Thirteen years in the making, the Crescent City Farmers Market Cookbook is ready for the audience that has long been awaiting it. The world’s loudly proclaimed interest in New Orleans—its food, its culture, and most recently its struggle to rebuild after one of the greatest disasters in modern times—proves that, now more than ever, there is tremendous demand for such a book.

Poppy Tooker tells the story of the Crescent City Farmers Market through her distinctly New Orleans voice as one of a local food preservationist, Slow Food New Orleans founder, and longtime market collaborator. With a market tradition dating back to the late 1600s, the story of the rise and decline of New Orleans’ city markets prior to the creation of the Crescent City Farmers Market is both educational and entertaining. Tooker recalls whimsical and wacky market events with both prose and archival photography. On a more serious note, she tells compelling stories of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating impact on market vendors from an insider’s point of view. More than 70 profiles of key market vendors are included, humanizing the book’s recipes in a truly unique way.

The Crescent City Farmers Market Cookbook incorporates renowned New Orleans chefs’ recipes inspired by the region’s seasonal bounty, as well as family favorites from market vendors and shoppers. More than 125 recipes, ranging from Creole classics such as Oysters Rockefeller, Gumbo Z’Herbes, and Bread Pudding to Gator-Tater Salad, Asian Pear Slaw, Chevre-Stuffed Squash Blossoms, Kakurei Turnip and Pork Fricasse, Barbecue Shrimp Pie, and Satsuma- Chocolate Gelato reveal why New Orleans is one of the great food cities of the world.