Best Food Writing 2012

October 15, 2012
A delicious anthology of the best American food writing from 2012. Hughes once again pulls together the year's tastiest examples from the growing field of food writing. The editor has chosen wisely from an abundance of blogs, magazine articles and books, and this collection presents an eclectic mix of food experiences. In an era of celebrity chefs and much-hyped restaurants, this collection is thankfully absent the pretentious musings of restaurateurs and TV stars. It's the unexpected approaches to the genre of food writing that are the most appealing. Take, for instance, Rowan Jacobsen's "Gumbo Chronicles," about searching for the ingredients to make gumbo in post-oil spill Gulf waters. In "A Matter of Taste," Barry Estabrook exposes readers to the fascinating world of tomato cultivation. "Still Life with Mayonnaise," by Greg Atkinson, is an ode to the ubiquitous yet rarely appreciated condiment. In "On Killing," Hank Shaw presents a meditation on hunting, and John Birdsall explores the production of pastrami as a lost (and very expensive) art form. Kevin Pang's "A Chef's Painful Road to Rehab" gives readers a disturbing taste of the darker side of being a professional chef. Some of the best essays explore the emotional connections between food and memory. Elissa Altman ruminates on family relationships in her short but powerful "Angry Breakfast Eggs," and in one of the most moving essays, "They Don't Have Tacos in the Suck," Katharine Shilcutt layers a visit to taco trucks in Houston over a visit with a long-lost friend, an explosives expert stationed in Afghanistan. A collection of strong writing on fascinating topics that will appeal to foodies and essay lovers alike.

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Starred review from December 1, 2012

Foraging, hunting, gathering: how better to describe the act of assembling an eclectic mix of stories and essays from far and wide, from large publications and small, in print and online--all deliciously about food. Editor Hughes deserves thanks for this year's carefully curated feast of food writing, 50 pieces presented in thematic groupings like "Home Cooking" or "Farm to Table" or even "Dude Food." The volume comes boldly out of the gate with Hank Shaw's "On Killing," a thoughtful and resonant piece on being a hunter, and finishes with Anna Stoessinger's moving New York Times op-ed on being diagnosed with stomach cancer. In between this collection hits many other notes, considering junk food (Maureen O'Hagan), what makes a proper Bolognese (Deb Perelman), turkey disasters (David Leite's "Kitchen Confessional"), and family dynamics, as in Elissa Altman's "Angry Breakfast Eggs." VERDICT Not just for foodies! This will delight anyone who enjoys the pleasures of a good read and a good meal. Highly recommended.--Courtney Greene, Indiana Univ. Lib., Bloomington

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2012
We all like food, and many of us like reading about food. Pursuing our reading interest through magazines, newspapers, newsletters, books, blogs, and websites can be a (pardon the pun) consuming business but, of course, a worthwhile pursuit, since food writing shares with travel writing a passion that inspires eloquent prose. This exciting series has taken a lot of the work but none of the pleasure out of tracking down outstanding expressions of the love of food. Now in its thirteenth edition, Best Food Writing is not falsely titled. There is nothing less than serious, exciting, entertaining, and edifying writing to be found here, the pieces arranged under such intriguing headings as Food Fights, Dude Food, and Someone's in the Kitchen. The collection starts off with a bang: On Killing, by Hank Shaw (from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.com), a provocativeperhaps, in some readers' estimation, not entirely convincingessay on killing one's own meat. Then there is the warm piece, The Legacy That Wasn't: Wonton Soup, by T. Susan Chang, about how her mother made wontons. But every stripe of writing between those two extremes is worth reflecting on after reading.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)