Unbound Edition Press today announced it will publish a kitchen memoir from food writer and beloved Provincetown, MA sandwich-maker, Rebecca Orchant. The debut book, presently untitled, is scheduled for release Fall 2023.
From HuffPost to Saveur, Orchant has penned spirited articles on food culture, chefs, recipes, and culinary trends. Along with Sarah Flynn, Orchant co-created the popular COVID-19-era newsletter, Soup & Despair. She also contributes to the The Provincetown Independent, Outer Cape Cod’s only locally owned newspaper.
She is best known, however, as one of the passionate forces behind Pop+Dutch, one of Provincetown’s most-treasured shops. She co-founded it with her husband Sean Gardner, and describes it as “a place for sandwiches, salads, and lube.”
Orchant will combine her love of food and success in food writing for the new book. “I have always gravitated to the kitchen, whether at parties, professionally, or to eat olives out of the jar in front of the fridge while I think or procrastinate,” Orchant said.
“Most of the important lessons I’ve ever learned have been in kitchens, be they instructional or emotional. You learn what burns, what cuts deeply. You learn grief requires the relief of shared food,” she said. “I’ve fallen in and out of love in a kitchen, melted down in a kitchen, made friends for life, and every once in a while, truly hurt myself.”
“Rebecca is part of what makes Provincetown so special to countless people, and her stories will resonate far beyond that wonderful seaside village,” said Patrick Davis, publisher at Unbound Edition Press. “There is wisdom and care in everything she does, whether recounting the inspiration for an inventive take on a sandwich, making pimento cheese by hand, or sharing her stories of love, loss, and floods on the Outer Cape.”
M.F.K. Fisher, America’s greatest food writer, famously said: “First we eat, then we do everything else.” Orchant adds, “And then we eat again. That’s how I’ve learned to be myself, who to trust, and how to take care of other people. My story has been written in kitchens.”
Rebecca Orchant lives in Provincetown year-round with her husband Sean, and is probably thinking about cheese right now.
