Corrie Locke-Hardy of Plainfield has a varied work history. She has been a pastry chef, a teacher, and a social-justice education consultant. Most recently, she became a cookbook author with the publication of “The Revolution Will Be Well Fed” (Raspberry Bow Press, 144 pages, $30).
“I always kind of joke that I’ve had a long and meandering career,” Locke-Hardy told me last week. She laughed that whenever life took her in a strange direction, she found herself back on track “through a weird side door.”
Subtitled “Recipes for Creating Community,” the book reflects Locke-Hardy’s passion for social justice. Its 50 recipes can be consumed on the go.
“I knew that I didn’t want any of them to require silverware, to reinforce that community idea,” she explained.
The recipes are divided into three categories: portable breakfast foods, snacks, and desserts.
As she leads up to each chapter and each recipe, Locke-Hardy discusses past and present revolutionary leaders. I’m a historian, but I didn’t know that the Black Panther Party had a free breakfast program or that Jane Addams, the legendary social reformer and pacifist, was a lesbian.
The author also tries to help her readers situate themselves as eaters and citizens. She realizes that no one can achieve perfect local food — or perfect sensitivity to the differing backgrounds and abilities of people who need to be fed.
Nevertheless, she encourages cooks who follow her philosophy and make her recipes to keep in mind numerous factors, including the assumptions our backgrounds teach us to make about people and the range of sexual, racial, and neurological factors that shape individuals.
She occasionally uses phraseology with which the average reader may not be familiar. At heart, however, she and her book share an easy-to-grasp philosophy of nourishing bodies and souls.
“I think maybe at first glance people might think it’s kind of a weird pairing, social justice and recipes,” she said when we spoke.
She noted, however, that the ways in which food can create bonds is everywhere. She recalled eating with strangers at the Cummington Fair this summer.
“Even though our culture is pretty divorced from communal feeding, you always end up sharing a picnic table and chatting a little bit. That’s a powerful thing: that you can nourish someone with food,” she concluded.
In 2021, knowing that she might want to pair food and social justice in literary form, Locke-Hardy took a webinar about cookbook writing. It ended with the opportunity to pitch a book to local cookbook agent Sally Ekus.
The webinar motivated the fledgling author to approach Raspberry Bow Press, which had recently published a book that appealed to her. After some negotiation, the press became her publisher. And now Ekus is her agent.
The cookbook and those relationships, she observed, “came up in a natural, grass-roots kind of way.”
The book has a distinctive voice and a unique way of viewing food and the world. The recipes themselves look delicious and eminently shareable.
Locke-Hardy alerts the reader early on to the fact that she does not consume gluten. She recommends King Arthur Baking’s gluten-free flour mix but also explains that any of the recipes in the book can be made with all-purpose flour as well.
“The Revolution Will Be Well Fed” is available from its publisher at raspberrybowpress.com. Copies signed by the author may be purchased at High Five Books in Florence.
Here is a typically innovative and yummy recipe from the book. Locke-Hardy’s introduction to these biscuits is typical of her breezy writing style and passion for doing the right thing.
“When we seek justice, what are we actually demanding?” she asks. “How can we make sure that we are achieving the outcomes we desire? Are we considering the potential side effects on currently marginalized populations as well as future generations?
“That’s a huge question to pose in a lil ol’ recipe headnote, but those in power are rarely interested in giving up wealth or resources of their own volition, so we must be prepared to make our expectations known.
“There are many paths to justice, and we can seek it in a restorative or a retributive fashion, as well as in a distributive or procedural way. Personally, I believe that restorative justice practices that give energy back to the community and harmed parties are a more regenerative solution.”
Ingredients:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 medium leeks, cleaned and sliced into half moons
1 tablespoon packed dark-brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces small-dice pancetta
2 ounces hard goat cheese (such as Midnight Moon), shredded
1-1/4 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
In a medium skillet over medium-low heat, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter.
Add the leeks and brown sugar and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring only very occasionally, until deeply brown and caramelized.
(Locke-Hardy loves the sweetness this process lends to the leeks but reminds the reader to watch for burning.) Set aside.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Set aside. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat (ideally, the one in which you caramelized the leeks), cook the pancetta until crispy but still chewy, reserving the fat.
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter to the pan and stir to melt. Add the leeks and cheese to the flour mixture and stir until evenly coated (to reduce clumping); then add the pancetta along with the fat. Pour in the buttermilk and vinegar and mix until combined.
Using a 2-ounce scoop, portion the dough onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown on top and deep golden brown and crispy on the bottom.
Makes 12 biscuits.
Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning cookbook author and singer known as the Diva of Deliciousness. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.
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