Best of
Food-Writing

2016

Grape, Olive, Pig: Deep Travels Through Spain's Food Culture


Matt Goulding - 2016
    His last book, Rice, Noodle, Fish, took an immersive approach to Japan that combined travel, social observation and food lore. His new book on Spain offers little cooking advice but an inquisitive foodie intellectual's experience." (Financial Times)Crafted in the same “refreshing” (AP), “inspirational” (Publishers Weekly) and “impeccably observed” (Eater.com) style that drove Rice, Noodle, Fish, Roads & Kingdoms again presents a book that will change the way readers eat and travel abroad. The second in their series of unexpected and delightful gastro-tourism books, Grape, Olive, Pig is a deeply personal exploration of a country where eating and living are inextricably linked. As Anthony Bourdain said: “Any reasonable, sentient person who looks to Spain, comes to Spain, eats in Spain, drinks in Spain, they’re gonna fall in love. Otherwise, there’s something deeply wrong with you.”Matt Goulding introduces you to the sprawling culinary and geographical landscape of his adoptive home, and offers an intimate portrait of this multifaceted country, its remarkable people, and its complex history. Fall in love with Barcelona’s tiny tapas bars and modernist culinary temples. Explore the movable feast of small plates and late nights in Madrid. Join the three-thousand-year-old hunt for Bluefin tuna off the coast of Cadiz, then continue your seafood journey north to meet three sisters who risk their lives foraging the gooseneck barnacle, one of Spain’s most treasured ingredients. Delight in some of the world’s most innovative and avant-garde edible creations in San Sebastian, and then wash them down with cider from neighboring Asturias. Sample the world’s finest acorn-fed ham in Salamanca, share in the traditions of cave-dwelling shepherds in the mountains beyond Granada, and debate what constitutes truly authentic paella in Valencia.Grape, Olive, Pig reveals hidden gems and enduring delicacies from across this extraordinary country, contextualizing each meal with the stories behind the food in a cultural narrative complemented by stunning color photography. Whether you’ve visited Spain or have only dreamed of bellying up to its tapas bars, Grape, Olive, Pig will wake your imagination, rouse your hunger, and capture your heart.

Idiot's Guides: Foraging


Mark Vorderbruggen - 2016
    Wild edibles collected by professional foragers are proliferating on the plates of top-tier restaurants because they offer novel and ultra-fresh sensations for the tongue, and they frequently taste more flavorful than farmed foods. For people seeking new food experiences and wanting to forage for themselves, Idiot's Guides: Foraging shows how to find wild edibles and when and how to harvest them. Includes 30+ tasty recipes that describe how to prepare these wild foods.* Includes common plants all across North America* Covers positive plant identification * Multiple large, full-color photos identify each plant (including the mature plant, how it looks at various stages of growth, and how it looks at the right stage of growth for harvesting)* Each entry gives facts on the plant's habitat, physical properties, which parts are edible, harvesting sustainability, preparation, storage, and poisonous look-alikes* More than 30 delicious recipes* Includes range maps and charts that list plants by habitat and by season

32 Yolks: From My Mother's Table to Working the Line


Eric Ripert - 2016
    The winner of four James Beard Awards, co-owner and chef of a world-renowned restaurant, and recipient of countless Michelin stars, Ripert embodies elegance and culinary perfection. But before the accolades, before he even knew how to make a proper hollandaise sauce, Eric Ripert was a lonely young boy in the south of France whose life was falling apart.Ripert's parents divorced when he was six, separating him from the father he idolized and replacing him with a cold, bullying stepfather who insisted that Ripert be sent away to boarding school. A few years later, Ripert's father died on a hiking trip. Through these tough times, the one thing that gave Ripert comfort was food. Told that boys had no place in the kitchen, Ripert would instead watch from the doorway as his mother rolled couscous by hand or his grandmother pressed out the buttery dough for the treat he loved above all others, tarte aux pommes. When an eccentric local chef took him under his wing, an eleven-year-old Ripert realized that food was more than just an escape: It was his calling. That passion would carry him through the drudgery of culinary school and into the high-pressure world of Paris's most elite restaurants, where Ripert discovered that learning to cook was the easy part--surviving the line was the battle.Taking us from Eric Ripert's childhood in the south of France and the mountains of Andorra into the demanding kitchens of such legendary Parisian chefs as Joel Robuchon and Dominique Bouchet, until, at the age of twenty-four, Ripert made his way to the United States, 32 Yolks is the tender and richly told story of how one of our greatest living chefs found himself--and his home--in the kitchen.Praise for Eric Ripert's 32 Yolks"Passionate, poetical . . . What makes 32 Yolks compelling is the honesty and laudable humility Ripert brings to the telling."--Chicago Tribune"With a vulnerability and honesty that is breathtaking . . . Ripert takes us into the mind of a boy with thoughts so sweet they will cause you to weep. He also lets us into the mind of the man he is today, revealing all the golden cracks and chips that made him more valuable to those around him."--The Wall Street Journal"Eric Ripert makes magic with 32 Yolks."--Vanity Fair"32 Yolks may not be what you'd expect from a charming, Emmy-winning cooking show host and cookbook author. In the book, there are, of course, scenes of elaborate meals both eaten and prepared. . . . But Ripert's story is, for the most part, one of profound loss."--Los Angeles Times "This book demonstrates just how amazing Eric's life has been both inside and outside of the kitchen. It makes total sense now to see him become one of the greatest chefs in the world today. This is a portrait of a chef as a young man."--David Chang

