Best Food Writing 2013 Paperback – October 29, 2013

How much you like this book may depend not on how much you care about food, but how much you care about the food "scene," not to mention your tolerance for the pretentious. There are some real gems here, mostly in the chapters titled Home Cooking and A Critical Palate. For example, in a sweetly funny Washington Post piece, Tim Carman reconstructs an old family gingerbread cookie recipe that has morphed so badly with time.that it no longer contains a key ingredient. In Lobster Lessons Aleksandra Crapanzo tells the story of her husband's elderly aunt who grew to love her through her cooking during their Nantucket summers. That lovely story alone is almost worth the price of the book. In A Bountiful Shore Bernard L. Herman describes a Chesapeake Thanksgiving so delicious, comforting and stress free that you may want to invite yourself next year.

The Chapter titled A Critical Palate has a funny, nostalgic piece from Dave Barry on Ring Dings and the (almost) demise of Hostess. It also contains a nuanced, albeit negative review of a New York City Chophouse and a downright pan of a review in The St. Louis-Dispatch, that is funny but sad.

Unfortunately these terrific pieces come after an irritating group of articles in the chapter The Way We Eat Now. For the most part these writers are out of touch with the way Americans eat. They know an awful lot about the food scene, and do a lot of generalizing. In Tyranny, Whats For Dinner, the author describes a handful of ridiculously expensive ($400 a customer!) restaurants that serve tastings. Now I don't plan to patronize one of these places. Not only are they expensive, the number of courses is ridiculous (50)--but the author's rant, implying that they are a trend likely to spoil my own restaurant experience seem a bit weird. One of the places makes you buy the dinner when you make the reservation. Is it likely that a $300-400 dollar a plate restaurant that makes you pay up front, and wait months to get dinner is going to catch on? Not in my neighborhood, and I live in a pretty good neighborhood. There's an article on the slow food movement, that starts out with the weird contention that the enjoyment of food "in many countries" was once the particular preoccupation of the Right Wing." this obnoxious article goes on to equate traditional food with politics and supposedly now really good food has made its way to the more virtuous, Left. Ugh. In Cooking Isn't Fun, a thirty-something writer from Slate advises that poor people have to cook. She only discovered this when researching an article on living on the minimum wage. Apparently this was the first time in this woman's life when she did not have the money for fast food. It's also the first time she realized that cooking is a chore but one that should be done. Here on planet Earth, I could only shake my head. How does this woman think the middle class feed their families? Yes, she's right but what is weird is the fact that she believes this is a personal discovery--an idea no doubt enforced by the fact that her article now appears in Best Food Writing 2013! Add to these articles, more that harp endlessly on local food etc and you have a problem

Overall this collection could have been much better. I suppose the editor felt that foodies were the prime audience and that that explains the over focus on trends. Some of it is really great though, so you might want to pick it up.

Holly Hughes has a long history of editing a compilation of the best food articles of the year. She has put together a food anthology each year since 2000. This years, Best Food Writing 2013, is another worthy effort and will be enjoyed both by those who identify themselves as ‘foodies’ and by those just interested in good writing that explains someone else’s obsession.

The book contains articles by well-known food writers. Authors include Michael Pollen, Corby Kummer (senior editor at The Atlantic for three decades), Matt Goulding, Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl and Jonathan Gold, the first ever food writer to win a Pulitizer Prize. Some of the articles are written by chefs, some by food critics, and many by those who write about food for their living.

The articles range both in subject and voice. There are articles that cover food fads and fashions such as slow eating, the local resourcing trend, the tyranny of chefs who have gone from those providing a service to those who give diners what they want to cook rather than what the diner wants to eat, and the emergence of food trucks. There are humorous articles about cooking ribs and fighting squirrels. There are emotional pieces that describe the role that food has in discovering love, parental connections, the connection between food and gratitude and food and memories. There are profiles of chefs and descriptions of dinners with more than twenty courses. There is complicated food, simple food, expensive food and comfort food.

The reader will enjoy learning about the subject. Each article is a gem in its own genre. There is a short biography of each author before the piece, and the book is organized into subjects such as The Way We Eat Now, A Critical Palate, Farm To Table, The Meat Of The Matter, Home Cooking, To Be A Chef and Personal Tastes. Those interested in cooking and food will find much to interest them, and those who are more mundane cooks will enjoy the view into the world of those for whom food is a compelling interest. This book is recommended both for food enthusiasts and those interested in the subject of cooking and why it matters.

If you're a food writer or aspiring food writer, get this book. So many great stories that are charming and difficult to put down. It'll leave your salivating for the food described, and hungry for more. I loved this book, we had to read it for a journalism class in a college course, and although the whole book wasn't assigned, I read it all.

I have read a lot of these in blogs that I follow....however, there are many that I had not read before. it's a pleasure to have them all together in one place to enjoy.... also breaking them up into vignettes makes it like chapters/bites that can be consumed one at a time, taking you to different places, flavors and vibes each time. very cool.

I had to buy this book for a food writing class but it's not bad, the stories range from fun to sad, informational to interesting. If you have any interest in food or writing and love to cook bake or eat it is a fun easy read.

I use this book as a learning tool for my college level English classes. This semester Best Food Writing was an option, however in future semesters, with the continuation of my food themed writing course, the text will be required.
Best of Writing series is a wonderful example of great persuasive prose and thought organization.

bought this since it was required reading for my English class but really enjoyed the essays we read. it was an eye opener to read different peoples relationship with food and how much goes into making good food. i will probably read the rest of the essays when my class is over. it's worth the read

I get it. Farm to table is big. But it seemed this topic was so dominant that there nothing left over to talk about I.e. cooking, restaurants, recipes etc