THIS IS A VIRTUAL EVENT
Village Books is pleased to partner with the Bellingham Public Library to bring bestselling author and host of Top Chef and Taste the Nation Padma Lakshmi and fellow author/celebrity Jesse Tyler Ferguson to the Virtual Readings Gallery! She’ll be presenting her brand new picture book, Tomatoes for Neela. A beautiful celebration of food and family, TOMATOES FOR NEELA lovingly affirms how we can connect to other cultures, as well as to our own, through food
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Neela loves cooking with her amma and writing down the recipes in her notebook. It makes her feel closer to her paati who lives far away in India. On Saturdays, Neela and Amma go to the green market and today they are buying tomatoes to make Paati’s famous sauce. But first, Neela needs to learn about all the different kinds of tomatoes they can pick from. And as Neela and Amma cook together, they find a way for Paati to share in both the love and the flavors of the day.
Padma Lakshmi takes young readers on an intergenerational journey full of delicious flavors and fun food facts that celebrates a family’s treasured recipes. And illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal brings this circle of women to life with vivid detail and warmth. Tomatoes for Neela lovingly affirms how we can connect to other cultures, as well as to our own, through food.
Padma Lakshmi is the creator and host of Hulu’s Taste the Nation and host and executive producer of the Emmy-winning Bravo series Top Chef. She is the bestselling author of two cookbooks, the Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs, as well as her memoir Love, Loss, and What We Ate. Lakshmi is also cofounder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, an artist ambassador for the ACLU, and a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations. She lives in New York City with her daughter. Her favorite kind of tomato is a San Marzano.
