Best of
Food-Writing

2014

The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food


Dan Barber - 2014
    Instead, Barber proposes Americans should move to the 'third plate,' a cuisine rooted in seasonal productivity, natural livestock rhythms, whole-grains, and small portions of free-range meat.

Apples of Uncommon Character: Heirlooms, Modern Classics, and Little-Known Wonders


Rowan Jacobsen - 2014
    Now he does the same for our favorite fruit, showing us that there is indeed life beyond Red Delicious-and even Honeycrisp. While supermarkets limit their offerings to a few waxy options, apple trees with lives spanning human generations are producing characterful varieties-and now they are in the midst of a rediscovery. From heirlooms to new designer breeds, a delicious diversity of apples is out there for the eating.Apples have strong personalities, ranging from crabby to wholesome. The Black Oxford apple is actually purple, and looks like a plum. The Knobbed Russet looks like the love child of a toad and a potato. (But don't be fooled by its looks.) The D'Arcy Spice leaves a hint of allspice on the tongue. Cut Hidden Rose open and its inner secret is revealed.With more than 150 art-quality color photographs, Apples of Uncommon Character shows us the fruit in all its glory. Jacobsen collected specimens both common and rare from all over North America, selecting 120 to feature, including the best varieties for eating, baking, and hard-cider making. Each is accompanied by a photograph, history, lore, and a list of characteristics. The book also includes 20 recipes, savory and sweet, resources for buying and growing, and a guide to the best apple festivals. It's a must-have for every foodie.

Ample Hills Creamery: Secrets and Stories from Brooklyn’s Favorite Ice Cream Shop


Brian Smith - 2014
    Lines wind around the block, spurred on by the chance to try one of their unforget­table flavors, and these and countless others will be dreamed up in kitchens across the country with the help of Ample Hills Creamery. Featuring recipes for the most sought-after flavors—including Salted Crack Caramel, Ooey Gooey, and the Munchies—the book is organized by mood. Are you feeling nostalgic? Try a scoop of Black Cow Float. Or maybe you need a drink? Daddy’s Sundae, made with bourbon, will set you right. For kids and kids-at-heart, stories, activities, and hand-drawn characters appear throughout each chapter, offering games, helpful tips, and inspiration for creating new flavors. With mouthwatering photography and charming illustrations, Ample Hills Creamery is a definitive, cow-filled guide for ice cream lovers and DIY enthusiasts alike.

Eat Dat New Orleans: A Guide to the Unique Food Culture of the Crescent City


Michael Murphy - 2014
    It highlights nearly 250 eating spots—sno-cone stands and food carts as well as famous restaurants—and spins tales of the city’s food lore, such as the controversial history of gumbo and the Shakespearean drama of restaurateur Owen Brennan and his heirs.Both first-time visitors and seasoned travelers will be helped by a series of appendixes that list restaurants by cuisine, culinary classes and tours, food festivals, and indispensable “best of” lists chosen by an A-list of the city’s food writers and media personalities, including Poppy Tooker, Lolis Eric Elie, Ian McNulty, Sara Roahen, Marcelle Bienvenu, Amy C. Sins, and Liz Williams.

Lucky Peach Issue 13


David Chang - 2014
    Each issue focuses on a single theme, and explores that theme through essays, art, photography, and recipes.Lucky Peach #13, our "Feel the Joy" issue, arrives just in time for the holiday season. Like Dorie Greenspan, the high priestess of holiday (and year-round) baking, we're indiscriminate lovers of all holidays. This issue's educational: there's fiction from Anthony Bourdain, with real advice on how not to ruin a turkey dinner (hint: two turkeys), and recipes for recreating Peter Meehan's traditional Christmas Eve Feast of the One Fishes (that's lobster rolls). Our celebrations take us all around the world, from a halal butcher shop in New York's East Village to Haiti, where Adam Gollner celebrates with Vodounistes. We learn from a mithai master at a sweets shop in London, celebrate Christmas in India, home of some of the world's oldest Christian communities, and marvel at mountains of food in Indonesia, where celebrations are marked by gunangans (food mountains). We learn the science behind what happens when we overeat; plus plans for how to build your own gingerbread mansion and cocktail cures for what ails you.

