BUFFALO, N.Y. — If you're passionate about food, books, or books about food, you should probably put one new local business on your list of places to visit soon. Read it and Eat is Buffalo's culinary bookstore.
"Buffalo's never had a culinary bookstore before, but they are well known out on the west coast. I want to bring culinary adventures to Buffalo," owner Kimberly Behzadi said. "Whether it's finding your next cookbook, or learning that there are romantic comedies all about foodies is a great place to start."
After spending time as a pop-up business and launching the Reat It and Eat Book Fair at Seneca One last spring, Behzadi is now in one of the incubator spaces inside the new West Side Bazaar on Niagara Street.
"When I first heard about this space opening up, I thought, this is perfect," she said. "There are chefs downstairs who can inspire me where I can learn about their cuisine too, so I take inspiration from downstairs and on the top floor here. We actually have a space for the cooking classes going forward."
Cooking classes themed books in the store aren't the only thing coming up for Read It and Eat. They're also starting a book club.
"All the stories are about food, but if you want to support your local library and check out the book, you do that. We also can order the books for you and we have tea from Cup of Communitea in every other month, and it's a really fun time," Behzadi said.
Before Read It and Eat was a store, Kimberly started with subscription boxes, which each come with a book and a treat to make after or enjoy while you're reading, which are still available to order online or buy at the shop.
"We actually have a Valentine's Day box coming up, where you can buy a foodie romantic comedy or literary book," Behzadi said. "There's five books to choose from, and you'll get three of the delicoius gourmet cookies from Manchester Baking Company right downstairs."
Food and books bring people together. Now Buffalo has a new place to celebrate them.
"There's so much to explore in the food space, that I hope people come to the culinary bookstore and just explore the shelves and maybe something will jump out to them," Behzadi said.
Read It and Eat is open on the second level of the Westside Bazaar Thursdays from 5 p.m. -8 p.m., Fridays from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.