Edge does in his smart, witty, and compulsively readable new series on the dishes everyone thinks their mom made best. If these are the best-loved American foods-ones so popular they've come to represent us-what does that tell us about ourselves? And what do the history of the dish and the regional variations reveal? There are few aspects of life that carry more emotional weight and symbolism than food, and in writing about our food icons, Edge gives us a warm and wonderful portrait of America -by way of our taste buds. After all, "What is patriotism, but nostalgia for the foods of our youth?" as a Chinese philosopher once asked. In "Fried Chicken," Edge tells an immensely entertaining tale of a beloved dish with a rich history. Freed slaves cooked it to sell through the windows of train cars from railroad platforms in whistle-stop towns. Children carried it in shoe boxes on long journeys. A picnic basket isn't complete without it. It is a dish that is deeply Southern, and yet it is cooked passionately across the country. And what about the variations? John T. Edge weaves a beguiling tapestry of food and culture as he takes us from a Jersey Shore hotel to a Kansas City roadhouse, from the original Buffalo wings to KFC, from Nashville Hot Chicken to haute fried chicken at a genteel Southern inn. And, best of all, he gives us fifteen of the ultimate recipes along the way.

    As they do on their weekly show, host Lynne Rossetto Kasper and producer Sally Swift approach their topic with attitude and originality, making The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper one of the most engaging cookbooks of this or any other year.As loyal listeners know, Lynne and Sally share an unrelenting curiosity about everything to do with food. Their show, The Splendid Table, looks at the role food plays in our lives—inspiring us, making us laugh, nourishing us, and opening us up to the world around us. Now they have compiled all the most trenchant tips, never-fail recipes, and everyday culinary know-how from the program in How to Eat Supper, a kitchen companion unlike any other.This is no mere cookbook. Like the show, this book goes far beyond the recipe, introducing the people and stories that are shaping America’s changing sense of food. We don’t eat, shop, or cook as we used to. Our relationship with food has intensified, become more controversial, richer, more pleasurable, and sometimes more puzzling. How to Eat Supper gives voice to rarely heard perspectives on food—from the quirky to the political, from the grassroots to the scholarly, from the highbrow to the humble—and shows the essential role breaking bread together plays in our world.How to Eat Supper takes you through a plethora of inviting recipes simple enough to ensure success even if you’ve never cooked before. And if you are experienced in the kitchen, you’ll find challenging new concepts and dishes to spark your imagination.

    It is important that we be in charge again of our cooking, working with fresh, unadulterated ingredients. Enclosed you will find many simple-to-make, good-tasting, inexpensive dishes from the past that taste better than ever today. I urge you to try them. · Good soups—satisfying one-dish meals that can be made ahead· Dishes that can be made with what’s on hand—First-Prize Onion Casserole, Shepherd’s Pie, Salmon or Tuna Loaf· Vegetables baked and ready for the table· Real salads, substantial enough for lunch or supper, with snappy dressings· Breads and cookies, puddings and cakes that you loved as a childPS: There is nothing like the satisfaction of sharing with others something you have cooked yourself

    Combining the flavors of her childhood in Bilbao, Spain, with unique artistry and the informal elegance of small-plate dining, Aran has sacrificed nothing. Dishes range from soups and salads to savory tarts and stews to her signature desserts. With delicate, flavorful, and naturally gluten-free recipes arranged by season, and the author's gorgeously sun-filled food photography throughout, Small Plates and Sweet Treats will bring the magic of Aran's home to yours. Fans of Cannelle et Vanille, those with gluten allergies, and cookbook enthusiasts looking for something new and special will all be attracted to this breathtaking book.

    With this book I hope that you will feel encouraged to create new favourites, making everyday meals into something extra-special.’ Add a little Mary magic to your cooking with 120 brand-new recipes from the inspiring new BBC series. Delicious family suppers, tempting food for sharing and plenty of sweet treats, all made with everyday ingredients and a clever twist.

    Whether charting the rise of our love affair with Chinese food through San Francisco’s fabled The Mandarin, evoking the richness of Italian food through Mamma Leone’s, or chronicling the rise and fall of French haute cuisine through Henri Soulé’s Le Pavillon, food historian Paul Freedman uses each restaurant to tell a wider story of race and class, immigration and assimilation. Freedman also treats us to a scintillating history of the then-revolutionary Schrafft’s, a chain of convivial lunch spots that catered to women, and that bygone favorite, Howard Johnson’s, which pioneered midcentury, on-the-road dining, only to be swept aside by McDonald's. Lavishly designed with more than 100 photographs and images, including original menus, Ten Restaurants That Changed America is a significant and highly entertaining social history.

    She combed through community cookbooks and searched out long-lost heirloom recipes, sure-handedly reworking every recipe in her own kitchen. THE ALL-AMERICAN COOKIE BOOK celebrates regional gems from every corner of the country: Pennsylvania Dutch Soft Sugar Cookies, New York Black and Whites, New Mexican Biscochitos, Key Lime Frosties from Florida, and Mocha Espresso Wafers from Seattle. A sophisticated hazelnut chocolate sandwich cookie that was the closely guarded secret of an Oregon hostess is here, and so is a delightfully crisp (and easy to roll out) old-fashioned gingerbread cookie recreated from a handwritten 1880 notebook. Homespun classics abound: Chocolate Whoopie Pies, Caramel Apple Crumb Bars, Chocolate Chunk Brownies, and Caramel-Frosted Brown Sugar Drops. The collection also features devastatingly delicious contemporary creations like Chewy Chocolate Chunk Monster Cookies and Cranberry-Cherry Icebox Ribbons. For children and adults alike, one of the most exciting chapters will be the lavishly illustrated “Cookie Decorating and Crafts,” which includes everything from simple projects like Christmas cookies and Chocolate Gingerbread Bears to an elaborate gingerbread house. As Nancy Baggett tells the story of America’s heritage, she slips in fascinating bits of history, showing the evolution of our homegrown baking traditions.

