Near & Far: A New Cookbook
This is what I've quietly been chipping away at for the past few years...Near & Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel. A September 2015 cookbook release, with Ten Speed Press.

I've been living with a mammoth binder and a pair of double-sided bulletin boards covered with photos for the past few years. The binder held notes, recipes, ideas, and to-do lists. The bulletin boards allowed me to see dozens of photos at a glance. It's how my next book slowly started to take shape. I'd keep the boards and binder close so I could easily add photos, move recipes, tweak, and prune as I'd go about my day.
One of the things I loved about working on my last cookbook, Super Natural Every Day, was establishing a sense of place through the photos, recipes, and writing. That book was very much rooted in Northern California, and I knew immediately upon finishing it I'd likely want to explore the intersection of place, ingredients, and recipe inspiration even further. I turned to my journals, revisited places I loved, and began to explore this as the direction for my next cookbook. It took a while to complete, but I'm excited to share a new cookbook with you this September. The binder can't hold one more page, and the bulletin boards have run out of space.
The title is Near & Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel. The Near section focuses on my life and cooking inspiration in San Francisco, and the Far section is divided into chapters of places I've loved, places that have inspired my cooking - Morocco, Japan, France, India, and Italy. It's a substantial volume - just shy of 340 pages - and will be hardcover, published by Ten Speed Press, with the same trim size as the Super Natural cookbooks. They'll hopefully line up on a shelf nicely.
I'm so excited to share this with you, it has been difficult to keep quiet until now.
If you're interested, I'd be happy to do another series of posts related to the creation of this cookbook and its production. This was a bigger project for me, and there were some related considerations - I'm happy to dive into some of the nuts and bolts. I get a lot of questions related to all aspects of writing and photographing cookbooks, but I think the deeper question people try to get at is: how do you go through the cookbook process and come out the other end with the book you hoped for and imagined? It's what every author aims for, and it's what you have to believe is possible if you take on a project like this.
The current cover and spine design. (below)
So, between now and September I'll try to post a bit of the behind-the-scenes, maybe I can start with how I approached the proposal for Near & Far. Or, maybe there is another aspect you're curious about? In the meantime, a huge thank you for all of your support - right now September seems like a long way off. xo -h
Comments are closed.
Apologies, comments are closed.
Comments
I'm so excited for you - and for us! We cook from Super Natural Every Day at least once a week. I can't wait to add this one to my shelf.
Oh my, it is beautiful. How I can not wait to cook from it! Congratulations!
oh my goodness this is VERY exciting news!! The new book looks and sounds amazing! Congrats! Xo
Congratulations! I can't wait to see the book on the shelves! I'm probably most interested in the "boring," technical bits about how your book was created from conception to literal book. I'm theta kind of person who wants to know the "how" of things. I can't wait to hear more about it!
How wonderful, congratulations! Recently discovered your blog and we are really enjoying the content and recipes. Thanks!
Congratulations! I love hearing about how you pack food for travel.
So exciting! It looks beautiful and I can't wait to explore your travels and recipes.
Oh, HEIDI! Congrats! I can not tell you how happy this makes me! I'm at the point where I need to order new copies of your two previous books because they are so stained from cooking with them. Your recipes are always FABULOUS, and your books just pull me in! I absolutely can not WAIT until your third book! Many congrats, lady! I hope you enjoyed the process (it seems like you did), and I hope you know I'll be at a book signing and embarrass myself again ;) Much love + success to you! xo, Christina
Heidi! This is absolutely stunning. Oh my goodness. I am so excited for this book of yours, and what a marvelous concept. Always so thrilled by everything you do.
Congrats, Heidi, what an amazing book this will be to read! Super Natural Every Day is still front and center on my bookshelf and I can't wait to get your new book!
I love everything about this! The concept of the book and the cover are so beautiful; you have the best way of sharing your inspiration and process throughout your cookbook writing. Looking forward to adding a third book of yours to my shelf ; )
Congratulations! Love the cover; can't wait to get it!
Excited about the new book, congrats! Can't wait to hear more!
Yes, please... more posts on your process! I'm fascinated by your bulletin boards, and enchanted by your cover. What an incredible journey it must have been.
Such wonderful news! The concept sounds incredibly thoughtful and inspired. Can't wait to read it.
Heidi, congratulations! I would love to hear more about the styling and shooting of the book. Did you work with a team, do it yourself? Did you divide the cooking shoots into a few intense shoots or slowly chip away at it?
i'm excited for you (and for us)! the concept of the book sounds beautiful and i can't wait to see it. congratulations, heidi!
This is the best news!! I can't wait to own it!
WOW! I can not wait for your new book! I love the book cover. It's so beautiful.
And here just this morning I was thinking, What? ANOTHER cookbook? And now here I am thinking, Okay, one more, just one more! Congratulations! And lucky us!
Comments are closed.
Apologies, comments are closed.