Lunch at the Shop
The Art and Practice of the Midday Meal
Peter Miller author Christopher Hirsheimer illustrator Melissa Hamilton illustrator Colleen Miller illustrator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University of Washington Press
Published:14th Apr '26
£24.95
Supplier delay - available to order, but may take longer than usual.
An invitation to participate in the joy of sharing a meal and savoring fresh, seasonal, healthy foodPeter Miller and his colleagues make lunch every day at his bookshop in Seattle. It may be only a salad or a sandwich, but it is fresh, and they put it together each day without a formal kitchen. Lunch at the Shop is an account and a guide to this intentional practice. It shows how to elevate the lunch break from a hurried necessity to a celebrated meal, often involving thoughtfulness, conversation, and a shift in mindset from work.
The book includes more than fifty recipes and showcases both simple and more sophisticated techniques for home cooking. It offers suggestions for rejuvenating leftovers and upgrading simple lunches, as well as practical advice for stocking a simple work pantry.
"[N]owhere do food and literature come together quite like they do in Seattle bookseller Peter Miller's Lunch at the Shop, a celebration of delicious back-room improvisation."
* VOGUE *"In this concise and quaint volume, Miller celebrates all that is good about lunch with colleagues. . . . The book serves as a charming reminder that no matter how hectic the day or week, we still need the occasional respite. With practical ideas and promising recipes, Miller gives us the tools to achieve that."
* Publishers Weekly *"[P]ersonable and precise."
* Seattle Times *"It is a cookbook with recipes, but [the book] reads like a longform poem to lunch. Miller is an advocate for the midday meal, for stopping, and sitting, and coming together with coworkers over food. His language is elegant and lyrical, but his advice is specific; it's the most practical poetry you'll read all spring."
* Food52 *"I didn’t realize how much I was sacrificing until I read Miller’s beautiful ode to lunch—a meditation on food, togetherness and simplicity."
* Edible San Francisco *"The photographs are terrific, courtesy of Christopher Hirscheimer and Melissa Hamilton, who you know as the creators of the Canal House cookbooks. The book has a wonderfully homemade feel; the author’s wife [Colleen Miller] did the charming illustrations. And as for Peter Miller, he’s a fine writer doing a very good imitation of a bookstore owner."
-- Jesse Kornbluth * Head ButlISBN: 9780295755229
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 408g
160 pages