“Independent, local restaurants are such a huge part of Asheville’s identity,” says Brandon Amico, manager of Asheville Strong. “They are places that welcome us in and bring us together, diners and employees. We know people are really missing that feeling and those places.”
In response, Asheville Strong has published Asheville at Home, a digital cookbook intended to serve two purposes: raise money for the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association’s Restaurant Workers Relief Fund and keep people connected to their favorite restaurants through recipes that allow them to re-create menu items in their home kitchens.
“Stephanie Romine came to [Asheville Strong founder] Catherine Campbell with the idea for a cookbook of iconic Asheville dishes,” explains Amico. “From the beginning, it was always intended to be a fundraising tool for hospitality workers laid off during this crisis.”
Amico, Campbell and Romine reached out to local restaurants, asking for recipes for some of their most popular dishes and the stories behind them. “Asheville restaurants represent such diversity, and we wanted to reflect that and have a broad range of cuisines, locations and price points. We got a great response, and it came together pretty fast,” says Amico.
With Asheville at Home, you can sharpen your knives, rev up your oven and put your Top Chef aspirations in gear to tackle a multicourse meal with Posana’s kale salad, 12 Bones’ corn pudding, Luella’s Bar-B-Que calico baked beans, Buxton Hall Barbecue’s fried chicken sandwich and hazelnut cream pie from Baked Pie Co.
The collection of 36 recipes costs $19.95, with net proceeds — about 90% of the price — going to the relief fund. Preorders began May 1 for the June 3 publication date, and by the end of the month, almost 500 copies had been sold with $8,000 directed to the fund.
“Until we can sit down again in our favorite restaurants, we can support them through this cookbook,” Amico says, “and bring a taste of Asheville to our tables.”
To order a copy of Asheville at Home, visit avl.mx/77l.
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