Meet Matt Sartwell
We know the business, but do we know the people behind it?
Meet Matt Sartwell, the owner and manager of Kitchen Arts & Letters, NYC’s leading food-centric bookstore.
Are there any foods or dishes that you personally associate with moments of joy or sadness?
There are certain holiday foods I remember and associate with joy because of family stories. I think everybody has something like that.
When my parents got engaged, my father was from the wrong side of town. He grew up in a scary, rough neighborhood that my mother's parents didn't think was very respectable. But my mother brought my father over to meet her parents. It was near Christmas and my grandmother, who was born in England, had made tiny little mince pies.
You see, my mother was always a little embarrassed because a lot of her friends didn't like traditional English cooking, like mince pies. Which, for even back in the early 1960s, seemed very old fashioned. And yet, when my mother brought my father, there was a plate of them out. My father ate the entire plate of mince pies happily— enthusiastically even.
It was that moment that my grandmother thought, “Well, maybe I should think twice about whether this young man is suitable.” So, we always had mince pies at Christmas time when I was growing up, because it was a story that my parents really liked to tell about the early days of their relationship.
And now when we get together at holidays, somebody will always show up with it.
Pancakes or waffles?
So, I have probably never successfully made waffles.
Long story short: My parents got a waffle iron as a wedding present that apparently was possessed by the devil. My parents toted it through from house to house to house. It always ended up in the back of the cabinet and it got pulled out maybe once a year. And usually, my mother would end up cursing at it and putting it away.
So, I never really did real waffle making. I would probably choose to eat waffles over pancakes, but I can make pancakes well. It's sort of like, is somebody else doing the work or am I?
To read more on Matt and his work with Kitchen Arts & Letters check out our May article in which we delve into the world of wordy wonders!
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