No Experience Necessary: The Culinary Odyssey of Chef Norman Van Aken


Norman Van Aken - 2013
    In it he spans twenty-plus years and nearly as many jobs--including the fateful job advertisement in the local paper for a short-order cook with "no experience necessary." Long considered a culinary renegade and a pioneering chef, Van Aken is an American original who chopped and charred, sweated and seared his way to cooking stardom with no formal training, but with extra helpings of energy, creativity, and faith. After landing on the deceptively breezy shores of Key West, Van Aken faced hurricanes, economic downturns, and mercurial moneymen during the decades when a restaurant could open and close faster than you can type haute cuisine. From a graveyard shift grunt at an all-night barbeque joint to a James Beard-award finalist for best restaurant in America, Van Aken put his trusting heart, poetic soul, natural talent, and ever-expanding experience into every venture--and helped transform the American culinary landscape along the way. In the irreverent tradition of Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, and populated by a rogues' gallery of colorful characters--including movie stars, legendary musicians, and culinary giants Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, and Charlie Trotter--No Experience Necessary offers a uniquely personal, highly-entertaining under-the-tablecloth view of the high-stakes world of American cuisine told with wit, insight, and great affection by a natural storyteller.

Colonial Spirits: A Toast to Our Drunken History


Steven Grasse - 2016
    The book features a rousing timeline of colonial imbibing and a cultural overview of a dizzying number of drinks: beer, rum and punch; temperance drinks; liqueurs and cordials; medicinal beverages; cider; wine, whiskey, and bourbon—all peppered with liquored-up adages from our founding fathers. There is also expert guidance on DIY methods for home brewing. Imbibe your way through each chapter, with recipes like the Philadelphia Fish House Punch (a crowd pleaser!) and Snakebites (drink alone!). Hot beer cocktails and rattle skulls have never been so completely irresistible.

The Well Plated Cookbook: Fast, Healthy Recipes You'll Want to Eat


Erin Clarke - 2020
    Clarke's site welcomes millions of readers, and with good reason: Her recipes are fast, budget-friendly, and clever; she never includes an ingredient you can't find in a regular supermarket or that isn't essential to a dish's success, and she hacks her recipes for maximum nutrition by using the stealthy healthy ingredient swaps she's mastered so that you don't lose an ounce of flavor.In this essential cookbook for everyday cooking, Clarke shares more than 130 brand-new rapid-fire recipes, along with secrets to lightening up classic comfort favorites inspired by her midwestern roots, and clever recipe hacks that will enable you to put a healthy meal on the table any night of the week. Many of the recipes feature a single ingredient used in multiple, ingenious ways, such as Sweet Potato Boats 5 Ways. The recipes are affordable and keep practicality top-of-mind. She's eliminated odd leftover orphan ingredients and included Market Swaps so you can adjust the ingredients based on the season or what you have on hand. To help you make the most of your cooking, she's even included tips to store and reheat leftovers, as well as clever ideas to turn them into an entirely new dish. From One-Pot Creamy Sundried Tomato Orzo to Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken, all of the recipes are accessible to cooks of every level, and so indulgent you won't detect the healthy ingredients. As Clarke always hears from her readers, My family doesn't like healthy food, but they LOVED this! This is your homey guide to a healthier kitchen.

Quick & Easy Paleo Comfort Foods: 100+ Delicious Gluten-Free Recipes


Julie Mayfield - 2013
    They brought their love of home cooking and the Paleo movement to the masses through their first book, Paleo Comfort Foods. They work closely with clients at their gym, Atlanta Strength and Conditioning, to promote healthier cooking and lifestyle choices. Visit them at PaleoComfortFoods.com. Robb Wolf is the NYT bestselling author of The Paleo Solution.Comfort-Food Classics with a Healthy Twist Lose inches while enjoying pan-seared steak? Restore your health and boost your energy through chipotle mashed sweet potatoes and sautéed Brussels sprouts? Absolutely. Millions of people are embracing the health benefits of the Paleo movement and transitioning to a diet based on protein, healthy fats, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Charles and Julie Mayfield's easy, inspiring recipes will have healthy, delicious meals on the table, without spending hours in the kitchen. Jalapeño Poppers ? Bacon- and Basil-Wrapped Shrimp ? Eggs Benedict Florentine ? Almond-Crusted Pork Tenderloin ? Green Turkey Chili  ? Southwestern Shepherd's Pie ? Paella ? Szechuan Stir-Fry ? Molasses Ginger Cookies ? Berry Scones These are simple-to-make dishes that soothe the soul after a stressful day—food you'll want to share with family and friends. Gorgeously illustrated and written by home cooks for home cooks, Quick & Easy Paleo Comfort Foods helpfully instructs on cooking techniques, pantry staples and must-have kitchen equipment. With these warm and engaging authors as your guides, healthy eating becomes less complicated and infinitely more pleasurable and satisfying.

