New Book Releases

Martha’s Vineyard is known as a popular vacation destination with high profile visitors. Below the surface, however, bubbles a culinary melting pot. 

Native Americans, Blacks, European settlers and Azoreans all contributed to the island’s diverse culinary history. The Scottish Society still celebrates Robert Burns annually with a feast. Two towns have streets called Chicken Alley for the Portuguese families who raised chickens there, while native beach plums are used to create a delicious jelly that can be found across the island. Restaurants like Giordano’s and the ArtCliff Diner have been in business for more than fifty years and are still putting out great dishes. Learn the back-story of the island’s first—and only—commercial vineyard. 

From codfish souffle to espirito santo soup, local authors Tom and Joyce Dresser share the ingredients, recipes and images of this flavorful island.  

See how Rhode Island's hard-shell clam industry came about and remains as popular as ever to this day.

Steamships once plied the waters of Narragansett Bay, carrying thousands of guests to feasts of clams prepared in every way imaginable at scenic spots like Rocky Point and Crescent Park. After hurricanes and pollution destroyed Rhode Island's soft-shell clam and oyster beds, the quahog became the state's favorite bivalve, and Rhode Islanders took to their automobiles and drove to the beach for clam cakes and chowder at the shacks and chowder houses that carried on the old traditions. Quahogging remains a major business in Rhode Island, where men and women continue to make a living from the sea. The long lines at take-out windows attest that the future of Rhode Island's clam shacks is secure as they successfully balance changing tastes with time-honored recipes.

Diners of the North Shore is a fascinating collection of many previously unpublished images from the golden age of the diner. Bearing names such as Hesperus in Gloucester, Lafayette in Salem, and Suntaug in Peabody, these eat-on-the-run oases provided their customers with not only a square meal but also an atmosphere as welcoming as one's kitchen. From the primitive Night Owl lunch wagon to the art deco-inspired Sterling Streamliner, Diners of the North Shore showcases each diner's unique character, along with the colorful personalities who ran them.