Foreword
COOKING IS A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE: everyone speaks it. For centuries, the shared
meal has been the medium for connecting with friends and family—enjoying lively
conversation, food and drink across the dinner table. Similarly, breaking bread together
has built bridges among different peoples since ancient times. Cooking the Costco Way
enthusiastically demonstrates this cosmopolitan spirit.
In addition to congeniality, food brings out our curiosity. People are always looking
for new and exciting flavor sensations. With Cooking the Costco Way as your guide,
you’ll journey to culinary destinations outside your home region and confidently have
a go at the cooking innovations found in this impressive array of recipes.
Being a native of the Pacific Northwest, I grew up eating fascinating things. The
bounty of our region brought a wealth of interesting tastes and textures, and I have
always loved to experiment—even when very young and prompted to eat pickled
herring, sea beans and smoked oysters.
When I travel, I love to sample the local cuisine and to try a city’s or town’s “must
have” local favorites. Over the years I’ve kept notes to document my “foodie finds.”
Cooking the Costco Way is like that—a collection of the best recipes contributed by
great cooks and chefs from across our country and around the world. And the
photos bring the recipes alive!
This gorgeous book brings together ideas and insights of famed food figures
and the beloved recipes of Costco members, vendors and staff. Celebrity chefs and
well-known epicures celebrate the foods of their regions. It’s all here—the inventive
spontaneity of Jeremiah Tower, that icon of California cuisine; Hawaii’s Sam Choy
“surfin’ in” on slow-cooked pork and exotic tropical flavors; Jasper White extolling the
famed chowder and lobster of the East Coast; Nathalie Dupree’s reclamation of the
comfort foods of the South; the heritage cooking of the Midwest detailed by recipe
historian Judith Fertig; cowboy chef Grady Spears’s chile-laced Southwestern fare; and
of course the bright-flavored cuisine from my backyard, inspired by juicy berries, wild
mushrooms and luscious Dungeness crab. This beautiful, photo-packed book also
opens the door to culinary adventures in international lands, including Mexico,
Canada and the UK, and Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
Cooking the Costco Way will make it easy for you to discover new dishes that will
please everyone’s palate. So get cooking—and set out on your own culinary adventure.
Just think, a favorite recipe from someone across the country or in another corner of the
globe may just become your favorite, too.
