Cooks Atlas: Connecting Cooks, Farmers, and Chefs
- Rebecca Hume
- Jun 12
- 5 min read
This week we have a treat for you! I am excited to share an interview with Leanne Valenti, co-founder of Cooks Atlas, a new recipe platform made to support Austin area locavores to create simple seasonal meals. Leanne's passion for local food is magnetic and her recipes are beautiful. ENJOY!
Becky: I have to say, right off the bat I'm so excited! I have always been a huge fan of your cooking! Bento Picnic was always a comfort food/ so nourishing at the same time. Now I'm over the moon to hear you have your hands in this new project, Cooks Atlas. So far, the website/social media are telling us we have to wait a little longer to launch but give us the inside scoop...
Leanne: Thank you so much! That truly means the world to me. Creating Bento Picnic was a labor of love, and hearing that it brought you comfort and nourishment makes my heart happy.I’ve long admired your work too, which makes it even more exciting to be building Cooks Atlas with VRDNT as one of our founding farms.
Cooks Atlas is the recipe platform I’ve always wished existed—one that brings home cooks, farmers, and chefs together in one place, making it easier (and more fun) to cook with what’s fresh, local, and in season.
When is launch?
We’re gearing up for the live launch of cooksatlas.com later this year! We’re starting with a curated catalog of 500 recipes from local chefs featuring in-season produce that participating farmers—like you—are growing.
What will Cooks Atlas be at launch?
We're starting local: Cooks Atlas will debut as a free tool that Austin-area farmers market shoppers can use to get inspiration and guidance for how to turn their market hauls into simple, delicious meals.
We’re building this platform iteratively, and we want to empower creators and home cooks to shape it as we grow. So we’ll be doing 4 chef demos at Texas Farmers Markets this summer to share our progress.
Mueller Farmers Market: Sunday, June 15 and August 10
Bell Farmers Market: Saturday, July 12 and September 13
At these events, we’ll be cooking up some of our favorite recipes and showing folks how to use Cooks Atlas to turn their farmers market hauls into simple, seasonal meals!
What do you want it to become?
Most people struggle with cooking. It often feels disconnected, stressful, or like something you have to figure out alone. We’re building Cooks Atlas to change that—to become a go-to everyday cooking companion that makes home cooking feel more supported and joyful.
We’re inviting home cooks and recipe creators to move beyond the blog era—where content lives in silos and interaction is an afterthought—onto a platform designed to connect you with the right cooking support for you, right when you need it.
We are intentionally incorporating real-world networks like farmers markets, which naturally connect people to their food, their land, and each other. Cooks Atlas aims to be the connective tissue between those offline resources—like local farms and cultural knowledge—and the personalized guidance that helps people cook in ways that reflect their lives and priorities.
We see this not just as a tool, but as infrastructure for a more connected food culture—where diverse culinary traditions are celebrated and shared, and technology supports real-world relationships instead of replacing them.
Our long-term vision is to create a living resource that grows with its community, keeps culinary knowledge alive, and helps more people cook with confidence and care.
What is your motivation for launching Cooks Atlas?
Confidence in home cooking is linked to better mental health, stronger family bonds, fewer chronic health conditions, and greater environmental stewardship.
At Cooks Atlas, we believe that with the right support, millions more people can become confident, capable home cooks—and that shift could spark a ripple effect of personal and societal transformation.
Our motivation is to empower people everywhere to make cooking more joyful, nourishing, and connected. And to do it in a way that uplifts the creators, culture bearers, and farmers who make that possible.
What is something about eating seasonally you wish more people knew?
For me personally, seasonal eating has unlocked a creative spark and sense of gratitude that’s hard to describe until you experience it.
It’s kind of like having a secret handshake with Mother Nature. Once you fall into the rhythm, your meals aren’t just same-old, same-old—each bite feels like a fun celebration, or a silent prayer. You start to look forward to the first juicy tomato or crisp bunch of radishes like a reunion with an old friend.
Funny thing about terms like seasonal eating or farm-to-table—they sound trendy now, but not long ago, it was just... eating. Before modern transportation, there was no other way. If you wanted dinner, it came from the farmer down the road or your garden out back.
I’m sure many of your readers already know this firsthand, but I’m grateful for the chance to say it out loud: Farm-to-table isn’t a passing fad. It’s a return to rhythm, relationship, and place. And the more we embrace that, the healthier and more delightful each meal becomes.
What’s your go-to tomato season recipe?
Oooo, Shigeyo’s Heirloom Tomato Salad… You may remember this tomato salad recipe from the Bento Picnic menu, but I haven’t shared the story behind it with very many people.
When I was 26, I did a homestay in rural Japan with my best friend’s parents, Shigeyo and Hirotaka Atsusaka.
Shigeyo was one of the best home cooks I’ve ever met. She would whip together elaborate meals multiple times per day without breaking a sweat. I was struck by how efficiently her kitchen was set up, how neat she kept her space as she cooked, and how little went to waste.
Not long after I returned to Texas, Shigeyo came to visit. We went to the farmers market together, and she picked out the most gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. Back at my place, she threw together a dynamite dressing and finished the dish with fresh herbs.
What struck me most wasn’t just how delicious it was—it was how at ease she was making it, even in a new kitchen, without her usual pantry to draw from. Shigeyo embodied a quiet confidence and creative abundance that allowed her to make something beautiful with whatever was fresh and right in front of her.
Shigeyo passed away just a couple of weeks ago, and the first time I made this salad since her passing was last Sunday with tomatoes from VRDNT. 🥹 🍅 💛 Thank you for bringing forth such ripe memories with your gorgeous tomato bounty—and giving me the chance to share a bit about what a remarkable woman she was.
What’s your easy go-to recipe this time of year?
This tzatziki recipe comes together in 7 minutes flat, and it’s only 4 ingredients. I love adding this cooling condiment to … everything! Last night I added it to a big dinner salad with corn & peaches. It goes great with grilled meats. And of course you can use it as a dip with pita chips and fresh veggies.
I’ll actually be sampling this tzatziki at Mueller as part of our very first preview of Cooks Atlas this Sunday June 15 if you want to come try!
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