Lucky Peach Issue 10: The Street Food Issue


David Chang - 2014
    Each issue focuses on a single theme, and explores that theme through essays, art, photography, and recipes. Less summary than survey, the street food issue takes to the world’s streets like a starved flâneur, flitting from birria in Mexico City to chicharron-studded tortillas in Buenos Aires, from chaat in Mumbai to gizzard noodle soup in Chiang Mai’s Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. This issue watches as children made stick bread in Copenhagen and shares a report on who’s eating all your cigarette butts (spoiler: microbes). For Jonathan Gold, the experience of eating street food is inseparable from time and place. Issue 10 also delves into the history of “Turkey in the Straw,” an ice-cream truck ditty that rings out across Los Angeles; spends a day with the Doughnut Luchador of East LA (doughnut slinger by day, luchador by night); and learns what happens, exactly, when you cook with charcoal, and what nixtamalizing does to corn. Plus, a look into the wondrous array of street sausages around the globe, the best of the wurst.

Lucky Peach Issue 11: All You Can Eat


David Chang - 2014
    Each issue focuses on a single theme, and explores that theme through essays, art, photography, and recipes.Issue 11 is our ALL YOU CAN EAT issue. We eat and eat and eat some more: at a country club in Boca Raton, at a series of wedding feasts in the Republic of Georgia, in the parking lot outside of the Iron Bowl. We attempt to beat the buffet, see how people stuff themselves at sex parties, hang out with Yu Bo, the best Chinese chef you’ve never heard of (“All Yu Can Eat”), and learn about ruminant digestion (“All Ewe Can Eat”). Gabrielle Hamilton demonstrates the many ways to enjoy the celery languishing in our crispers; novelist Padgett Powell shoots (then stews) the ubiquitous squirrel. Plus, we take stock of what hunger looks like around the world and of what's for dinner at a prison in Westville, Indiana. Too much? That’s the point.

Native Plants of the Southeast: A Comprehensive Guide to the Best 460 Species for the Garden


Larry Mellichamp - 2014
    They attract beneficial wildlife and insects, they allow a gardener to create a garden that reflects the native beauty of the region, and they make a garden more sustainable. Because of all this, they are an increasingly popular plant choice for home and public gardens. Native Plants of the Southeast shows you how to choose the best native plants and how to use them in the garden. This complete guide is an invaluable resource, with plant profiles for over 460 species of trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, grasses, and wildflowers. Each plant description includes information about cultivation and propagation, ranges, and hardiness. Comprehensive lists recommend particular plants for difficult situations, as well as plants for attracting butterflies, hummingbirds, and other wildlife. Native Plants of the Southeast will be the definitive reference on the region's native flora for years to come.

7000 Islands: A Food Portrait of the Philippines


Yasmin Newman - 2014
    For Filipino's, food is more than a pleasurable pursuit - it is the cultural language of the Philippines. Filipino's use food to apologize, woo a woman, ask a favor, or say thank you; it fills in social gaps and crosses borders of religion and class. Filipino food can be seen through the prism of its unique and colorful history, with influences from Malaysia, Spain, China, Mexico, and the US adding to the cuisine's rich texture. Divided into 13 chapters - Dipping Sauces, Breakfast, Soups, Everyday Food, Seafood, Party Food, Barbecue Food, Rice and Noodles, Vegetables and Salads, Bar and Finger Food, Snacks, Desserts, and Drinks - 7000 Islands is a beautifully illustrated guide to Filipino food and an insight into the culture and history of the Philippines. Unlike many Filipino cookbooks that assume a large degree of local knowledge, this book aims to fill the gaps for people who have never tasted or cooked the cuisine before. The detailed, easy-to-follow recipes outline some of the tricks of the trade, such as how to get the most out of garlic, when to double-fry for best results, and why vinegar should not be stirred. 7000 Islands offers a flavor-filled account of this wonderful country and its cuisine - a land full of people whose love of eating is as big as their hearts.

Southern Living Christmas All Through The South: Casual Food, Decorating, and Entertaining Ideas to Make the Season Merry


Southern Living Inc. - 2014
    Presented as a timeline of the Christmas season, each event depicted tells a highly visual story of local Southern traditions and classic holiday parties. Each event will captivate readers with an expansive collection of vibrant, full-page images, and festive, complimentary menus accompany many of the events. Combining all the elements for which Southern Living is known and revered - food, travel, and homes, this book is a journey of celebrations through the South, from the low country and the pan-handle to the Texas ranch and Williamsburg farmhouse. Kicking off the season is a reason to get outdoors with "A Tree-Cutting Outing" and "Mistletoe Hunt." "Open House" celebrations in stunningly decorated homes, a "Midnight Mass" in a charming Southern town, and a jubilant Christmas morning spread add to the bliss of the holiday euphoria. An "Oyster Roast" in a sleepy coastal town brings luck to the coming months, as it ties up the complete Christmas season with a ruby red bow.

