Entire Shipment of Cookbooks Sinks to the Bottom of the Ocean Causing Release Date Delays

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Last November, Mason Hereford, the chef-owner of acclaimed New Orleans sandwich shop Turkey and the Wolf (a 2017 Food & Wine Restaurants of the Year honoree) announced that his first cookbook would be available in mid-February. "IT'S A REAL BOOK. ALWAYS WAS, AND I'M SO PUMPED TO SHOW YOU," he wrote on Instagram in his usual all-caps style.

But, due to an absolutely bonkers set of circumstances, Hereford is going to have to wait a little longer to show this book to anyone — although there's a chance that Neptune might get his hands on an early copy. The Madrid Bridge, a New York-bound cargo ship that was transporting the copies of the cookbook, rolled in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, losing more than 60 of the containers it was carrying.

"I have some wild and unfortunate cookbook news so bizarre that it warrants using lowercase text," Hereford posted on Instagram on Wednesday. "The good news is that there were no critical injuries, as can happen in these situations. But the bad news is the books might be in a cargo container at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean [...] which is perhaps the most hilariously 2022 thing to happen yet this year."

According to freight industry publication The Loadstar, the Madrid Bridge was south of the Azores on January 7 when a large ocean swell and 22-knot winds caused the ship to "roll significantly." The outlet reports that 65 containers fell overboard, and an additional 89 containers were damaged. The ship was rerouted away from New York and docked in Charleston, South Carolina on Monday night.

Hereford's cookbook wasn't the only one that may have been lost at sea. According to an Instagram post from New York Times writer and cookbook author Melissa Clark, her upcoming cookbook was on that ship, too. "In keeping with the zeitgeist of 2022, I regret to inform you all that my new cookbook, Dinner in One, may have sunk to the bottom of the ocean," she wrote on Instagram. "I like to think that if the books are at the bottom of the ocean, they're teaching whole schools of fish some very tasty recipes. Poseidon and his nereids are dining in style."

The new release date for Turkey and the Wolf: Flavor Trippin' in New Orleans has been moved ahead to June 21, 2022. According to Hereford's Instagram post, anyone who preordered the book directly from the restaurant will be getting an email "with an update and some options." Clark wrote that her publication date is now September 6, and any pre-orders will be delivered automatically after its release.

But Hereford is asking disappointed customers to keep spirits up, writing, "We're still gonna party and we hope you do too."