La Boca Loca Cookbook

La Boca Loca Cookbook

Project 2014-12-02 10:31:29 +1300

La Boca Loca is making a cookbook! Over the past four years we've made more than 200,000 hand-pressed corn tortillas, nearly 70,000 burritos, 60,000 margaritas and 45,000 litres of salsa and we reckon we've perfected our recipes. So it's time to share them with you!

The recipes in this cookbook transport me straight back to the North American continent. They’re colourful and delicious, but most importantly they are achievable in your own kitchen.

   ~ Lauraine Jacobs, food writer

What's in the book?

We've put together a collection of the most popular dishes from our menu over the past four years, along with some less well-known favorites of our own. The cookbook features:

• more than 130 gorgeous full colour photos by Nicola Edmonds;
• a detailed pantry guide - everything you need and where to find it;
• an introduction to the basic techniques of Mexican cooking;
• more than 70 recipes including our most popular cocktails;
• ideas, inspiration and instructions on putting it all together for Mexican fiestas;
• a brief history of Mexican cuisine; and much more.

The first time I tasted the food at La Boca Loca, I was astonished. Here was Mexican food like nothing I’d ever eaten. Extraordinarily fresh tortillas and salsas; humbling, mysteriously smoky, deeply flavoured meat dishes with only faint traces of intimidating chilli; pillow-soft burritos and dishes I had never heard of made me rethink what Mexican food was all about.  ~ Martin Bosley

Why a PledgeMe? Why pre-buy a copy?

The cookbook will officially launch in 2015, but we wanted to get at least some copies out in time for Christmas 2014. So we are printing a limited, pre-release edition of the cookbook in time for Christmas and for that, we need your help. 

We've self-funded the photography, design, layout and editing of the book and now we just need to raise the money to print it locally and sustainably. To do that, we need to pre-sell 200 copies of the cookbook by 17 December. Then we can get them in the courier to you in time for Christmas. We can only deliver to New Zealand addresses pre-Christmas.

How on earth could one translate the glorious fusion of chillies, corn and beans and make it work in New Zealand? This wonderful book is a testament to their talent and determination. The recipes and techniques offered here are all heart and presented to you with no compromises. I’m proud to be a small part of their story and thrilled to have this book in my collection.    ~ Steve Sando, Rancho Gordo 

Who are we? 

Lucas Putnam and Marianne Elliott, photo by Karen Walrond 

Born in New York, Lucas moved to California as a child and grew up eating Mexican food. Previously an editor at Pixar, in 2001 Lucas moved to Wellington to work at Weta Digital and opened La Boca Loca four years ago. Lucas has long been an advocate for changing the world by changing what we eat, and he’s committed to sourcing the freshest and best organic, ethically and sustainably produced ingredients. Lucas is El Jefe and Master of Tequila at La Boca Loca. Lucas opened La Boca Loca with his Kiwi partner Marianne, who is a human rights and social justice advocate. She shares Lucas’s passion for fish tacos & tequila, and for helping people develop a more sustainable and nourishing relationship with food.

Sustainable and local

Anyone who knows us will know that core to our idea of success is building a business that nourishes its staff, customers, community and the planet. So it made sense to publish our cookbook locally using the most sustainably printing methods currently available in New Zealand. Our cookbook will be a carboNZero™ certified product proudly printed by Soar Printing — a  New Zealand owned and managed family business since 1920. Soar Printing has the strongest sustainability accreditation of any New Zealand print company and was named Supreme Winner at the 2013 Sustainable 60 awards.

The text of the cookbook will be printed on NeoSatin (FSC mix) from B&F Papers. This comes from managed tree farms or recycled sources, and conforms to high-level environmental management systems. The cookbook was printed using vegetable based inks and citrus cleaners. The carbon credits purchased by Soar Printing fund New Zealand renewable energy sources such as the Tararua Wind Farm and the Christchurch Burwood Gas Landfill project. 

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