ZINGERMAN’S BAKEHOUSE

A new cookbook brings baking Zingerman’s classic breads home and reflections on Ari Weinzweig’s books about leadership.
 

When I first saw Ari Weinzweig I didn’t know he was Ari Weinzweig, author, entrepreneur and co-founder of the artisanal bakery Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He struck me as a cool dude who I wanted to sit next to at lunch at our annual publishers’ conference and talk about food and tell stories. Dressed in a colorful jean jacket, a beautifully embroidered hat with his curly salt-and-pepper locks escaping from underneath, I recognized his spirit as kin. An artist, perhaps? Writer? Chef?

And while Weinzweig is all of these things, reading his series of books on leadership, food, development and entrepreneurship this year has made me feel that he is that cool dude, and when you read his words you do get to sit down with him and have lunch. I feel the same way about the new cookbook, Zingerman’s Bakehouse by Amy Emberling and Frank Carollo, the Zingerman’s master bakers. Yet what makes this book so special is you get to bake the breads that make Zingerman’s a 25+ year success. 

Walking into Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor is a one-of-a-kind experience, as is reading their books. Having grown up in a family of French and Italian cooks, the aroma of European influence in my parents’ cooking imbued my cells with a longing for the old ways of the old country. Immigrants to this country, my Irish family explored the French way of cuisine and my Sicilian family, who arrived on Ellis Island like so many others and made a life in Brooklyn, kept to their roots of Mediterranean cooking: Fish. Fresh vegetables. A little grain. Lots of herbs. And the best olive oil, always. Coq au vin. Ratatouille. Shepherd’s pie. Grilled octopus. Burrata. These are the meals that made me strong and made me a woman. 

Zingerman’s Bakery evokes this nod to the old ways with its giant Parmesan wheels that greet you as you wander in, freshly baked breads stacked high and so much more. Food co-mingling with words, Zingerman’s from the front to the back of the house offers a sense of homecoming to those of us looking for our ancestors in what we eat and how we converse at the table. Zingerman’s Bakehouse is the first cookbook to share their tried-and- true recipes for the home cook (see sidebar) and it’s as fun and beautiful as it is at the bakery itself.

And reading Weinzweig’s books this year—a series of four hefty volumes on being a better leader and developing a small business from the ground up—has gifted me with a similar richness in thought handed down from someone akin to a grandfather. I’ve been with the Edible Communities family now for over a decade, and each year I reflect on what that means and where we’re headed.

Weinzweig’s philosophy and language around food, people, business and mindfulness is magnetic and transformative. Rising up from the depths of a wellspring of knowledge and a life lived exploring history, literature and anarchism, Weinzweig practices what he preaches: “If we want to run a great business, then the place to start is inside ourselves.” In his books, he hands what he knows about himself down to you, and it is invaluable.

I started not with Weinzweig’s first book in the four-part series, but with the third, A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Managing Ourselves. A wheel of wisdom and humor, the book folds together Weinzweig’s perspective on what it takes to be a leader of an organization and lead from the heart. And what it takes, from what I’ve gathered, is learning to first understand our own mind and heart before we can even propose to lead others towards understanding theirs and, therefore, putting both to work with the hands of a true human.

I’ve read books galore on mindfulness, leadership, philosophy, art, yet rarely had I stepped into the territory of business and entrepreneurship until finding Weinzweig’s books, and they seem the perfect place for me. For any business owner or enterprising soul who wants to feel their own strength in their life’s work and know it comes from an endless wellspring of integrity and passion, I recommend Weinzweig’s books. And only because if you have had the pleasure of seeing and meeting him, as I did, you would most likely want to sit down with him, too. And so you can this winter. And then bake the very bread that has made him and his whole team so renowned.

Our capitalist culture reveres leaders who use money to make themselves look big. Weinzweig, his partners and team make money, enough for the Zingerman’s empire to be big, but he does it from the grace of his big heart. His books bear this touch of tremendous love for people and the world, and the food he and his team produces at Zingerman’s does, too. When I visited to get a sandwich in the deli a line wrapped around to the cheese counter; kids wandered through their parents’ legs, playing; lovers locked arms; and the aroma of good food filled the air. I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be in that moment.

And I stood in line a second time to have Weinzweig sign my copies of his books on leadership. The signature reads: “Colleen: Here’s to owning our lives!”

Three cheers to that, Ari. And thank you.