A Pepper for Your Thoughts?

Howard Lev is not only the creator of Mama Lil's Peppers, an epic condiment line, he is the bard and comic hero of an epic condiment tome. This rib-tickling if heartfelt entrepreneurial memoir is filled with colorful photos and reads like a gourmand version of Kerouac as Lev charts his decades long attempt to establish his mother's pepper recipe as a national brand. As he caroms among canneries, pepper fields, grocerystores, restaurants and food shows, Lev shares valuable lessons on canning and the pitfalls of running a small gourmet food business. According to Tony Gilroy of the Bourne movies and Andor fame, "This truly enjoyable and unique book is so many things: a culinary adventure story, a cautionary tale of entrepreneurial innocence, an inspirational memoir with a soundtrack of 30 tasty recipes from its cast of charactersand chefs. If you've ever contemplated life in the food business Lev will sober you up even as he's opening another bottle of-go-for-it."

Howard Lev is the founder of Mama Lil's Peppers, a gourmet foods business based in Seattle.