Edible French: Tasty Expressions and Cultural Bites


Clotilde Dusoulier - 2014
    In this delightful book, Clotilde Dusoulier, creator of the award-winning food blog Chocolate & Zucchini, delves into the history and meaning of fifty of the French language’s most popular food-related expressions.Accompanied by beautiful watercolor illustrations by artist Mélina Josserand, Edible French explores whimsical turns of phrase such as:Tomber dans les pommes (falling into the apples) = faintingSe faire rouler dans la farine (being rolled in flour) = being fooledAvoir un cœur d’artichaut (having the heart of an artichoke) = falling in love easilyA treat of a read for Francophiles and food lovers alike, Edible French is the tastiest way to explore French culture—one that will leave you in high spirits—or, as the French say, vous donnera la pêche (give you the peach).

Lucky Peach Issue 12: Seashore


David Chang - 2014
    Each issue focuses on a single theme, and explores that theme through essays, art, photography, and recipes.Lucky Peach #12 is all about food from littoral realms — the spaces where land meets sea. We dive for abalone and gather seaweed off the California coast; we harvest honey in the Bangladeshi Sundarabans; we go behind the scenes at a shrimp farm in Indonesia, and spend a Sunday at the cockle sheds in Leigh-on-Sea. We learn lots about edible sea beasts, from clams to hagfish to sea squirts. Anthony Bourdain takes us on a stroll down a beach town’s memory lane; Robert Sietsema samples practically all the clams on Long Island; Stuart Dybek catches himself a perfect breakfast in the Florida keys. We share recipes from Vietnam and Portugal and the Oregon coast—we aren’t shellfish. Also in this issue: a special, detachable sixteen-page Beach Reads comic book to take on your seaside jaunts, featuring comics by Jason Jägel, Tony Millionaire, and more, because it’s summertime, and the reading is easy.

Best Food Writing 2014


Holly Hughes - 2014
    The 2014 edition once again offers the tastiest prose of the year, from a range of voices: food writing stars, James Beard Award winners, writer-chefs, bestselling authors, and up-and-coming bloggers alike. With new sections devoted to "A Table for Everyone" and "Back to Basics," you'll find a topic and a flavor for every appetite—the cutting-edge, the thoughtful, the provocative, and the hilarious—a smorgasbord of treats for the foodie in all of us.Contributors include: Elissa Altman, Dan Barber, Monica Bhide, Sara Bir, John Birdsall, Jane Black, Frank Bruni, Albert Burneko, Tom Carson, Brent Cunningham, John T. Edge, Barry Estabrook, Amy Gentry, Adam Gopnik, Matt Goulding, John Gravois, Alex Halberstadt, Sarah Henry, Jack Hitt, Steve Hoffman, Ann Hood, Silas House, Rowan Jacobsen, John Kessler, Kate Krader, Francis Lam, David Leite, Irvin Lin, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, Daniella Martin, Dave Mondy, Erin Byers Murray, Rick Nichols, Kim O'Donnel, Josh Ozersky, Kevin Pang, Ben Paynter, Michael Procopio, Jay Rayner, Besha Rodell, Anna Roth, Adam Sachs, Eli Saslow, David Sax, Oliver Strand, Laura Taxel, JT Torres, Molly Watson, Joe Yonan, Eagranie Yuh

The Perfect Meal: The Multisensory Science of Food and Dining


Charles Spence - 2014
    The principal focus of the book is not on flavor perception, but on all of the non-food and beverage factors that have been shown to influence the diner's overall experience.Examples are:the colour of the plate (visual) the shape of the glass (visual/tactile) the names used to describe the dishes (cognitive) the background music playing inside the restaurant (aural) Novel approaches to understanding the diner's experience in the restaurant setting are explored from the perspectives of decision neuroscience, marketing, design, and psychology.2015 Popular Science Prose Award Winner.