Eating on the Wild Side: The Missing Link to Optimum Health


Jo Robinson - 2013
    Unwittingly, we've been selecting plants that are high in starch and sugar and low in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants for more than 400 generations.EATING ON THE WILD SIDE reveals the solution--choosing modern varieties that approach the nutritional content of wild plants but that also please the modern palate. Jo Robinson explains that many of these newly identified varieties can be found in supermarkets and farmer's market, and introduces simple, scientifically proven methods of preparation that enhance their flavor and nutrition. Based on years of scientific research and filled with food history and practical advice, EATING ON THE WILD SIDE will forever change the way we think about food.Winner of the 2014 IACP Cookbook Award in the category of "Food Matters."

A History of English Food


Clarissa Dickson Wright - 2011
    She looks at the shifting influences on the national diet as new ideas and ingredients have arrived, and as immigrant communities have made their contribution to the life of the country. She evokes lost worlds of open fires and ice houses, of constant pickling and preserving, and of manchet loaves and curly-coated pigs. And she tells the stories of the chefs, cookery book writers, gourmets and gluttons who have shaped public taste, from the salad-loving Catherine or Aragon to the foodies of today. Above all, she gives a vivid sense of what it was like to sit down to the meals of previous ages, whether an eighteenth-century labourer's breakfast or a twelve-course Victorian banquet or a lunch out during the Second World War.Insightful and entertaining by turns, this is a magnificent tour of nearly a thousand years of English cuisine, peppered with surprises and seasoned with Clarissa Dickson Wright's characteristic wit.

The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion Cooking Manual


Frank Falcinelli - 2010
    This witty cookbook featuring recipes from the famous Italian-American restaurant will seduce home cooks with shortcuts and insider tricks gleaned from years spent in gourmet kitchens, easy tutorials on making fresh pasta, and an amusing discourse on Brooklyn-style Sunday sauce."

The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu


Dan Jurafsky - 2014
    Thirteen chapters evoke the joy and discovery of reading a menu dotted with the sharp-eyed annotations of a linguist.Jurafsky points out the subtle meanings hidden in filler words like "rich" and "crispy," zeroes in on the metaphors and storytelling tropes we rely on in restaurant reviews, and charts a microuniverse of marketing language on the back of a bag of potato chips.The fascinating journey through The Language of Food uncovers a global atlas of culinary influences. With Jurafsky's insight, words like ketchup, macaron, and even salad become living fossils that contain the patterns of early global exploration that predate our modern fusion-filled world.From ancient recipes preserved in Sumerian song lyrics to colonial shipping routes that first connected East and West, Jurafsky paints a vibrant portrait of how our foods developed. A surprising history of culinary exchange—a sharing of ideas and culture as much as ingredients and flavors—lies just beneath the surface of our daily snacks, soups, and suppers.

Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean, and Fair


Carlo Petrini - 2005
    The best-selling Fast Food Nation and other recent books have alerted us to such dangers as genetically modified organisms, food-borne diseases, and industrial farming. Now it is time for answers, and Slow Food Nation steps up to the challenge. Here the charismatic leader of the Slow Food movement, Carlo Petrini, outlines many different routes by which we may take back control of our food. The three central principles of the Slow Food plan are these: food must be sustainably produced in ways that are sensitive to the environment, those who produce the food must be fairly treated, and the food must be healthful and delicious. In his travels around the world as ambassador for Slow Food, Petrini has witnessed firsthand the many ways that native peoples are feeding themselves without making use of the harmful methods of the industrial complex. He relates the wisdom to be gleaned from local cultures in such varied places as Mongolia, Chiapas, Sri Lanka, and Puglia. Amidst our crisis, it is critical that Americans look for insight from other cultures around the world and begin to build a new and better way of eating in our communities here.