The Essential Oyster: A Salty Appreciation of Taste and Temptation


Rowan Jacobsen - 2016
    The book struck a chord, and American oyster culture has been on a gravity-defying trajectory ever since.With lavish four-color photos throughout by renowned photographer David Malosh, The Essential Oyster is the definitive book for oyster-lovers everywhere, featuring stunning portraits, tasting notes, and backstories of all the top oysters, as well as recipes from America's top oyster chefs and a guide to the best oyster bars. Spotlighting more than a hundred of North America's greatest oysters--the unique, the historically significant, the flat-out yummiest--The Essential Oyster introduces the oyster culture and history of every region of North America, as well as overseas. There is no coastline from British Columbia to Baja, from New Iberia to New Brunswick, that isn't producing great oysters. For the most part, these are deeper cupped, stronger shelled, finer flavored, and more stylish than their predecessors. Some have colorful stories to tell. Some have quirks. All have character. The Essential Oyster will help you find the best, and help you to cherish them better. That is what's captured--and celebrated--in these pages.

Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine


Sarah Lohman - 2016
    But a young historical gastronomist named Sarah Lohman discovered that American food is united by eight flavors: black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and Sriracha. Lohman sets out to explore how these influential ingredients made their way to the American table. Eight Flavors introduces the explorers, merchants, botanists, farmers, writers, and chefs whose choices came to define the American palate.

Florentine: Food and Stories from the Renaissance City


Emiko Davies - 2016
    Emiko Davies draws on her personal experience of traditional Florentine cuisine to share recipes that transport readers to the piazzas of Florence. From her torta di mele - a reassuringly nonna-esque apple cake - to Pappardelle all'anatra - mouth watering pappardelle with rich duck ragu sauce - allow yourself to be taken on a culinary tour through the city. Florentine is a unique stroll through the city's streets, past pastry shops bustling with espresso-sippers, hole-in-the-wall wine bars, busy food vans and lunchtime trattorias, to reveal why the people of Florence remain proudly attached to their unchanging cuisine - a cuisine that tells the unique story of its city, dish by dish.

The Ten (Food) Commandments


Jay Rayner - 2016
    And Lord knows we need it.Enter our new culinary Moses, the legendary restaurant critic Jay Rayner, with a new set of hand-tooled commandments for this food-obsessed age. He deals once and for all with questions like whether it is ever okay to covet thy neighbour's oxen (it is), eating with your hands (very important indeed) and if you should cut off the fat (no). Combining reportage and anecdotes with recipes worthy of adoration, Jay Rayner brings us the new foodie rules to live by.

The Pediatrician's Guide to Feeding Babies and Toddlers: Practical Answers To Your Questions on Nutrition, Starting Solids, Allergies, Picky Eating, and More (For Parents, By Parents)


Anthony Porto - 2016
    The choices of when, how, and what to feed your baby can be overwhelming. With The Pediatrician’s Guide to Feeding Babies and Toddlers, you have the expertise of a team of pediatric medical and nutritional experts—who also happen to be parents—in a comprehensive manual that takes the guesswork out of feeding. This first-of-its-kind guide provides practical, easy-to-follow advice to help you navigate the nutrition issues, medical conditions, and parenting concerns that accompany feeding. With recipes, parenting stories, and recommendations based on the latest pediatric guidelines, this book will allow you to approach mealtime with confidence so you can spend more time enjoying your new family.

