‘St. Pete Eats’ cookbook will spotlight local cuisine

Not quite comfortable venturing out to your favorite local restaurant? The City of St. Pete has a solution to satisfy your cravings. 

On Friday, the city will release St. Pete Eats: A Cookbook. It’s the result of a partnership between deputy mayor and city administrator Kanika Tomalin and more than 30 beloved local restaurants. The book sells for $20.

St. Pete Eats is filled with food and drink recipes from St. Pete’s thriving culinary scene. Contributing restaurants include Trophy Fish, Rococo Steak, Red Mesa and Ceviche. Tomalin, a foodie in her own right, even added six of her own tried-and-true recipes. Many of the recipes in the cookbook feature healthy twists, which ties in with Healthy St. Pete, a citywide initiative Tomalin launched in 2015 to help the community eat, live, shop and play healthier. She hopes that the cookbook will shine a spotlight on local restaurants and all they have to offer.

“St. Pete has become a foodie town,” she said. “People come here to eat as much as they come here for everything else.”

Tomalin said plans for the cookbook have been in the works for awhile, and while it’s been a daunting process in light of what’s going on with Covid-19, she’s excited about the finished product. While she understands that cooking can be intimidating, she feels confident that the recipes are simple enough for even novice chefs to follow.

“I love to cook and I love food and I don’t have any special training,” she said. “I think anyone can enjoy this book and make every recipe in it.”

Mayor Rick Kriseman praised the cookbook and its emphasis on healthy recipes.

“We can change health outcomes when we work together,” he said. “That is why I am excited about this cookbook. It is a vibrant illustration that great food and great health can coexist, especially in St. Petersburg.”

Proceeds from cookbooks purchased from the St. Pete Eats website will go toward the city’s Fighting Chance Fund, which provides grants to locally-owned and independently-operated small businesses that have been negatively impacted due to Covid-19. The cookbook will also be sold at several local businesses and restaurants, and those proceeds will go directly to the business.