If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes an entire online and in-person community to produce a book.
A huge thank you to James Ransom, whose commitment to producing excellent work is evident on every page of this book. Thank you for your patience and diligence, and for being as fussy about creating beautiful images as we are. You made this book come to life. We hope your next projects—Cooking with Photoshop and That’s a Wrap—are wildly successful.
Thank you, also, to the kitchen wizards—Allison Buford, Derek Laughren, Erin McDowell, Lisa Nicklin, Anna Gass, and Jennifer Vogliano—who worked endlessly to frost cakes, cut biscuits, and whip egg whites. Your spatula skills are inspiring, as is your sense of humor and your perseverance in the face of an impossible pavlova (it’s too bad it didn’t work out).
Thank you to Stephanie Bourgeois and the team of recipe testers for responding to our frantic banana bread-related emails at all hours of the day and working hard to guarantee the recipes are exactly as intended. We hope you all have enough baked goods stored in your freezer to last a lifetime.
Thank you to the entire team at Ten Speed Press: Emily Timberlake, Hannah Rahill, Aaron Wehner, Jasmine Star, and Karen Levy, for your edits and re-edits and for the cross-country packages and conference calls; Ali Slagle, for your brilliant ideas (especially when it came to toppings for French toast); and Emma Campion and Margaux Keres, for your vision.
Thank you to Alexis Anthony for your styling expertise. We are in awe of how effortless you make it look to style linens and compose perfect piles. We admire your work. Thank you to Marian Bull, for your family’s funny-named recipes, for your wit and words, and for your styling help. To Kenzi Wilbur and the rest of the Food52 editorial team: thank you for your inspiration and collaboration.
Thank you to Prop Workshop and Good Light Studio. Thank you for letting us call your plates, bowls, and cake stands our own—if only for a week.
Thank you to the entire Food52 community: Your recipes and the stories behind them continue to make us grin. Your creativity in the kitchen is enviable, and your ability to turn ingredients into something delicious, easily, is what this book is all about.
A special thank you to (real names and Food52 usernames): Lindsay-Jean Hard, Alice Medrich, Yossy Arefi, Brette and Sheri Warshaw, Phyllis Grant, Helen Conroy, vvvanessa, FamilyStyle Food, Emily Vikre, Joan Jampel, monkeymom, Liz Larkin, Molly Yeh, ENunn, Barbara Reiss, foxeslovelemons, June Jacobs, TheWimpyVegetarian, Couldn’tBeParve, Emiko Davies, Abbie Argersinger, Posie Harwood, bonbonmarie, Kate Williams, camille, and Sara Grimes. We don’t want to know what Food52 would be without you.