Best Food Writing 2000 (Paperback)

~ Holly Hughes (Editor), Alice Waters (Introduction) "During a year in Burgundy as in-house cook at Anne Willan's famous cooking school, Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne, Amanda Hesser forged a delicate relationship..." (more)
Key Phrases: wok hay, best food writing, meat ravioli, New York, Les Halles, Monsieur Milbert (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

What's more fun: eating food or reading about it? Justifying the latter proposition in style, Best Food Writing 2000 offers an enticing selection of the year's best book, magazine, newspaper, newsletter, and Internet food prose. It culls the work of a wide range of authors, including Maya Angelou, Madhur Jaffrey, Calvin Trillin, and John Thorne--writers associated with food and not. Foodies and nonfoodies alike will welcome Best as a rich source of literary snacking.

Within its five parts, which include "Stocking the Larder," "Dining Around," and "Personal Tastes," the book offers delights such as Eric Asimov on America's most expensive restaurant; Grace Young exploring wok cookery; Anthony Bourdain recounting a chef's day in the life; and Anne Willan on the Burgundian table. Readers will also enjoy Vince Staten on barbecue, Jim Quinn's "Recipes for Dummies," Laura Fraser on giving up vegetarianism, and Trillin on the perfect bagel. What emerges finally from the book is a sense of how we feed ourselves, in every way. A look at this compelling question, plus a host of other food-related matters, makes this collection a small joy. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly

Although this debut addition to the annual "best of" books offers some fine writing about food, its most likely audienceAfoodies who subscribe to cooking magazines and purchase cookbooksAwill have already read at least half of these essays when they originally appeared in Gourmet, Bon App?tit and similar publications (e.g., R.W. Apple Jr.'s ode to high-quality bacon first appeared in the New York Times, and in a piece from Vogue, Jeffrey SteingartenAthe self-described "man who ate everything"Awrites of his search for pig's blood). However, as Hughes points out, she culled her selections from a variety of media including culinary memoirs, social histories, profiles of chefs, essays on trends and techniques, and odes to individual foodstuffs such as Marlena de Blasi's nostalgic tribute to an especially satisfying plate of pasta. In one of the more engaging articles entitled "Bottom-Drawer Blues," Kim Severson of the San Francisco Chronicle interviews Chuck Williams of Williams-Sonoma about kitchen gadgets (e.g., egg separators and Williams's three-pronged hot-boiled-potato peeler) that just don't sell. Other successful pieces are Anne Mendelson's Gourmet essay against celebrity-chef cookbooks and Laura Fraser's rationale from Salon.com for quitting vegetarianism after 15 years that initially appeared on Salon.com. (Dec. 1)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (October 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569246165
• ISBN-13: 978-1569246160
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #620,738 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Let's hope this series continues in future, December 5, 2000

By	Daniel E. Wickett "EWN and Dzanc Books" (Westland, MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The first in what I can only hope will be an annually released collection of articles culled from various food magazines, newsletters, newspapers and web sites.

The book is set up in five sections: Stocking the Larder, Home Cooking, Someone's in the Kitchen, Dining Around and Personal Tastes. This works nicely as you get various views and ideas regarding similar topics. You also get the various topics listed as sections: a full section of articles on choosing foods, one on cooking at home, etc.

There are articles by such food luminaries as Ruth Reichl, Calvin Trillin, Phyllis Richman, John Thorpe, and Micheal Ruhlman among others.

The book serves as a good introduction for those interested in food and like topics. If you like the article "Natural Born Keller" by Michael Ruhlman, you'll probably enjoy his full length book "The Soul of a Chef." Enjoying Anthony Bourdain's humorous excerpt from his "Kitchen Confidential" will suggest you go find a copy of that to get the rest of his story. I enjoyed John Thorpe's article enough to visit his website, and plan on purchasing at least one of his 3 or 4 books of article collections.

The other above mentioned food luminaries have full length books, or collections, in print that you can decide to try or plan on avoiding based on the 5 to 10 page selections by Ms. Hughes.

The other introduction you are given is to the various magazines that are out there: Gourmet, Wine Spectator, etc. are represented here. Again, by reading articles that are representative of these magazines, you get a feel for your tastes in writing.

If you have any interest in food, restaurants, chefs, etc., you need to check this book out.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best of the Best of Food Writing Series (So Far), December 5, 2003

By	takingadayoff "takingadayoff" (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This is my favorite volume of the Best of Food Writing series so far (late 2003). It introduced me to Ruth Reichl and Anthony Bourdain, whose books I might not have discovered if I had not read their excerpts here first.

By collecting material from a variety of sources (books, magazines, webzines, newspapers), Hughes has given us access to more, and better, food writing than we would have hunted down ourselves. The result is fabulous.

I was so impressed with Laura Fraser's piece on why she stopped being a vegetarian, reprinted from Salon.com. The topic is unexpected, the writing seems effortless, and she really made me think about the subject in a different way. Then I had to find what else she had written and was captivated by An Italian Affair. I also started reading Salon.com.

Read all the Best of Food Writing series, but be sure to read this one first!

5.0 out of 5 stars A "Best" Title Well Deserved, August 19, 2003

By	Teantae Turner "sistert" (Columbia, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

From straight forward food writing, to stories that food plays a award winning supporting role; this is a delightful collection of stories that will keep you engrossed from begininning to end. Some surprising, some informative, a few heartfelt, and some down right funny!