Best of
Food-Writing

2010

As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto: Food, Friendship, and the Making of a Masterpiece


Joan Reardon - 2010
    But despite that familiarity, how much do we really know of the inner Julia?   Now more than 200 letters exchanged between Julia and Avis DeVoto, her friend and unofficial literary agent memorably introduced in the hit movie Julie & Julia, open the window on Julia’s deepest thoughts and feelings. This riveting correspondence, in print for the first time, chronicles the blossoming of a unique and lifelong friendship between the two women and the turbulent process of Julia’s creation of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, one of the most influential cookbooks ever written.Frank, bawdy, funny, exuberant, and occasionally agonized, these letters show Julia, first as a new bride in Paris, then becoming increasingly worldly and adventuresome as she follows her diplomat husband in his postings to Nice, Germany, and Norway.   With commentary by the noted food historian Joan Reardon, and covering topics as diverse as the lack of good wine in the United States, McCarthyism, and sexual mores, these astonishing letters show America on the verge of political, social, and gastronomic transformation.

High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America


Jessica B. Harris - 2010
    Harris has spent much of her life researching the food and foodways of the African Diaspora. High on the Hog is the culmination of years of her work, and the result is a most engaging history of African American cuisine. Harris takes the reader on a harrowing journey from Africa across the Atlantic to America, tracking the trials that the people and the food have undergone along the way. From chitlins and ham hocks to fried chicken and vegan soul, Harris celebrates the delicious and restorative foods of the African American experience and details how each came to form such an important part of African American culture, history, and identity. Although the story of African cuisine in America begins with slavery, High on the Hog ultimately chronicles a thrilling history of triumph and survival. The work of a masterful storyteller and an acclaimed scholar, Jessica B. Harris's High on the Hog fills an important gap in our culinary history. Praise for Jessica B. Harris: "Jessica Harris masters the ability to both educate and inspire the reader in a fascinating new way." -Marcus Samuelsson, chef owner of Restaurant Aquavit

American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields


Rowan Jacobsen - 2010
    For those who have embraced the local food movement, American Terroir will share the best of America's bounty and explain why place matters. It will be the first guide to the "flavor landscapes" of some of our most iconic foods, including apples, honey, maple syrup, coffee, oysters, salmon, wild mushrooms, wine, cheese, and chocolate. With equally iconic recipes by the author and important local chefs, and a complete resource section for finding place-specific foods, American Terroir is the perfect companion for any self-respecting locavore.

The Simple Art of EatingWell: 400 Easy Recipes, Tips and Techniques for Delicious, Healthy Meals: 400 Easy Recipes, Tips and Techniques for Delicious, Healthy Meals


Jessie Price - 2010
    Step-by-step techniques show you healthier ways to cook, including how to oven-fry favorite deep-fried foods like onion rings; how to make a lighter, healthier pie crust; make-at-home tacos, freezer pops, fat-free cookies; and many more.Recipes have notes and tips on how they were made healthier—for instance, when andhow to substitute whole grain for white flour or how to use canola oil in place of butter.     • Step-by-step technique guides withphotos     • More than 400 recipes, from soups andsalads to main dishes and desserts     • 200 full-color photos throughout     • Quick-cooking guides for seasonal fruitsand vegetables     • Kitchen essentials: the best tools andgadgets for your healthy kitchen     • Pantry list: what to stock for a healthypantryThe Simple Art of EatingWell is a Finalist for a 2011 James Beard Foundation Award in Healthy Focus.

Love in a Dish . . . and Other Culinary Delights by M.F.K. Fisher


M.F.K. Fisher - 2010
    She is hailed as one of America’s preeminent writers about gastronomy. But to limit her to that genre would be a disservice. She was passionate and well-traveled, and her narratives fill over two dozen highly acclaimed books. In this collection of some of her finest works, we learn that Fisher’s palette was not only well trained in gastronomical masterpieces, but in life’s best pleasures as well. Love in a Dish . . . and Other Culinary Delights by M.F.K. Fisher is an instructional manual on how to live, eat, and love brought together by prolific researcher and culinary enthusiast Anne Zimmerman. With great care she has selected essays that sometimes forgive our lustful appetites, yet simultaneously celebrate them, as in “Once a Tramp, Always . . . ” and “Love in a Dish,” which guides us down the path to marital bliss via the family dining table. It is through this carefully chosen selection, which includes two essays never before collected in book form, that we encounter Fisher’s bold passion for cuisine and an introduction to her idea of what constitutes the delicious life.

SEAsoned - A Chef's Journey with Her Captain


Victoria Allman - 2010
    Add two inexperienced crew members, an anorexic diva and her bully of a husband, a CEO who thinks he's in charge, a drunken first mate, and a randy wife looking for diversion. Stir with a violent storm and a rapidly flooding engine room. Apply pressure and watch the situation simmer to a boil. Sprinkled with over 30-mouthwatering recipes and spiced with tales of adventure, SEAsoned is the hilarious look at a yacht chef's first year working for her husband while they cruise from the Bahamas to Italy, France, Greece and Spain, trying to stay afloat.

Tea at Fortnum & Mason


Emma Marsden - 2010
    Recipes include Cucumber, Cream Cheese and Dill Sandwiches; Macadamia and Stem Ginger Cookies; Madeleines; Almond and Rose Petal Squares; Honey and Lavender Loaf Cake; and Seville Orange and Whisky Marmalade. Beautifully illustrated with charming vintage tea advertisements and glorious recipe photos, this book is a must-have for tea drinkers everywhere. Metric measurements.

Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher


Frederick L. Kirschenmann - 2010
    Kirschenmann is a celebrated agricultural thinker. In the last thirty years he has tirelessly promoted the principles of sustainability and has become a legend in his own right. Kirschenmann was a keynote speaker at the 2010 Biodynamic National Conference. Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher documents Kirschenmann's evolution and his lifelong contributions to the new agrarianism in a collection of his greatest writings on farming, philosophy, and sustainability. Working closely with agricultural economist and editor Constance L. Falk, Kirschenmann recounts his intellectual and spiritual journey. In a unique blend of personal history, philosophical discourse, spiritual ruminations, and practical advice, Kirschenmann interweaves his insights with discussion of contemporary agrarian topics. This collection serves as an invaluable resource to agrarian scholars and introduces readers to an agricultural pioneer whose work has profoundly influenced modern thinking about food.

Steak: One Man's Search for the World's Tastiest Piece of Beef


Mark Schatzker - 2010
    There is no such place as a lamb house or a pork house, but even a small town can have a steak house." So begins Mark Schatzker's ultimate carnivorous quest. Fed up with one too many mediocre steaks, the intrepid journalist set out to track down, define, and eat the perfect specimen. His journey takes him to all the legendary sites of steak excellence-Texas, France, Scotland, Italy, Japan, Argentina, and Idaho's Pahsimeroi Valley-where he discovers the lunatic lengths steak lovers will go to consume the perfect cut. After contemplating the merits of Black Angus, Kobe, Chianina, and the prehistoric aurochs-a breed revived by the Nazis after four hundred years of extinction-Schatzker adopts his own heifer, fattens her on fruit, acorns, and Persian walnuts, and then grapples with ambivalence when this near-pet appears on his plate. Reminiscent of both Bill Bryson's and Bill Buford's writing, Steak is a warm, humorous, and wide-ranging read that introduces a wonderful new travel and food writer to the common table.

Food Heroes: Sixteen Culinary Artisans Preserving Tradition


Georgia Pellegrini - 2010
    Filled with colorful anecdotes, photographs, and recipes, this book offers an accessible introduction to the artisanal food movement, and vicarious living for armchair travelers, food lovers, and others who might won-der what it would be like to drop everything and start an olive farm, or who yearn to make and sell their own clotted cream butter. Thirty-two fantastic recipes follow the profiles, and encourage readers to find their own local suppliers.

Cornbread Nation 5: The Best of Southern Food Writing


Fred W. Sauceman - 2010
    Cornbread Nation 5, lovingly edited by accomplished food writer Fred W. Sauceman, celebrates food and the ways in which it forges unexpected relationships between people and places. In this collection of more than seventy essays and poems, we read about the food that provides nourishment as well as a sense of community and shared history.Essays examine Nashville’s obsession with hot chicken and the South’s passion for congealed foods. There are stories of green tomatoes frying over a campfire in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee and tea cakes baking for Easter in Louisiana. In a chapter on immigrant cooking, writers visit the Mississippi Delta where a Chinese family fries pork rinds in a wok and a Lebanese restaurant serves baklava alongside coconut cream pie. Alan Deutschman, a self-described “Jewish Yankee,” chronicles his search for the perfect country ham. Barbara Kingsolver extols on the joys of eating sustainably. Sara Roahen writes a veritable love letter to the venerable New Orleans Sazerac. Kevin Young delights with his “Ode to Chicken,” and Donna Tartt treats us to what else but bourbon. Cornbread Nation 5 is a feast for the eyes, and if you’re not hungry or thirsty when you pick up this book, you will be when you put it down.Published in association with the Southern Foodways Alliance at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. A Friends Fund Publication.

Rustica: A Return to Spanish Home Cooking


Frank Camorra - 2010
    In Rustica, award-winning chef Frank Camorra journeys through his native land to deliver more than 120 savory and sweet recipes tailored to the home kitchen. With an eye-catching, modern design, sumptuous photography, clear techniques, and a Spanish culinary glossary, this gorgeous package is as glorious as the cuisine it celebrates.

Zero-Mile Diet


Carolyn Herriot - 2010
    Full of illustrative colour photos and step-by-step instructions, "The Zero-Mile Diet " shares wisdom gleaned from 30 years of food growing and seed saving with comprehensive advice on: * Growing organic food year-round* The small fruit orchard and backyard berries* Superb yet simple seasonal recipes* Preserving your harvest* Seed saving and plant propagation* Dirt-cheap ways to nourish your soil* Backyard poultry--it's less time-consuming than youthink* Growing vegetables in the easiest way possible* A-z guide to growing the best vegetables and herbs Put organic home-grown fruits and vegetables on your table throughout the year, using the time-saving, economical and sustainable methods of gardening outlined in "The Zero-Mile Diet." This book is about REAL food and how eating it will change our lives for the better.

Practice Aloha: Secrets to Living Life Hawaiian Style: Stories, Recipes and Lyrics from Hawaii's Favorite Folks


Mark Ellman - 2010
    It only requires an open heart and mind. In this book, some of Hawaii's favorite folks tell us what they believe it means to practice aloha. Once you experience aloha you understand its power to make life better. You can begin to learn what aloha is by reading these stories, but you will have to practice aloha to understand it. No worries: there is no sweeter lesson in life.The lifestyle that makes Hawaii irresistible is spreading beyond the Islands. The secret is simple. When you give aloha, you get it back.

Eating Local: The Cookbook Inspired by America's Farmers


Sur La Table - 2010
    These progressive farms provide inspiration for all who want to cook more wholesome meals using ingredients from their own foodshed.