Start Up Your Restaurant: The Definitive Guide for Anyone Who Dreams ofRunning Their Own Restaurant


Priya Bala - 2016
    Whether you are a food enthusiast or an entrepreneur looking for a clever business idea, the restaurant business promises adventure and endless possibilities. But creating that dream restaurant packed with happy people, which also rakes in the money, requires more than just passion - it calls for astute planning and rigorous execution.Choosing a smart ideaFunding and financePicking the perfect locationSetting up the spaceHiring the right peopleGetting licencesWorking with vendors and ensuring quality controlLaunching and marketingPacked with great tips and fun to read, this step-by-step guide from experts Jayanth Narayanan and Priya Bala will help you navigate therestaurant business with ease and efficiency

Tasting Georgia: A Food and Wine Journey in the Caucasus with Over 70 Recipes


Carla Capalbo - 2016
    Nestled between the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea, and with a climate similar to the Mediterraneans, Georgia has colorful, delicious food. Vegetables blended with walnuts and vibrant herbs, subtly spiced meat stews and home-baked pies like the irresistible cheese-filled khachapuri are served at generous tables all over the country. Georgia is also one of the worlds oldest winemaking areas, with wines traditionally made in qvevri: large clay jars buried in the ground. Award-winning food writer and photographer Capalbo has traveled around Georgia collecting recipes and gathering stories from food and winemakers in this stunning but little-known country. The beautifully illustrated book is both a cookbook and a cultural guide to the personal, artisan-made foods and wines that make Georgia such a special place on the worlds gastronomic map.

Recipes for a Nervous Breakdown


Sophie White - 2016
    domestic bliss. But we all know that life is never that smooth and, more importantly, that your dinner isn't always kale and quinoa.In this collection of recipes and rants, Sophie shares her life on a plate: from a brush with madness to falling in love; from almost running away from her wedding to getting unexpectedly pregnant (cue a gradual return to crazy); from surviving her mother and her son - her arch nemeses and her two favourite people in the world - to losing her father in his fifties to early onset Alzheimer's disease.And eating. Always eating.Part cookbook, part memoir, part self-help manual, Recipes for a Nervous Breakdown is a hilarious and refreshingly honest take on the life of a modern millennial woman - the perfect kitchen companion for laughing about the silly stuff, crying about the sad stuff, staring down our own personal madness and getting on with it (all while eating some delicious food along the way).'Sophie White's first book is hilarious, heart- breaking and honest to the point of astonishment', The Sunday Independent'Recipes for a Nervous Breakdown is a genre-crossing gem that mixes memoir, recipes and rants. It's not so much a breath of fresh air as a gale-force wind that will force a new conversation on a range of semi-taboo topics, ' The Irish Examiner'A book that is both beautifully honest and simply delicious' Graham Norton

Sushi: Jiro Gastronomy


Jirō Ono - 2016
    Descriptions of each type of sushi, featuring commentary from master Ono, are accompanied by beautiful full-page photography. You’ll learn the seasons in which the sushi is best served, the correct methods of eating it with either fingers or chopsticks, and how and when to use condiments. Small, portable, and stylish, Sushi: Jiro Gastronomy is the distillation of a lifetime’s worth of knowledge and a great gift for sushi lovers everywhere.

Brindisa: The True Food of Spain


Monika Linton - 2016
    Brindisa: The True Food of Spain is the ultimate in contemporary Spanish cooking, including classic regional recipes, tapas dishes and information about the very best ingredients and food producers.Monika Linton founded Brindisa in 1988. After the arrival of the ground-breaking shop in Borough Market, the first Brindisa tapas restaurant opened in Borough Market in 2004, and Brindisa has since grown to include five London restaurants and another in Barcelona. Ranging from the most unusual artisan dishes to the classics of Spanish cooking, this recipe collection draws on Brindisa's specialist knowledge to introduce you to delights such as jamon iberico de bellota, chorizo, cured ham and fish, fumet (rich Catalan fish stock), farmhouse cheeses, prepared pulses, olive oils and vinegars, sweet treats and storecupboard basics that are essential for Spanish and Mediterranean cooking.Covering the unique way good food is integral to everyday Spanish life, ranging from traditional breakfasts to substantial lunches, small plates of Spanish food and very simple suppers for during the week, to big family get-togethers at the weekend, this is not just a book about recipes, but a true celebration of Spain, its food and people, countryside and producers.

Lucky Peach Issue 21: The Los Angeles Issue


David Chang - 2016
    Each issue focuses on a single theme, and explores that theme through essays, art, photography, and recipes.The theme for Lucky Peach's 21st issue is Los Angeles.

