When the enveloping warmth of summer meets the burgeoning cold of fall in the Napa Valley is a moment Cara Mangini knows all too well.
For the acclaimed chef and award-winning author of “The Vegetable Butcher,” this extraordinary window places a spotlight on the region’s produce at its peak. That means everything to the Bay Area native, who has built a renowned career and become a champion for the nutritious and delicious possibilities that vegetables offer.
During her month-long September residency at ROTATION by Feast It Forward in Napa, Mangini intends to showcase all the possibilities this bounty can offer. Presenting a modern, produce-first take on classic Italian and Italian-American dishes, she aims to celebrate the vibrant and abundant.
As Mangini puts it, “Food that doesn’t have to be thought of as vegetarian, just delicious.”
The chance to showcase her talents and knowledge is accompanied by her personal connection to the area. From her Cow Hollow home in San Francisco, built by her great-grandfather, Mangini reflects on a professional and culinary journey that has taken her across the country and back.
“The idea that now I’m getting to kind of bring my full story and perspective on food, celebrate vegetables and my California Italian heritage all together in this very, very special place at this incredibly special moment of the year, is so special,” Mangini said in a telephone interview.
“I know this moment in Napa so well. I feel like it’s in my bones. I know the light, I know the ingredients, I know the smells, and so I hope to bring all of that to the plate and celebrate the ingredients.”
Tracing her Italian roots to San Francisco, food played a monumental influence across her familial line.
While one grandfather ran a butcher shop in San Francisco’s Sunset District, her other grandfather peddled vegetables. The latter even heroically carried injured people from the marina to safety in Golden Gate Park in the days after the 1906 earthquake, according to Mangini.
Her parents also reinforced the ideas of togetherness and pleasure from the table.
As a child growing up in Redwood City, Mangini dreamt of working at the neighborhood Italian deli. That aspiration felt like intuition, she recalled, identifying how special the place was and how impactful food could be.
“I really understood that all the sort of best moments in life were happening around the table,” she said. “That this sort of magic happened at the table gathering with the people that I love and being with my family. And that was around beautiful food and sort of celebrating all different moments of the year.”
And while food played an instrumental role in shaping her life and personal philosophy, Mangini’s passion for fashion shaped her initial professional pursuits. Across the interests of art, designers and history, Mangini aspired to write for a fashion magazine.
With a focus on journalism at Northwestern University in Illinois, Mangini would start her career writing fashion pieces for the Chicago Tribune. After graduating, Mangini would move to New York City and achieve a fulfilling career at the cosmetics brand Estée Lauder.
Yet food always compelled Mangini.
If she was traveling, it was focused on culinary adventures. In her free time, she would jot down and develop recipes. Around New York, Mangini would become immersed in the farm-to-table movement across the bustling metropolis.
Soon, Mangini would follow her lifelong adoration of food by enrolling in a culinary school focused specifically on natural foods. While not solely vegetable-based, the curriculum underscored the principle that one could make delicious food that is health-supportive.
Juggling her corporate day job and a variety of culinary work, Mangini began working seven days a week. Eventually, she would find herself as the vegetable butcher for an Italian marketplace, educational institution and restaurant, Eataly, in New York City. This opportunity allowed Mangini to truly focus on what she calls her “life’s work.”
“It was there that I really started to create, sort of the foundation for my work in general,” Mangini said. “Just the idea of sort of connecting my own heritage and history with this understanding of vegetables. If people are gonna cook more with vegetables and people are gonna cook in a way that supports their health, number one, it has to be delicious, and number two, the prep and the understanding of how to cook with vegetables has to be second nature.”
When Mangini left the corporate world behind, she came to Napa Valley. There, she worked for Long Meadow Ranch, which owns St. Helena’s Farmstead restaurant and its organic farm in Rutherford. Mangini recalled spending days in the fields and time between the ranch’s farmers’ markets in St. Helena and Napa.
It was during that transformative period that Mangini would begin writing “The Vegetable Butcher.”
Where the artistry of butchery meets the bounty of seasonal produce, the cookbook aimed to dispel the mystery around preparing vegetables and provided readers with simple, approachable recipes.
In addition to favorable reviews from The New York Times, Washington Post and Time magazine, “The Vegetable Butcher” became a James Beard Award finalist and won two International Association of Culinary Professionals cookbook awards, according to a media statement and Mangini’s website.
In the following years, life’s journeys would take her to the Midwest. There, she would go on to create the acclaimed Little Eater, a produce-inspired company with multiple locally sourced restaurants in Columbus, Ohio. As executive chef, Mangini was named one of the top 50 plant-forward chefs in the world by the Culinary Institute of America and the EAT foundation, according to Mangini’s website.
Yet the Napa Valley and its nearness to where she had grown up always beckoned Mangini back.
A plan to expand her business enterprise with a produce-focused Italian-style deli almost came to fruition at Napa’s Oxbow Public Market. However, the window of opportunity appeared amid the tumult of the COVID-19 pandemic and the myriad of restrictions. And while Mangini returned to California during that time, her childhood dream of working at an Italian deli would have to wait.
So, to have a residency at ROTATION represents a full-circle moment of sorts. As she describes the opportunity, “There’s so much serendipity, it’s so beautiful. I’m so excited and honored to be a part of it.”
For Feast It Forward’s founder Katie Hamilton Shaffer, Mangini’s residency epitomizes ROTATION, which is the latest business enterprise of the “modern lifestyle brand rooted in experience and impact.”
In 2018, the flagship brick-and-mortar live studio and experiential showroom opened in downtown Napa just across from the Annex of Oxbow Public Market.
In the years since, the parent brand has grown across four business ventures, including The Studio, The Yard and the brand own’s media network with Feast.Network. ROTATION, introduced earlier this year, is a dynamic concept meant to highlight culinary styles of all kinds by renowned chefs across the globe during month-long residencies.
“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Chef Cara Mangini to ROTATION this September,” Shaffer said in an email interview. “The response to ROTATION and our chef residency model has been incredible. Guests have truly embraced the opportunity to experience a new culinary voice, story, and perspective with each residency.
“Cara represents exactly what we envisioned when we created ROTATION: giving extraordinary chefs a stage to share not only their food, but the passion, culture, and inspiration behind it. We can’t wait for Napa Valley to experience what she brings to the table and to continue building on the incredible momentum Rotation has created.”
September’s residency also coincides with a pair of other projects for Mangini.
The first is Mangini’s estate-grown olive oil collection, which is produced in St. Helena and milled immediately after harvest. Named Produce Inspired, the 2025 harvest collection aims to heighten the experience of vegetable cooking with Italian blend and Arbequina varieties.
The second is the expanding opportunities of The Vegetable School, an organization that Mangini founded that is dedicated to immersive vegetable education and bespoke culinary experiences. Earlier this year, The Vegetable School began partnering with the California Farmers Market Association to bring vegetable education to Bay Area farmers’ markets, including monthly programming at Fort Mason Center Farmers’ Market through summer and fall, according to a news release.
To purchase a copy of “The Vegetable Butcher” or Produce Inspired olive oil, browse recipes, and learn about upcoming events for The Vegetable School, visit caramangini.com.
Feast It Forward’s live studio, showroom and ROTATION are located at 1031 McKinstry St. in Napa. Mangini’s residency will run through Sept. 30. To book a reservation, and see the menu and hours of operation, visit rotationnapa.com.
Dining and Cooking