Adam Gilbert closed a restaurant and started a book.
Plantation Tavern, the restaurant the chef and his wife, Sunny, opened in 2014, was a victim of the first coronavirus shutdown, serving its final takeout meal in April.
The next month, Gilbert dove into a book idea that his wife had suggested two years before: a cookbook for the community-supported agriculture universe.
CSA subscribers typically receive a box or bag every week or two, each filled with farm-fresh produce. There’s no picking and choosing; you get what’s in good supply. Maybe it’ll be lettuce and tomatoes, but also perhaps something less familiar, like carrot tops.
Plantation Tavern was a pickup site for CSA bags from Kahumana Organic Farms, and Gilbert had met his share of subscribers confounded by items in their bags. “I had free time, so I turned my wife’s concept into reality, based on see-a-need-fill-a-need.”