The Carolina Table: North Carolina Writers on Food


Randall Kenan - 2016
    At the intersection of food and story, The Carolina Table: North Carolina Writers on Food will offer a collection of essays about the best meal, food and memory, the best family tradition, a cherished food ritual, a dreaded food ritual, a favorite recipe, the worst recipe, the worst meal, the funniest meal.

Julia Reed's South: Spirited Entertaining and High-Style Fun All Year Long


Julia Reed - 2016
    Here, her informative and down-to-earth guide to throwing an unforgettable party includes secrets she has collected over a lifetime of entertaining.   For this book, she offers up a feast of options for holiday cocktails, spring lunches, formal dinners, and even a hunt breakfast. Eleven seasonal events feature delicious, easy-to-prepare recipes, ranging from fried chicken to Charlotte Russe and signature cocktails or wine-pairings—she introduces her talented friends (rum makers, potters, fabric designers, bakers) along the way. Each occasion includes gorgeous photographs showing her original approach to everything—from invitations and setting a table to arranging flowers and creating the mood. Reed also provides practical considerations and sources. This irresistible book is the ultimate primer for every party-giver.

This Is Not A Diet Book: A User’s Guide to Eating Well


Bee Wilson - 2016
    But I can promise that if you make even a few of these adjustments, your eating life will alter for the better in ways that you can sustain.’ This Is Not A Diet Book is a collection of calm, practical tips and ideas on healthier, happier eating from award-winning food writer Bee Wilson.From unsweetening your palate to rethinking the lunchtime sandwich, This Is Not A Diet Book gathers together some of the wisest, most constructive advice for feeding you and your family.

Longthroat Memoirs: Soups, Sex and Nigerian Taste Buds


Yemisi Aribisala - 2016
    A woman can do what she likes with a man When She knows how to satisfy his appetite for food. "Long throat Memoirs presents a sumptuous menu of essays about Nigerian food, lovingly presented by the nation's top epicurean writer. As well as a mouth-watering appraisal of the cultural politics and erotics of Nigerian cuisine, it is therefore a series of love letters to the Nigerian palate. From innovations in soup, fish as aphrodisiac and the powerful seductions of the yam, Long Throat Memoirs examines the complexities, the peculiarities, the meticulousness, and the tactility of Nigerian food. Nigeria has a strong culture of oral storytelling, myth of creation, of imaginative traversing of worlds. Long Throat Memoirs collates some of Those stories into at irresistible soup-pot, overexpressed in the flawless love language of appetite and nourishment.A sensuous testament on why, When and how Nigerians eat the food they love to eat; this book is a welcome addition to the global dining table of ideas.

Deep South: New Southern Cooking: Recipes from the Delta and Beyond


Brad McDonald - 2016
    Brad's food is modern, seasonal American cooking. Contemporary and innovative, with classics including Gumbo, Cornbread with Honey Butter, Grilled Oysters, Pimiento Cheese, and Lemon Icebox Pie, this is comfort food given an urban edge - a neat spin on soul food classics.With insights into US food's culinary heritage, the meaning of Southernness and the importance of community and hospitality, Deep South provides a glimpse into a unique way of life and a new take on a style of cooking that has been so influential and yet remained relatively unchanged for generations.

The Tasha Tudor Family Cookbook: Heirloom Recipes and Warm Memories from Corgi Cottage


Winslow Tudor - 2016
    This cookbook echoes the cultural and family narrative so accurately and beautifully reflected in Tasha Tudor's art and life. The receipts (what she called recipes) also suggest Tasha's philosophy. "In all things moderation," she would say, then with a laugh, "except gardening."Tasha’s grocery list was never long. She had a robust vegetable garden, a large chest freezer, and well-stocked larder. She created countless meals over many decades, and they were all very good. When possible, Tasha purchased fresh food, the origin and method of production of which she knew. But if she couldn't, or didn't want to, she didn't worry. Frugality was on her shopping list as well.These receipts&mdashfrom Tasha’s poppyseed cake to shepherds pie, potato soup to chocolate pudding—have been the mainstay of Tasha's family for generations and are, for the most part, from the original cookbook she began as a young woman. The simple, comforting, and delicious receipts are accompanied by her beautiful watercolors and new photographs of the food and Tasha’s homestead.Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Good Books and Arcade imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of cookbooks, including books on juicing, grilling, baking, frying, home brewing and winemaking, slow cookers, and cast iron cooking. We’ve been successful with books on gluten-free cooking, vegetarian and vegan cooking, paleo, raw foods, and more. Our list includes French cooking, Swedish cooking, Austrian and German cooking, Cajun cooking, as well as books on jerky, canning and preserving, peanut butter, meatballs, oil and vinegar, bone broth, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

