Author Art Pollard
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
Ah, the power of food. It can improve moods, revive memories and spark ideas. Author Art Pollard can attest to food’s incredible influence; when his father and former Los Alamos resident, Cecil, died and Pollard was going through his father’s things, he uncovered an old recipe book, New Mexican Dishes by Philomena Romero. Flipping through its pages, Pollard was struck with an idea.
That idea was to self-publish a curated collection of more than 1,200 New Mexican traditional recipes titled Enchantment: A New Mexican Cookbook. The book, which was released at the end of November, is available on Amazon and at newmexicancookbook.com.
Pollard said he initially started this project for just himself and his friends but admitted his projects tend to get a little out of control. The result was a collection of approximately 1,250 recipes and with the encouragement of his friend William Lehman, who is a chef, Pollard made the book available to everyone.
“It started out as a cathartic project for myself,” Pollard said. “A lot of the old traditional recipes are getting pushed to the wayside (to) bring in new ingredients and techniques. I think there is a place for that but there are grounds to keep traditions. I wanted to preserve that heritage.”
He noted that most of the recipes are from classic New Mexico cookbooks now out of print. Pollard worked to get permission to reprint them and attempted to share only the best.
He added that he utilized his skills in software development to help organize all the recipes.
“One of the cool things about the book,” Pollard said, “is that so many New Mexico cookbooks celebrate the same 40-50 recipes and really New Mexico is so much bigger and broader than that … New Mexico cooking is about comfort food.”
For himself, Pollard said, “I am a real green chile stew kind of guy.” He added that “I’m a more green than red (chile) guy.”
In choosing recipes, he said, “Mostly I try to collect older, more traditional style recipes. That’s been my focus. I think that’s what needs to be preserved the most. The more traditional, the more excited I was.”
Pollard said he covered a lot of distance tracking down these recipes and did not cook and taste test them all.
“I trusted the original sources to do have done that,” he said.
All the original sources for the recipes are identified in the book. The hope is when people flip through the book’s pages “they either can buy into a variation (of a meal) they remember or find bits and pieces to create (the meal) they remember. I learned a lot just from putting this together.”
The other hope is that this book inspires people to share their recipes at newmexicancookbook.com, he said.
“It’s fun to see these threads that weave all these traditions … together,” Pollard said.
Pollard resides in Utah, but he was born in Los Alamos before moving to Seattle. He returned to Los Alamos during the summer months.
“That’s always been a part of me ever since I was small,” Pollard said, adding that he fondly remembers Zia Salvage Yard and Philomena’s restaurant.
Another lifelong love for Pollard is food.
“It’s all about really good food,” he said. “Ever since I was a little kid that was always my thing – finding restaurants that served something special and finding out what they did best.”
This project was special because it reconnected him to the state he loves, Pollard said.
“New Mexico is an absolutely incredible state,” Pollard said. “Putting this book together made me appreciate it more. If no other reason than it forced me to drive out to meet all these people who live in nooks and crannies so that’s been really great. New Mexico is a truly special place with really special food. There are absolutely incredible people … (and) Los Alamos has a very special place in my heart.”