Customer Reviews

Best Food Writing 2006

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I have read Best Food Writing 2005, which was excellent, and BFW 2007, which was terrible. and I finally got to read Best Food Writing 2006. Now I know what happened between 2005 and 2007, BFW 2006 happened - boring, spotty good articles, and even a missing recipe in "It Takes a Tough Man to Make Tender Tofu", p.118. The book starts ok, somewhat promising, but it dies in the middle. The second half of the book is teeth-grinding bad choices of food articles. Maybe, if they were mixed with other interesting articles, it would be more digestible, but it is just painful. I don't know what kind of tragedy happened to Holly Huges. Maybe she just got tired or got overwhelmed and can't see a good food article from bad. Maybe she needs a break. I definitely need a break from this series. I have invested a lot of my time in reading Best Food Writing and it has been a waste of my time mostly, except BFW 2005. So if you are exciting about reading all of them, skip 2006 and 2007. so you can still enjoy your food reading.

I like to read during my lunch hour at work, and usually choose something food-related to take me away from reality. I've read through my beloved Jeffrey Steingarten and Ruth Reichl's books, and thought this would be a good choice. Maybe you're thinking so too. Well, be advised it has a rough beginning. I nearly put this book away. I'm a meat-eater, but love the animal more than the food. I know where our meat comes from but really did not want to know how we force-feed geese for fois gras. I think I should accept this as education, and try to dismiss the trauma. The problem is that this story was preceded by one of a man killing nearly everything for an over-the-top meal. As I mentioned, I read over my precious lunch hour and these were not pleasant, escapism stories for me. The story about the man who ate raw tripe was funny, though, I think you'll agree. He was just as queasy as I was. So maybe enjoy on an empty stomach as I do now (you never know what you'll read). If you enjoy food writing as I do, I think you'll find this an overall good collection of wide-ranging culinary topics. Some are curiously included (blah, I could have done better) but most are worthy.