The Best American Food Writing 2019

November 25, 2019
In this wide-ranging collection, James Beard Award–winning cookbook author Nosrat (Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat) emphasizes how food writing can “broaden cultural understanding” and empathy throughout the world. Yemisi Aribisala’s “The Girls Who Fainted at the Sight of an Egg” fondly recalls her maternal grandmother’s chicken farmhouse, and where one woman used eggs as “a homemade virginity test.” Burkhard Bilger’s “Bean Freaks” describes his most memorable meal—beans from a can that he ate as a teenager in France—and jumps off from that to profile an heirloom bean connoisseur who lives outside of Mexico City, as well as give a history of Mexican cooking. New York Times food writer Tejal Rao travels to Japan to find that Nestle’s Kit Kat bars, which were introduced to the country in 1973, have become so popular—and come in so many flavors—that many Japanese believe the candy was invented there. Priya Fielding-Singh asks why poor Americans eat unhealthily, and realizes that “junk food is the only indulgence they can afford.” In “The Maraschino Mogul,” Ian Frazier looks at the effect a Brooklyn maraschino cherry producer had on local beekeepers (their hives “began to glow an incandescent red”). The result is a wonderfully satisfying assortment of food for thought.