Sweet Survival - Tales of Cooking & Coping


Laura Zinn Fromm - 2014
    An award-winning journalist and self-described sugar addict, Fromm is funny and frank in this moving account of trying to find comfort in a family fraught with mental illness. Fromm worked for years as a reporter at Business Week, living in Manhattan and barely cooking at all. Craving a kitchen that could accommodate more than one, she returned, with her husband and two young sons, to live in the idyllic New Jersey town where she grew up. There, Fromm set about learning to cook and cope as she navigated 9/11, her father's illness and her decision to create a grown up life in her childhood town. These essays are warm and generous, as are her recipes and cooking advice. You ll find everything in here, from baking for a Nobel Prize winner to courting a kidnapper; mastering a mousse souffle to roasting a chicken in milk. Fromm writes about life with tenderness and tenacity, and about food with a devotion and sensuality that will inspire even the most kitchen-phobic among us to bolt for our saute pans. If food is love, Fromm depicts cooking as even lovelier.

The Ethnic Restaurateur


Krishnendu Ray - 2014
    In this ground-breaking new book, Krishnendu Ray reverses this trend by exploring the culinary world from the perspective of the ethnic restaurateur.Focusing on New York City, he examines the lived experience, work, memories, and aspirations of immigrants working in the food industry. He shows how migrants become established in new places, creating a taste of home and playing a key role in influencing food cultures as a result of transactions between producers, consumers and commentators.Based on extensive interviews with immigrant restaurateurs and students, chefs and alumni at the Culinary Institute of America, ethnographic observation at immigrant eateries and haute institutional kitchens as well as historical sources such as the US census, newspaper coverage of restaurants, reviews, menus, recipes, and guidebooks, Ray reveals changing tastes in a major American city between the late 19th and through the 20th century.Written by one of the most outstanding scholars in the field, The Ethnic Restaurateur is an essential read for students and academics in food studies, culinary arts, sociology, urban studies and indeed anyone interested in popular culture and cooking in the United States.

To Eat with Grace


Tamar AdlerGary Paul Nabhan - 2014
    Whether foraging, baking, or gardening, digging their hands into the soil of their backyards or being seduced by the exotic fruits of a far-off place, these writers praise the sensuous and spiritual ways that our food can nourish us. As Darra Goldstein writes in her forward, "When we eat good food, we smell and taste the earth, and thereby reconnect with it: this is what it means to eat with grace."

A Bowl of Olives: On Food and Memory


Sara Midda - 2014
    Drawn from the artist’s wealth of impressions and memories, it is a book for lovers of food and art and fine gift books—a book for anyone who, upon arriving in a new town, seeks first the local market, or who believes the best thing to do on a given night is to share a table with friends. Sara Midda is a watercolorist whose delicate and beautiful paintings shine like jewels, evoking the sweet purple taste of a summer raspberry or the silvery greens and gnarled burnt umber of an olive grove. And she is also a collagist, weaving together photographs, line drawings, her personal swatches—all the hues of a spice cabinet, or the sensations of a picnic, the colors of the breeze, sunshine, laughter, the cooling grass. And a poet, in love with words that sing, like podding and wicker, nettle and snug. By turns reverent and playful, A Bowl of Olives is a work of pure enchantment, celebrating food—of the seasons, of family, of travel and memory. It is as richly layered as a favorite meal. The book is cloth-bound, jacketed, and printed on uncoated stock to convey the feeling of an artist’s sketchbook.

School of Fish


Ben Pollinger - 2014
    Ben Pollinger, executive chef of upscale Manhattan restaurant Oceana, distills years of experience working in some of the world’s best restaurants in this no-nonsense book that demystifies the art of cooking seafood. With more than 100 recipes organized by technique from the easiest to the most advanced, Pollinger takes you through the ins and outs of baking, roasting, braising, broiling, steaming, poaching, grilling, frying, sautéing, and of course seasoning. In addition, he offers up terrific recipes for basics (like Homemade Hot Sauce and Fish Fumet); dressed fish (from ceviche to tartars); salads, pasta, rice, and sides (such as Salmon Salad with Spinach, Dill, and Mustard Vinaigrette); soups and chowders (including Gazpacho with Seared Scallops); and one-pot meals (like Caribbean Fish Stew and Thai-Style Bouillabaisse). And to round out your seafood education, School of Fish includes a Fish-ionary, a Guide to Unusual Ingredients, and detailed step-by-step photos to complement the 100 photographed recipes. As appealing in its presentation as it is useful, this guide outlines all the skills you need for perfecting your culinary craft. So whether you’re a home cook trying something new or an experienced “afishionado,” School of Fish will turn you into a better cook and an authority on all things seafood.

