Category Archives: Food

Delicious reads for the holidays!

Posted in Books, Food, Seasonal by

Delicious books that will pair nicely with all of your holiday plans. And they make fantastic gifts for the foodie in your life!

The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman with Beth Dooley

This is arguably one of the most important cookbooks to come out this year! Sean Sherman is a Oglala Lakota chef and the founder of The Sioux Chef, a company that not only creates and caters Native American cuisine but also educates the Minneapolis/St. Paul region on indigenous food. Sherman focuses on seasonal and indigenous ingredients (no European staples like flour and sugar) and the recipes reflect this—they look vibrant and mouthwatering. It’s not just a cookbook, though, and the personal stories and history in the book make it a real treasure.

 

Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine by Sarah Lohman

Eight Flavors is a delightful and utterly fascinating culinary history of America. Historical gastronomist Sarah Lohman examines American history, culture, and what she calls the “changing culinary landscape” through eight flavors that she argues are influential to American cooking. The eight flavors are: black pepper, vanilla, chili powder, curry powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and Sriracha. In each chapter she explores a flavor and the history of how it made its way to the American table.

 

The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty

I love a good food memoir and The Cooking Gene by Michael W. Twitty is a powerful and compelling memoir of Southern cuisine and food culture. Twitty traces his personal ancestry through food and cooking in this great mixture of stories, recipes, historical documents, genetic tests, and details from his own travels—it’s a combination of everything, but it comes together beautifully. And between the illustrations, the color photographs, and the recipes, it’s a striking book.

Ten Restaurants That Changed America by Paul Freedman

More than just a collection of profiles, Ten Restaurants That Changed America is a social and cultural history of “dining out in America.” Freedman discusses ten historically significant American restaurants and the history and events that shaped them (and that they in turn influenced.) The restaurants include: Delmonico’s, Antoine’s, Schrafft’s, Howard Johnson’s, Mamma Leone’s, The Mandarin, Sylvia’s, Le Pavillon, The Four Seasons, and Chez Panisse. It’s also a gorgeously designed book with photographs and menus scattered throughout.

Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live For Taste by Bianca Bosker

I’m finishing this list like I’ll be be finishing off my Thanksgiving meal—with a glass of wine. Bianca Bosker’s Cork Dork is the perfect light, fun (but surprisingly informative) read for your holiday weekend. Bosker is no wine expert, but a tech journalist who decides to learn all she can about wine and try her hand at the Court of Master Sommeliers exam. Full of wine history, science, tastings, and more, Cork Dork is an immersive and obsessive, but ultimately delicious read.

This post was originally published on Book Riot.

Ten Memoirs by Women in the Culinary World

Posted in Books, Food by

The long-awaited memoir from culinary icon and food activist Alice Waters, Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook, hit stands in September. To celebrate, I’ve collected ten memoirs written by remarkable women in the culinary world, from chefs and restaurateurs to food writers, cookbook authors, and more!

Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook by Alice Waters—In this hotly anticipated memoir, Alice Waters reveals the beginnings of the legendary Chez Panisse.

Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India by Madhur Jaffrey—Madhur Jaffrey is without a doubt one of the most well-respected experts on Indian food and cooking. This delightful memoir of her childhood is a “testament to the power of food to evoke memory.”

Out of Line: A Life of Playing with Fire by Barbara Lynch—Barbara Lynch recounts her rise from her tough South Boston “Southie” childhood to her culinary empire today.  

My Soul Looks Back: A Memoir by Jessica B. Harris—Jessica B. Harris is the author of numerous critically acclaimed cookbooks documenting the foods and foodways of the African Diaspora. In My Soul Looks Back she looks back at “the vibrant New York City of her youth, where her social circle included Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and other members of the Black intelligentsia.” Although it’s not strictly a food memoir, it’s a definite must-read.

Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop—An extraordinary memoir of eating and cooking in China by celebrated British food writer Fuchsia Dunlop. (Note: With its scenes of Sichuanese food markets and elite Chinese culinary schools, and Dunlop’s honest look at the greed, corruption, and environmental impact of the industry, this memoir might be my favorite on the list.) 

Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Anya Von Bremzen—Food writer Anya Von Bremzen eats and cooks her way through seven decades (and three generations) of the Soviet experience, “brilliantly illuminat[ing] the history and culture of a vanished empire.”

Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton—One of the most popular and bestselling chef memoirs, Gabrielle Hamilton’s Blood, Bones & Butter is a raw and intimate account of Hamilton’s life and the unconventional journey that led to the opening of her restaurant Prune.

Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoirby Padma Lakshmi—“A vivid memoir of food and family, survival and triumph, Love, Loss, and What We Ate traces the arc of Padma Lakshmi’s unlikely path from an immigrant childhood to a complicated life in front of the camera.”

Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl—In my notes I’ve written “Pick one Ruth Reichl memoir (How??!!).” I picked Tender at the Bone, Ruth Reichl’s coming-of-age story about her family and her passion for food, but I’d recommend all of her beautiful memoirs.

I Hear She’s a Real Bitch by Jen Agg—Toronto-based restaurateur Jen Agg is a force to be reckoned with and her memoir is an equally compelling story of food, business, and the need for change in the restaurant industry. It’s “more than just a story about starting a restaurant: it is a rallying cry for a feminist revolution in the culinary world.”

Check out the full post on Book Riot.