Food52 is made up of an amazing community of people who are not only passionate about food and living well, but who also truly care about each other, support each other, and cheer each other on.
Today we’re pouring the bubbly in a toast to you, our Food52 community members, who make our website what it is. Your recipes, comments, and know-how are what inspires and guides us. Here are some of our favorite moments with you this past year:
Piglet Mania! Your thoughtful reviews of the Piglet Community Picks (and we're just as excited as you are about the 2016 Community Picks), the best Monday night gathering of the year, and a recap of all the comments ever on the Piglet—it's no wonder it's our favorite time of the year.
Food52 won all three IACP categories we were nominated for this year. Longtime Food52er Cathy Barrow (a.k.a. MrsWheelbarrow) picked up our awards for us and took home one of her own in the Single Subject category for her book, Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Practical Pantry.
We were thrilled to be nominated for a James Beard Award, along with so many of our food inspirations (including Dorie Greenspan and Food52er QueenSashy), and thrilled that Molly Wizenberg and Alice Medrich both won awards.
The next two books in our cookbook series—Vegan and Baking—were born!
Creative Director Kristen Miglore went on tour for her Genius Recipes book and got to meet so many old and new Food52ers.
Kristen and Contributors Editor Sarah Jampel went to Austin for the Texas Book Festival, where they were on a panel along with Vegan author Gena Hamshaw; they hung out with Food52ers at one of aargersi’s legendary pool parties; and yes, they kept it weird.
Co-founder Amanda Hesser weeded out a few hundred cookbooks from her collection and held a stoop sale. Shoppers were treated to cookies and all proceeds from the sale went to Just Food—a non-profit organization that helps educate kids about healthy eating and connects local area farmers with CSA communities.
Contributor Alexandra Stafford announced that she’s writing a “nose-to-tail” bread baking cookbook that will be published in the spring of 2017.
We welcomed a lot friends and idols into our (new!) office, from Yotam Ottolenghi and Heidi Swanson to Ruth Reichl, Madhur Jaffrey, and many more. The time we lost it the most, though? When Cookie Monster came to visit.
We held our first Makers Conference, an event to give our makers—whose goods we stock in our Shop—an opportunity to meet and learn from each other, as well as from experts in small business investing, social media, and marketing. We loved spending a day with them, and we picked up a few tips ourselves, too.
We drove around in the first-ever Food52 Holiday Cookie Truck and passed out free cookies—developed by co-founders Amanda and Merrill—to people... everyone who was open to the idea of free cookies, anyway.
Losing our longtime community members, Kukla and Selma | Selma's Table, were lowlights this year. But when we shared special menus featuring their recipes in their honor, we were touched by your kind comments and outpouring of support for their families.
The Food52 Holiday Market returned this December (bigger, and open for longer, and better than ever!) and we were thrilled to meet, shop, and talk with scores of you.
Hundreds of you participated in the fifth annual Holiday Secret Swap, organized every year by Food52er enbe. This year’s sign-up included a $5 donation (or greater!) to a fantastic organization: The Edible Schoolyard Project. Food52 matched your donations to double our impact: Stay tuned for an update on the swap and how much money was raised!
It has been a wonderful year with all of you—thanks for being a part of Food52.
We're sure we haven't covered everything, so tell us: What were your favorite Food52 community moments this year?
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