The Art of Eating


M.F.K. Fisher - 1954
    Fisher, whose wit and fulsome opinions on food and those who produce it, comment upon it, and consume it are as apt today as they were several decades ago, when she composed them. Why did she choose food and hunger she was asked, and she replied, 'When I write about hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth, and the love of it . . . and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied.

McDougalls' All-You-Can-Eat Vegetarian Cookbook


John A. McDougall - 2011
    John McDougall, bestselling author and creator of the nationally renowned diet and exercise McDougall Plan, presents a cookbook that turns the popular thinking about carbs and weight control upside down. Filled with some of John and Mary McDougall’s favorite vegetarian recipes from their very own kitchen, this book is a great addition to your personal library if you are considering becoming a vegetarian or want a refresher course on the must-have nutrients your body needs to run like a lean, clean machine.Dr. John McDougall is a certified internist who has been studying and writing about the effect of nutrition on disease for more than 30 years. Mary McDougall has contributed her nutritional expertise and recipes as co-author on many of the bestselling McDougall books.

Nom Yourself: Simple Vegan Cooking


Mary Mattern - 2015
    ______________A beautiful vegan cookbook for anyone looking to try a plant-based diet, from the creator of the popular website and Instagram Nom Yourself and vegan chef to the stars. Divided into chapters on Homemade staples, Sauces, dips & dressings, Breakfast, Appetisers, Soups & Salads, Sandwiches, Pasta, Entrees, Sides, Desserts, there's something for every occasion and craving.Delicious and easy recipes include: · SWEET POTATO WAFFLE SANDWICH · HALF-BAKED MACARONI AND CHEESE· CREAMY BASIL TOMATO SPAGHETTI WITH KALE· MUSHROOM CAULIFLOWER HARISSA PAELLA · SESAME TOFU TACOS· GINGERBREAD FRENCH TOAST Nom Yourself will prove that eating vegan is both delicious and easy.

The Italian Diet: Over 100 Healthy Italian Recipes to Help You Lose Weight and Love Food


Gino D'Acampo - 2009
    'The i Diet' combines simple, fresh ingredients for an easy way to shed pounds.

Vegan Reset: The 28-Day Plan to Kickstart Your Healthy Lifestyle


Kim-Julie Hansen - 2018
    Here, blogger and Instagrammer Kim-Julie Hansen of Best of Vegan and Brussels Vegan offers a practical and easy-to-follow program, laid out day by day with meal plans, prep, shopping lists, recipes, and personal tips and inspiration. If you want to become a vegan and don’t know where to start, this is the ultimate guide. But it’s also invaluable for anyone (vegan or not) looking to kick-start healthier habits, whether to lose weight, become fitter, or simply cultivate a more balanced lifestyle. Kim-Julie introduces you to the benefits of a reset; guides you through the 28-day meal plan; and finishes with additional recipes to carry you beyond the reset—all brought to life with her gorgeous photography throughout. With its emphasis on satisfying plant-based foods and its achievable 28-day plan, this program is a great way to meet your goals of health and well-being.

The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History


Thor Hanson - 2015
     "The genius of Hanson's fascinating, inspiring, and entertaining book stems from the fact that it is not about how all kinds of things grow from seeds; it is about the seeds themselves." -- Mark Kurlansky, New York Times Book Review We live in a world of seeds. From our morning toast to the cotton in our clothes, they are quite literally the stuff and staff of life: supporting diets, economies, and civilizations around the globe. Just as the search for nutmeg and pepper drove the Age of Discovery, coffee beans fueled the Enlightenment and cottonseed sparked the Industrial Revolution. Seeds are fundamental objects of beauty, evolutionary wonders, and simple fascinations. Yet, despite their importance, seeds are often seen as commonplace, their extraordinary natural and human histories overlooked. Thanks to this stunning new book, they can be overlooked no more. This is a book of knowledge, adventure, and wonder, spun by an award-winning writer with both the charm of a fireside story-teller and the hard-won expertise of a field biologist. A fascinating scientific adventure, it is essential reading for anyone who loves to see a plant grow.