Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9493 in Books
• Published on: 2009-11-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780738213699
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Editor Hughes skims the cream off a year's worth of culinary journalism in the latest annual. As with previous editions, Hughes captures the gastronomic zeitgeist in a broad range of essays; she opens strong with Timothy Taylor's witty take on connoisseurs and gourmands, an examination of the slow and raw food movements, and a vendor's take on farmers' markets. Though some topics, like legendary steak houses and the neighborhood diner, have been done to death, they're carried by the quality of the writing. John DeLucie's sardonic account of his truffled macaroni and cheese, as well as Tim Carman's brilliant "How Not to Hire a Chef," are the kind of slice-of-life tales that deserve a wider audience, and make up for the volume's misses (Margaret McArthur's take on cooking the perfect soft-boiled egg, Lettie Teague's piece on wine scams). Other crowd-pleasers include Calvin Trillin's quest for the best barbecue in Texas and Robb Walsh's all-too-short examination of a classic pairing: oysters with martinis. This is a sound reader for those looking to catch up on trends in the culinary world, but foodies already immersed in the culture are sure to find some overlooked gems.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Customer Reviews

Love These Books!
This is just one more in a series of wonderful, witty, thought-engaging books, culling the best food-oriented articles from a variety of sources. I have almost all of these books -- sadly, I got on the bandwagon a little too late to collect them all. Highly recommended reading -- these are excellent essays one might otherwise miss!

These selections capture you, and take you prisoner
Honestly, I had never even heard of this book series before, but I am desperately trying to improve my writing, and on a whim picked up this book. I can honestly say, I really enjoyed this book. It contains a nice variety of essays and writings from a wide range of food writing. At times I was salivating over food being described, other times I was laughing at out at the descriptions of potlucks in the midwest making their way snaking across a room. You can read about the adventures of brining illegal cheese (meaning cheese made with raw milk) into the US, and so much more.

There are many different essays in this book varying in length so if you want to read for a few pages, or longer your appetite will be satisfied. It was wonderful to have all these food writing assembled into one book cover. I know I will be seeking out more from some of my favorite writers. I highly recommend those who love to read about food to pick this book up, you will imagine, salivate, and even chuckle as you read this book.

Read Food. All You Want. Mostly Essays.
I have been a huge fan of the Best Food Writing anthology since the first edition came out in 2000. But this year I find that I just don't care about your adventures as a chef in a fancy restaurant, why you must be or cannot be a vegetarian, why foie gras is either nirvana or evil incarnate. I don't care about your locavore diet ot your small organic farm or what Michael Pollan thinks you should or shouldn't eat today.

In spite of my fussy mood, I still found this a satisfying collection. Instead of approaching it as a multi-course meal, as I have in past years, I treated this volume as a buffet, skipping and skimming some articles, and stopping to savor other essays.

Last year was a good one for budget dining. One of the essays here celebrated cheap steakhouses - Last of the Great $10 Steaks by Jason Sheehan. Another series of three articles from the New York Times, Kitchen Smackdown, challenged food writers to prepare a dinner party for six with a budget of no more than $50, with entertaining results. Other articles extolled the wonders of marshmallow fluff and Spam (separately), but I remain skeptical.

Two of my favorite pieces in this collection were The Last Meal by Todd Kliman and What We Hunger For by Douglas Bauer. They are similar essays, one about the author's father, the other about famous food writer M.F.K. Fisher, in which the authors reminisce about hunting for great meals together.

Another favorite essay was Too Much of a Mouthful, in which Tim Hayward rants about food that is unnecessarily difficult to eat. The sandwich which set him off was a beautiful presentation of delicious ingredients, but the roll was too large and crusty to eat without a knife and fork.

They Remember Home by Annia Ciezadlo introduced us to young Iraqis in Beirut who cook traditional Iraqi meals to keep their homesickness at bay. The Eggs and I by Francine Prose describes the simple pleasure of really fresh eggs.

Recommended even for picky readers.