Troy Chatterton, who has worked at Three Lives & Company, New York City, for 14 years, the last 10 of them as manager, is leaving the bookstore to open his own bookstore this spring, Wild Sorrel Cookbooks. Located in the East Village, Wild Sorrel will sell mostly new cookbooks, along with a selection of well-chosen used and rare books. The store will also carry books on gardening, travel, and other culinary topics. The store's aim is to be "a cookbook shop devoted to the home cook, its community, and the joy of cooking." (At Three Lives & Company, Ryan Murphy has been promoted to manager, succeeding Chatterton. See Notes below.)
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| Troy Chatterton | |
Chatterton's Kickstarter campaign to help launch the store runs until February 1 and so far has raised more than $56,000 toward its goal of $70,000. "What a humbling experience to be on this side of so much generosity, support, and excitement," he commented. "All for a cookbook shop!"
In his wonderful "Story" for the Kickstarter, Chatterton wrote that after he became manager of Three Lives & Company in 2015, owner Toby Cox "noticed my passion for cookbooks and asked if I'd be interested in writing a column for the shop's newsletter devoted to the new cookbooks of the season. So began my Cookbook Corner column, which I've written twice a year since 2018. Little did either of us know what path this would help set me on.
"How could I have anticipated that so many of the cooks and people in the food world that I admire and read would be passing through Three Lives or that they'd become friends of the shop? In 2017 we did our first cookbook event with Melissa Clark for her new cookbook Dinner and it was a huge success (And so much fun!). After I had been to Chez Panisse in Berkeley one summer, I was helping a woman at the counter and--like an apparition--it was Alice Waters! She had long been coming to Three Lives but that encounter (and our conversation about her corn soup!) would be the beginning of getting to know each other. The list of cooks, bakers and food writers who come through our door goes on and on--Diana Henry, Claudia Fleming, Deb Perelman, Ruth Reichl, Rita & Jody from Via Carota, Kevin West, Tamar Adler, Bee Wilson, Alison Roman and many more. Meeting the people behind the cookbooks that have meant so much to me has deepened my appreciation for them. And it's fun to share those experiences with the customers who are in search of their own cookbooks....
"In 2024 I helped out at Bonnie Slotnick's cookbook shop on 2nd Street, while she dealt with health issues (from which she has recovered and is doing very well!). Bonnie has created a space that is deeply personal. People know they are someplace special from the moment they step through her door. She's put her whole life into the creation of Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, making cookbooks of the past available in a unique setting. Over the course of many days between April and December, I saw with my own eyes the way people responded delightedly to Bonnie's magical room filled with antiquarian and out-of-print culinary books. It was a privilege to see it from her side of the counter, and tap into that magic....
"I want [Wild Sorrel] to be a place where people find what they need, and discover something unexpected; a place where people feel welcomed, seen, comforted; a place people leave feeling better and brighter than they arrived. I want Wild Sorrel to inspire people to cook more often, with more confidence, more freedom, and with joy. I want people to feel like Wild Sorrel was made for them."