A Bun in the Oven: How the Food and Birth Movements Resist Industrialization


Barbara Katz Rothman - 2016
    A Bun in the Oven is the first comparison of these two social movements. The food movement has seemingly exploded, but little has changed in the diet of most Americans. And while there's talk of improving the childbirth experience, most births happen in large hospitals, about a third result in C-sections, and the US does not fare well in infant or maternal outcomes. In A Bun in the Oven Barbara Katz Rothman traces the food and the birth movements through three major phases over the course of the 20th century in the United States: from the early 20th century era of scientific management; through to the consumerism of Post World War II with its 'turn to the French' in making things gracious; to the late 20th century counter-culture midwives and counter-cuisine cooks. The book explores the tension throughout all of these eras between the industrial demands of mass-management and profit-making, and the social movements--composed largely of women coming together from very different feminist sensibilities--which are working to expose the harmful consequences of industrialization, and make birth and food both meaningful and healthy. Katz Rothman, an internationally recognized sociologist named 'midwife to the movement' by the Midwives Alliance of North America, turns her attention to the lessons to be learned from the food movement, and the parallel forces shaping both of these consumer-based social movements. In both movements, issues of the natural, the authentic, and the importance of 'meaningful' and 'personal' experiences get balanced against discussions of what is sensible, convenient and safe. And both movements operate in a context of commercial and corporate interests, which places profit and efficiency above individual experiences and outcomes. A Bun in the Oven brings new insight into the relationship between our most intimate, personal experiences, the industries that control them, and the social movements that resist the industrialization of life and seek to birth change.

Meet Me at the Bamboo Table: Everyday Meals Everywhere


A.V. Crofts - 2016
    Crofts has spent decades eating (and learning) her way around the world. She's studied in China, taught in Italy, and conducted humanitarian communications trainings in war-torn Sudan. Here, she traces a lifetime of meals across states and continents for the ways that food ties us together. With warm, thoughtful prose, Crofts invites us to the only coffee shop in Kunming; to a home-cooked feast at a civil rights pilgrimage in Alabama; to a surprise Thanksgiving in Germany; and to her annual Lunar New Year dumpling party in Seattle.This full-color visual tour-de-force will delight foodies, armchair travelers, and anyone who's ever learned a little something from a special meal. Photos, "sketchnotes," and other ephemera from Crofts's globetrotting coalesce into a truly beautiful meditation on how food nourishes community.A.V. Crofts works at the University of Washington as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Communication and a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Global Health. Her work has been published in Gastronomica and Saveur and on her popular blog avcrofts.com.

Best Food Writing 2016


Holly Hughes - 2016
    For seventeen years, Holly Hughes has delved into piles of magazines and newspapers, scanned endless websites and blogs, and foraged through bookstores to provide a robust mix of what's up in the world of food writing. From the year's hottest trends (this year: meal kits and extreme dining) to the realities of everyday meals and home cooks (with kids, without; special occasions and every day) to highlighting those chefs whose magic is best spun in their own kitchens, these essays once again skillfully, deliciously evoke what's on our minds-and our plates. Pull up a chair.Contributors include:Betsy AndrewsJessica BattilanaJohn BirdsallMatt BuchananJennifer Cockrall-KingTove DanovichLaura DonohueDaniel DuaneVictoria Pesce ElliottEdward FramePhyllis Grant Andrew Sean GreerKathy GunstL. Kasimu HarrisSteve HoffmanDianne JacobRowan JacobsenPableaux JohnsonHowie KahnMikki KendallBrian KevinKat KinsmanTodd KlimanJulia KramerCorby KummerFrancis LamRachel LevinBrett MartinTim NevilleChris NewensJames NolanKeith PandolfiCarol Penn-RomineMichael ProcopioKathleen PurvisAlice RandallBesha RodellHelen RosnerMichael RuhlmanOliver SacksAndrea StrongJason TesauroToni Tipton-MartinWells TowerLuke TsaiMax UfbergDebbie WeingartenPete Wells

The Wurst of Lucky Peach: A Treasury of Encased Meat


Chris Ying - 2016
    The best in wurst from around the world, with enough sausage-themed stories and pictures stuffed between these two covers to turn anyone into a forcemeat aficionado.Lucky Peach presents a cookbook as a scrapbook, stuffed with curious local specialties, like cevapi, a caseless sausage that’s traveled all the way from the Balkans to underneath the M tracks in Ridgewood, Queens; a look into the great sausage trails of the world, from Bavaria to Texas Hill Country and beyond; and the ins and outs of making your own sausages, including fresh chorizo.