it was published in Williamsburg, VA?  Yes, there is a Williamsburg outside of Brooklyn.  We at Carpe City are huge fans of this historical, cultural gem and love to give it a plug anytime we can!  They have some decent bars these days!  Send us a note if you want to know where to go! https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/

Fun facts about Julia Child. Yes. Julia Child.

  • As the most famous female American chef of all time, Julia authored over 20 cookbooks, was on TV for over 40 years and is known for bringing the art of French cooking to mainstream America.
  • At 6’2″, she was always a standout. People remembered her for her height and her good humor.
  • Julia’s most famous cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was rejected by publishers multiple times but Julia persevered and it was finally picked up by Knopf. It has sold over 1.5 million copies.
  • And last but not least, Julia Child was a spy.
    During World War II she handled highly classified documents for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) which was the precursor to the CIA.

By: Christi Scofield

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