How Farm Life in the Poconos Shaped The Designer's Palate

Kim Riter, the cookbook author behind the Farm to Table Fabulous Cookbook Series, has turned a childhood spent on family farms and large farm-table dinners into a third book, The Designer’s Palate: A Farm To Table Fabulous Cookbook. Published by Level Best Books, the new title pairs recipes with interior design advice and what Riter describes as the healing properties of food, organized around the colors of the rainbow.

Riter grew up in a farming family in the Northern Poconos of Pennsylvania, where meals often brought 25 people to the table from food raised on the property. She later worked as an interior designer and elementary-school educator before she and her husband Ian ran two farm stands in the region. Their monthly five-course dinners for customers and friends, accompanied by local wineries and Ian’s piano playing, created a local following that began asking for recipes.

The attention grew into publishing agreements: first with Great American Publishers for two Farm to Table Fabulous titles, and now with Level Best Books, which signed Riter to a five-book contract. She also taught herself food photography and page design, and the photographs in The Designer’s Palate are her own. In 2020, the Riter family added Ritter’s Farm Winery & Cidery at their Mount Cobb property.

The new book includes a quick-reference section explaining the health benefits associated with different fruit and vegetable colors, plus recipes such as the cioppino created by her son Kaden, whose version and photograph led to a guest spot on Food Network’s Chopped Jr.

Inside the Riter Brand: Why a Third Cookbook Won a Five-Book Deal

Riter’s story is less about a single cookbook than about a personal brand assembled around place, function and visual style.

Why Level Best Books Bet on Five Books

The publisher’s five-book commitment signals that it sees Riter as more than a recipe writer. She supplies the recipes, the food photography, the page design and the farm-to-table narrative in one package. From a publishing perspective, that reduces reliance on outside contributors and gives the series a consistent visual identity across multiple products. The claim is consistent with Level Best Books being 'so impressed' with her work, though no sales figures are disclosed in the profile.

The Color-and-Health Hook Inside The Designer’s Palate

Riter says she was surprised by what she learned about the health benefits linked to the colors of fruits and vegetables, and she includes the information as a quick-reference section rather than as medical guidance. That structure turns the book from a seasonal entertaining guide into a lifestyle reference that can be consulted repeatedly, potentially extending the book’s shelf life and appeal beyond special occasions. The health language should be read as Riter’s editorial framing; the profile does not cite formal clinical evidence.

From Local Dinner Series to a Winery Brand

The Riter family’s farm stands and five-course dinners created the demand that eventually justified the books. Because customers repeatedly asked for recipes, Riter could approach publishers with proof that an audience already existed. The later expansion into Ritter’s Farm Winery & Cidery extends the same local brand into wine and cider, making the cookbooks part of a small hospitality ecosystem rather than a standalone publishing project.

What Aspiring Cookbook Authors Can Take From Riter's Path

For aspiring cookbook authors or food entrepreneurs, Riter’s path offers several concrete patterns rather than a formula.

  • Lead with a lived niche. Riter’s farm-to-table identity came from childhood farm meals and later from the couple’s two farm stands in the Northern Poconos, giving the books a story that stands apart from generic recipe collections.
  • Create proof of audience before pitching. The monthly five-course dinners for farm-stand customers and friends generated recipe requests, which helped justify the book proposal to publishers.
  • Bundle skills that lower the publisher’s cost. Riter taught herself food photography and page design and produced the original photographs for The Designer’s Palate, making the project more self-sufficient.
  • Use a repeatable visual or content system. The color-by-health reference and design advice give the book a second use beyond cooking, which can support a series rather than a one-off title.