Ten years ago, taking pictures of the food your server placed in front of you might have elicited concern from the restaurant staff. Are you a spy for the competition? From the health department? Or worse, a food critic?
No, probably a foodie, a formerly derisive term coined in the '80s that has evolved to encompass anyone who delights in food, personally or professionally. Or both, like local photographer Ari Nordhagen, whose recently completed The Spokane Cookbook showcases two passions: food and people.
More than 60 vignettes from the area's diverse and continuously evolving culinary community are featured in The Spokane Cookbook, plus recipes, a few food-related events and several pages of historical context. Through her photography and writing, the 248-page book highlights Nordhagen's interest in food and versatility as a storyteller.
Nordhagen photographed Indaba Coffee's decadent butterscotch latte for the book, but she couldn't help but snap another image with her phone as we sat together to discuss her two-year passion project. Nordhagen might post the coffee image, or file it, but either way she'll have captured the moment, she says.
"The first thing you'd take with you is your photos" if your place catches fire, Nordhagen says.
The Spokane Cookbook, however, is more than just sexy food photos or buzzy venues — it highlights the people behind the food.
"I'm interested in the story," says Nordhagen, adding, "it's not about the place."
For historical context, Nordhagen consulted Larry Cebula, a professor and digital archivist at Eastern Washington University, who steered her toward Indigenous culture as a starting point. Nordhagen, who's still in awe of being invited to a salmon ceremony with the Spokane Tribe of Indians, then enlisted Wild Sage Bistro's executive chef, Elijah Crume, to craft a dish celebrating salmon and foraged foods like morels. She photographed against lilacs, a nod toward Spokane's Golden Age origins as the Lilac City.
And while Nordhagen included Edward Mathieu, an early Davenport Hotel chef credited in some circles with inventing the Crab Louis salad, she also included Ibrahim Mohammad, who today makes the hotel's peanut brittle, and his recipe for kunafa, a dessert with sweet cheese and shredded phyllo from his native Sudan.
That's another difference between past cookbooks and Nordhagen's contemporary version, which is organized alphabetically by last name — from Zane and Youngchong Huang of The Black Straw to the late David Ross, a chef and culinary instructor — and includes a cross-section of foods and faces.
The book "says a lot about the evolution of Spokane," Nordhagen says.
The Spokane Cookbook is a synthesis of many things: Nordhagen's upbringing, her intense drive to do meaningful work, and an appetite for learning. The catalyst was 2020's COVID-related upheavals.
Nordhagen was born in the Philippines, plucked from Catholic school at age 12 and plopped into Southern California's public school along with her older brother and younger sister. School and family were the cornerstones of her world, says Nordhagen, who was the family documentarian, more likely behind the camera than in the photo itself.
Although she was interested in photography and influenced by her father's creative endeavors around the family home, Nordhagen followed in her mother's footsteps to pursue medicine at Stanford University.
"It was the furthest I could go and still be in the same state," says the adventurous Nordhagen, whose world travels include London, Japan and China. (Ask her about hugging panda bears, her love of which inspired her regular feature for Spokane + Coeur d'Alene Living magazine called "Eats, Shoots and Leaves.")
Shortly after earning her bachelor's degree in human biology, Nordhagen married her longtime beau and fellow Stanford alum, Erik, whose career in software engineering took the couple to Reno, Nevada.
With the birth of her first child, Nordhagen switched her focus from children's medicine to childrearing, inadvertently spawning a new career in photography. Nordhagen's images of her children prompted friends to request photo sessions, including elaborately constructed "storybook" shoots like when Nordhagen cast one of her sons as Max from Maurice Sendak's iconic Where the Wild Things Are. That morphed into requests for other portraits, including expectant families, engagements and weddings.
By 2008, with four children under the age of 8, Nordhagen had formed Amen Photography, which stands for her first and middle names, Ari Milflores, and her husband's first and last name. She eventually added food photography, including for Edible Northwest magazine's Reno-Tahoe edition.
In 2015, the family relocated to Eastern Washington, near Erik's great-grandparents' farm in Chattaroy, which has been dubbed Four Brothers Farm. Although Nordhagen returned to Reno for occasional photography jobs, she also grew her business in Spokane.
A chance encounter with Cherry Hill Orchard & Market's Rhonda Bosma facilitated Nordhagen's entrée into Spokane's burgeoning foodie scene. She did photos for Gather and Savor's Sarah Carleton, an early blogger, then for Edible Northwest magazine, and other clients, which now include the Wonder Building and Eat Good Group.
During COVID, Nordhagen was looking for ways to keep her photography skills fresh. When she hit upon Phoenix-based food photographer Joanie Simon's online workshops, Nordhagen devoured the information. And she had an idea that would help her and the culinary community she'd become a part of: a cookbook.
Nordhagen scoured the internet for local cookbooks, of which she found several including "Gold'n Delicious," a 1994 production by the Junior League of Spokane, and the 2011 "Signature Tastes of Spokane: Favorite Recipes of our Local Restaurants."
"First of all, I wanted to know what was out there," Nordhagen says. "I didn't want to duplicate it."
Then she began planning, aiming for 40 stories, starting with Bosma's. By May 2021, Nordhagen posted her plans on social media.
Later, at the urging of her friend and fellow artist Grace June, Nordhagen applied for and won a Spokane Arts Grant Award for $10,000 (so far Nordhagen has invested roughly $17,000 of her own money on the project).
The project has evolved since Nordhagen won the SAGA grant in December 2021, expanding to 61 entries and featuring more process images.
When Nordhagen photographed restaurateur Tony Brown, for example, he brought out a tray of ingredients for a curry dish he serves at Hunt. Although Nordhagen planned on four pages per entry with just the chef and food, seeing the beauty in the ingredients nudged Nordhagen to adjust her plan.
"What I appreciate about [Ari] is she went into it with an interest to do a huge project," says Brown, "but also the knowledge" to create the book.
The book was a huge project, says Nordhagen, who was heartened by the encouragement of family, friends, and people in the culinary industry, and the sense that what she was doing was vital. A fan of the blockbuster play Hamilton, Nordhagen was struck by the message in the final song, titled "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story."
"I wanted [the cookbook] to be about the people," Nordhagen says. "They're the reason things happen." ♦
The Spokane Cookbook ($44.95) is available for preorder from spokanecookbook.com. A portion of proceeds support Big Table, a Northwest-based outreach organization for restaurant and hospitality workers.