    This collection follows a year in the life of this community garden, reflected in recipes that are unusual without being daunting. Many of the recipes reflect everyday activitiesTurkish women rolling flatbreads or clipping the young vine leaves to make dolmades, families gathering to grill kebabs on the weekendand the spirit of the community is captured in the photographs and the dishes. The 150 imaginative and seasonal recipes include Moro favorites and new combinations such as Pigeon Smoked Duck Breast with Apples, Walnuts and Chicory; Fried Green Tomatoes with Garlic and Sweet Vinegar; and Courgette and Yoghurt Soup. This character-filled garden was bulldozed to make way for the 2012 Olympics making this a true treasure, documenting the last ever growing season for Sam and Sam and the unique men and women of Manor Garden. Includes metric measurements

    And with only one exception-watering-container gardening is a whole lot easier. Beginning with the down-to-earth basics of soil, sun and water, fertilizer, seeds and propagation, The Bountiful Container is an extraordinarily complete, plant-by-plant guide.Written by two seasoned container gardeners and writers, The Bountiful Container covers Vegetables-not just tomatoes (17 varieties) and peppers (19 varieties), butharicots verts, fava beans, Thumbelina carrots, Chioggia beets, and sugarsnap peas. Herbs, from basil to thyme, and including bay leaves, fennel, and saffron crocus. Edible Flowers, such as begonias, calendula, pansies, violets, and roses. And perhaps most surprising, Fruits, including apples, peaches, Meyer lemons, blueberries, currants, and figs-yes, even in the colder parts of the country. (Another benefit of container gardening: You can bring the less hardy perennials in over the winter.) There are theme gardens (an Italian cook's garden, a Four Seasons garden), lists of sources, and dozens of sidebars on everything from how to be a human honeybee to seeds that are All America Selections.

    The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions.

    You'll feel like you're in your grandma's kitchen, where she teaches you the secrets of her tender, flakey pie crust and shares recipes taken from handwritten 19th century cooking journals, recipes like Dutch Oven Apple Cherry, Vanilla Crumb, Fresh Raspberry, Louisianna Peanut, Sour Cherry Ammaretto, and dozens more. There are also scores of vintage photos, pie insults, pie superstitions, pie advice, why men love pies and tips on how to host your own pie contest.

    It is a vicarious experience to read about the culinary wonders of the notable establishments of another era that have become the last epicurean haven in this materialistic, mechanized world of fastfood chains and frozenfood dinners. Mr. Wechsberg reaches back to the twilight days of the Habsburg monarchy, when those splendid monuments to the haute cuisine in central Europe, Meissl and Schadn of Vienna and Gundel's of Budapest, were in their prime.

    With Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide, Gladstar offers a fresh introduction for a new generation of gardeners and natural health and self-sufficiency enthusiasts.Thirty-three of the most common and versatile healing plants are profiled in depth to get the budding herbalist off on the right foot. Readers will learn how to grow, harvest, prepare, and use each herb. Step-by-step instructions explain how to prepare herbal teas, salves, syrups, tinctures, oils, and liniments to stock the home medicine chest. Simple recipes explore each plant's healing qualities - aloe lotion for poison ivy, dandelion-burdock tincture for sluggish digestion, and lavender-lemon balm tea for stress relief. Gladstar shows how easy it is to make safe, all-natural, low-cost healing remedies for common ailments.

    Rejecting both end-times hand wringing and dewy-eyed faith that technology will save us from ourselves, urban homesteaders choose instead to act. By growing their own food and harnessing natural energy, they are planting seeds for the future of our cities.If you would like to harvest your own vegetables, raise city chickens, or convert to solar energy, this practical, hands-on book is full of step-by-step projects that will get you started homesteading immediately, whether you live in an apartment or a house. It is also a guidebook to the larger movement and will point you to the best books and Internet resources on self-sufficiency topics.Projects include: How to grow food on a patio or balcony How to clean your house without toxins How to preserve food How to cook with solar energy How to divert your greywater to your garden How to choose the best homestead for you Written by city dwellers for city dwellers, this illustrated, smartly designed, two-color instruction book proposes a paradigm shift that will improve our lives, our community, and our planet. Authors Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen happily farm in Los Angeles and run the urban homestead blog www.homegrownrevolution.org.

    Taken from Britains top-selling BBC Good Food magazine, these imaginitive and easy recipes are guaranteed to guide you to baking success.From such delicious classics as Authentic Yorkshire Parkin and Shortbread, and the imaginative combinations of Raspberry and Blueberry Lime Drizzle Cake or Cranberry and Poppy Seed Muffins, to spectacular cakes such as Seriously Rich Chocolate Cake, there's plenty to keep your family and friends happy.These quick and easy recipes have been specially chosen to help even the busiest people enjoy delicious, fresh, home-cooked food. Each recipe is written with simple step-by-step instructions and is accompanied by a useful nutritional analysis and a full-colour photograph, so you can cook with complete confidence.