Colorful palette of fresh produce at farmstands

It was a chance meeting that brought together the two collaborators whose handsome large-format book, “Fresh from the Farm,” is just out from Rizzoli.

Actually, they were probably bound to meet sooner or later. After all, both have homes in Sagaponack, both have a more than casual interest in food and in the places where the best of it is produced and served, and each has a recognized talent for artful expression—Nathalie Sann as a writer, Susan Meisel as a photographer.

So it seems hardly pure chance that the two met at Cavaniola’s Gourmet Cheese Shop in Sag Harbor, one of scores of East End foodie destinations that get the full treatment in their lavishly illustrated book.

After overhearing the photographer’s name at the cheese counter, Ms. Sann took the opportunity to thank Ms. Meisel for having included a shot of her house in a previous book of photographs. Then, emboldened by the encounter, Ms. Sann suggested that Ms. Meisel might be interested in doing the photography for a book idea she had in mind.

That initial collaboration was “Gourmet Shops of New York.”

“After that, everybody was asking us, ‘Where can I find good food outside of New York?’” Ms. Sann recalled.

Reached by phone in her native Paris, where she was stopping briefly on her way from Spain to Greece, Ms. Sann spoke with ebullient fluency, her French accent particularly irresistible in its syncopation of Sagaponack’s four funny syllables.

Ms. Sann stressed that “Fresh from the Farm” is not a book of food criticism. “We have been to many places,” she said, “and we write about places we like.”

Among the farm stands, gourmet shops, specialty growers and wineries the two women visited on their adventurous quest for the best and the freshest, those on the South Fork are most numerous, but Ms. Meisel’s trusty pickup truck also took them to the North Fork as well as the Hudson Valley and the Catskills (all within 100 miles of New York).

Many of the places that made the cut, like Tate’s Bake Shop, the Milk Pail, Espresso, the Seafood Shop and Briermere Farm were regular haunts and will be familiar to most local readers. Upstate New York, though, was unexplored territory for Ms. Sann and Ms. Meisel, as it will be for most East Enders.

“It was new for us,” said Ms. Sann, “but it was very much fun, very interesting, a very good way to discover New York State, which is so beautiful.”

Ms. Meisel’s gorgeous color photographs provide proof of that claim on every page. The book is a feast for the eyes as well as an invitation to the literal kind, but Ms. Sann hopes it also will serve as a practical guide to good eating and maybe even convince some of the food snobs she has encountered in her world travels of the quality and variety of this country’s fare.

People can be “quite skeptical about American food,” she said, when, in fact, in her view at least, “New York is the food capital of the world.”

If it’s cheese or some other frequently consumed favorite you’re after, Paris will have it, she said. Even so, she added, if you want something out of the ordinary in Paris, “Nobody has it. New York, because it is so diverse, has everything.”

So, indeed, does eastern Long Island, or so it would seem to anyone leafing through the pages of “Fresh from the Farm.” From exotic mushrooms to pungent chutneys, heirloom tomatoes and organic eggs, it’s all here—including a variety of cheeses to rival the Parisian selection.

Asked to name some of her favorite places, Ms. Sann was as hesitant as a parent obliged to choose a favorite child. Pressed, she picked one of the smallest and closest to home: the stand at the Foster Farm in Sagaponack.

“It is very, very small,” she said, “but everything is extremely good.”

Ms. Foster’s vegetables are “legendary,” according to Ms. Sann, who is almost as impressed with the honor system in place at the stand, which is left unattended.

“They just leave the money,” Ms. Sann observed with obvious astonishment. That would never work in France, she laughed, “the money would be stolen.”

Another favorite is the Fish Farm in Amagansett, which is run by a transplanted Provencale who sells prepared foods and serves lunch, with “an incredible tarte tatin” as one of the dessert selections.

“I love this place,” said Ms. Sann, “because it’s a cross between the U.S. and France.”

When she wants “amazing pizza,” she heads for Scotto’s Italian Pork Store in Hampton Bays, and for mushrooms there is only one source: Open Minded Organics where David Falkowski produces an incredible 300 pounds of mushrooms per week. The Bridgehampton headquarters is not open to the public but the mushrooms are available at local farm stands and are favored by restaurant chefs.

Ms. Sann, who got a privileged tour of Mr. Falkowski’s intriguing “cloning lab,” was mightily impressed by the venture.

“He is a very interesting man,” she said, “very dedicated to his mushrooms.”

Some of the entries for shops and farms include recipes featuring the ingredients they supply. As a product of a French household where everyone cooked and no one settled for anything less than high quality ingredients, Ms. Sann was happy to note an increasing consciousness among Americans about “what they eat and where the food comes from.”

“Americans are starting to understand how important ingredients are,” she said. “If you try to cook and don’t have good ingredients it will never be good.”

Sometimes it couldn’t be simpler, she said, offering this little recipe of her own: Take a simple tomato, put some good olive oil on the top and sprinkle with salt. Et voilà—a fresh-from-the-farm treat to please a king’s palate.