Lunch at the Shop: The Art and Practice of the Midday Meal


Peter Miller - 2014
    But it doesn’t need to be so. Peter Miller makes lunch every day at his bookshop in Seattle. It may be only a salad or a sandwich, but he and his team put it together each day without a formal kitchen. It is a moment set aside, away from the computer and the clock.Lunch at the Shop is a call to lunch. On the most basic level, the book is a primer for making lunch for a few people at work, including more than 50 tried-and-tested, deliciously simple recipes. However, the essence of the book is about adopting a lifestyle that allows food to be savored every day, in a way that is easy, fresh, healthy, and a pleasure. “You may not know it yet, but you are hungry for what is bound and written on these pages. As he did for me, Peter Miller will help fill you up. I’m sure of it.” —Matthew Dillon, James Beard Award–winning chef of Sitka & Spruce, The Corson Building, and Bar Sajor

French Roots: Two Cooks, Two Countries, and the Beautiful Food along the Way


Jean-Pierre Moulle - 2014
    French Roots is the story of their lives told through the food they cook—beginning with the dishes of old-world France, the couple’s birthplace, and focusing on the simple, pared-down preparations of French food common in the postwar period. The story then travels to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s, where Jean-Pierre was appointed executive chef at Chez Panisse when California cuisine was just emerging as a distinctive and important style, and where Denise began importing French wine. Finally, the journey follows the couple to their homes in Sonoma, California, and Bordeaux to revisit the classic dishes of the Moullés’ native country and hone the forgotten skills of foraging, hunting, and preserving. Exquisitely written, with recipes that are innovative and timeless, insights on cooking and thinking like a chef, and an insider’s guide to the wines of Bordeaux, French Roots is much more than a cookbook—it’s a guide to living the good life.From the Hardcover edition.

Food In England: A complete guide to the food that makes us who we are


Dorothy Hartley - 2014
    There are unusual dishes such as the Cornish Onion and Apple Pie, and even recipes for fungi, from common field mushrooms to puffballs. She describes some delicious puddings, cakes and breads, including an exotic violet flower ice cream, an eighteenth century coconut bread and Yorkshire teacakes. The finely-executed line drawings that accompany many of the recipes are more than just beautiful; they inform the cook about different varieties and techniques of food-handling. First published in 1954, FOOD IN ENGLAND was the bible of english cooks and had a deep influence on many contemporary cooks and food writers. It will undoubtedly attract a new generation of admirers.

Food Fashion Love


Fleur Wood - 2014
    Discover what inspires, motivates and sustains her, from flower-scented baths and tisanes to old-fashioned portraits, love-heart lockets and food with soul. Fleur shares her knowledge and passion for all things vintage and offers a window into the creative processes that drive her covetable collections. Indulge your senses with fabulous fashion, cutting-edge style and plenty of mouth-watering recipes in this visual feast from the immensely creative and talented Fleur Wood.

Sake: The History, Stories and Craft of Japan's Artisanal Breweries


Hayato Hishinuma - 2014
    The 75 profiles include 60 sake breweries, 10 shochu distilleries and 5 awamori distilleries from Okinawa all the way to Hokkaido for geographic and stylistic diversity. For over 2000 years, sake has been a uniquely Japanese product in some shape or form. Today, Japan even hosts a National Sake Day. However, despite 21st century globalization, it remains an industry that is little understood by outsiders, regardless of the fact that there is growing interest. In addition to the colorful, deeply personal stories behind the owners and brewers, the book will serve as a guide to Japan's most unique generational sake, helping to enlighten a new drinking audience on artisanal alternatives to the popular mainstream offerings. To ensure a well-rounded approach, the book will also provide an introduction to unique shochu and awamori distilleries, two close relatives of sake. Beautifully illustrated with full color photography by one of the world's top travel photographers (Jason Lang), the book will appeal to a broad audience but is intended for readers outside of Japan. For novices, it will open a window to the world of sake and the stories of the passionate people who make it. Well initiated enthusiasts will benefit from a curated list of sake, shochu and awamori breweries and distilleries they can further research, buy and taste. Because many of these breweries and distilleries do not actively export their products outside Japan, beverage professionals will discover many brands that they wish to contact and consider importing for their menus.