Best Food Writing 2004 (Tr) [Paperback]

For food lovers, the next best thing to eating is reading about it. Best Food Writing 2001, compiled by Holly Hughes, offers these and other readers the year's most memorable food writing from books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and Web sites. Like its predecessor, Best Food Writing 2000, the book is a banquet--51 pieces on food in all its nutritional, gustatory, psychological, sociological, and, in short, personal glory. Dip into the book anywhere and enjoy, for example, Jeffrey Steingarten on bluefin tuna, Molly O'Neill discussing the glories of soup, William Grimes on comfort food, and Coleman Andrews on eating in Rome. Readers also journey to Paris (of course) in the form of Michael Lewis's wonderfully cranky paean to cassoulet (with recipe), and with John T. Edge in his search for the best Parisian Southern fried chicken (it exists); they also follow humorist Calvin Trillin as he seeks desperately for superior ceviche in Peru, Ecuador, and Queens, New York. Also included are excerpts from Ruth Reichl's bestselling Comfort Me with Apples and Patric Kuh's The Last Days of Haute Cuisine. There's more, of course, on topics as diverse as the agonies of dinner-party hosting, a chef's-eye view of dining out, and preparing perfect rice. Ideal for bedtime reading, the book also makes a great gift for fellow foodaholics who can't get enough of their favorite passion. --Arthur Boehm --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Reflecting on her selections for this amusing and informative anthology, the fourth she's edited, Hughes explains that she's attracted to good prose, to things that are humorous and to pieces that resonate: "Just as I want a meal that satisfies my hunger, I look for food writing that stays with me." In magazines, newspapers, books and websites, she found 50 such articles on topics from bacon and caviar to Cheez Whiz and Sloppy Joes. She also came across essays on take-out, butter and burgers by New Yorker and Vogue veterans Calvin Trillin and Jeffrey Steingarten and Saveur editor Colman Andrews. Witty and wistful, their pieces have become staples in these compilations over the years. Among the other standouts in this year's edition are New York Times reporter Joyce Chang's examination of the fondness, at once peculiar and practical, that chefs and chefs-to-be have for their knives-"the haves talk about what kind of knives they own," she writes, "the have-nots stand stupidly silent, making a mess of carrot bits at their stations"-and Los Angeles Magazine senior editor Dave Gardetta's meditation on the Awesome Blossom-"a giant onion sliced into neat tiny quadrants, battered, and then deep-fried." A signature dish at Chili's restaurant, the Awesome Blossom is used by Gardetta as a culinary metaphor in his trenchant analysis of the way corporate chains currently dominate the rural American restaurant scene. Wry, investigative pieces such as these give Hughes's collection depth, even as she satisfies readers' cravings for a well-wrought tale.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Gathered at the height of economic growth in the U.S., these essays reflect attitudes toward food and restaurants in the year 2000. Ascendancy of Asian cooking techniques, accessibility of rare and unusual ingredients, freedom to ignore cost constraints, and America's obsession with celebrity dominate much of this writing. Jeffrey Steingarten fishes for sushi-grade prime tuna. Pat Willard recalls her first encounter with saffron, the world's costliest spice. Frank DiGiacomo follows master chefs as they snap up truffles and caviar for themselves. Ruth Reichl encounters a movie star who cooks memorable pasta. Readers come to the close of this anthology wondering if food writing is nothing other than descriptions of personal encounters with the culinary arts. Virtually all selections in this volume, including the editor's introduction, are written in first person, the focus of the story the author's own ego. A notable exception to this rule, Malcolm Gladwell's disquisition on French fries aptly tells the story of this country's most popular vegetable. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Best Food Writing 2001 brings together, for the second year, the most exceptional writing culled from the past year's books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and web sites. Within its five sectionsStocking the Larder, Home Cooking, Someone's in the Kitchen, Dining Around and Personal Tastesread our best writers on everything from the year's most celebrated chefs to extraordinary restaurant experiences, from the latest trends in ingredients and equipment to unforgettable memoirs inspired by cooking and eating. Neither cook nor food lover should be without this remarkable annual collection. Included are contributions by R. W. Apple, Jr. , Amanda Hesser, Ruth Reichl, Jeffrey Steingarten, Jane and Michael Stern, Calvin Trillin, Gael Greene, Mimi Sheraton, Jonathon Reynolds, Eric Schlosser, and many others. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.