Binding Agents: A Cook/Book Shop
908 Christian StreetCome one, come all for a pickle party! Binding Agents is delighted to host a workshop for educators on food literacy for children and families, featuring picture book author and food ethnographer June Jo Lee of Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild and Niki Toscani from Fishtown Pickle Project.
In this talk and demo, Lee and Toscani will explore how to engage readers and eaters of all ages in the exploration and enjoyment of food.
This 1-hour workshop will immediately follow a presentation for children and families from 4-5pm. If you'd like to join both sessions, please register for each separately so we can manage capacity in our very small space!
About Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild
Sandor Katz’s love of fermented food started with kosher dill pickles he ate as a New York City kid. As an adult, he left the busy city and moved to a queer community in the mountains of Tennessee. There, his friends grew their own food, cooked and ate together, and sometimes danced in drag when the work was done. One day, the cabbages were all, ALL ready to be harvested. What to do? Sandor tried to make sauerkraut. Delicious! He kept experimenting, finding old recipes, combining old ideas to make something new. Then, he shared what he learned in bestselling books, in classes, and with a growing group of friends around the world.
Written by award-winning authors Jacqueline Briggs Martin and June Jo Lee, Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild folds timely themes of ecology, community-building, and resilience into a lively biography that closes with a hands-on recipe: just chop, salt, pack, and wait for tiny, wild, invisible microbes to turn raw ingredients into zingy, zangy foods that we love. Sandor believes that making fermented foods connects all, ALL of us on planet Earth—people, plants, and The Tiny Wild. Won't you join Sandor’s crew and share your own dash of dazzle with the world?
About Niki Toscani
A passionate foodie, Niki’s career started as a Registered Dietitian helping people navigate how to shop and eat to nourish themselves. She and her husband and chef, Mike, began creating pickles together for fun and gave them as gifts for their wedding. Things unexpectedly took off, and together they co-founded Fishtown Pickle Project to meet the demand for deliciousness.
About June Jo Lee
June Jo Lee’s first job was in the produce department at the original Whole Foods Market in Austin (the one with the big fruit on top), after graduating from University of Texas. She went on to study medical history and food anthropology at Yonsei University in Korea and Harvard. Food is her portal to understand generational shifts and track early signals of our future. In addition to her work at Readers to Eaters, she is also a full-time food ethnographer, traveling across the country to observe how people shop, cook, and eat in their everyday lives. Her clients include farmer-owners of Organic Valley Cooperative and she previously was resident Food Ethnographer for Google’s Global Food Program, feeding Googlers breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in 57 countries. She co-authored picture book biographies Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild and Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix. For a taste of her work, see her TED talk and Natural Expo keynote, and also her Nutrients paper.
Sat, Jun 28, 2025 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Binding Agents: A Cook/Book Shop
908 Christian Street
Binding Agents is Philly's bookshop for cooks and eaters. Located in South Philly’s culinary epicenter, the 9th Street Italian Market, we’re your go-to source for new cookbooks and food-focused reads, plus gifts and goods for making, serving and enjoying. We’re independent, women-owned, fun & funky. Learn more at bindingagentsphilly.com.
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