A: A Weekend Cooking list of Foodie Nonfiction Favorites
Weekend Cooking, hosted at Beth Fish Reads, is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.
My Foodie Nonfiction Favorites
Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation
by Michael Pollan
I especially recommend the audio version, narrated by author.
Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us
by Michael Moss
This book is fascinating, but it will make you angry.
My Life in France by Julia Child
An all-time favorite
A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg
A memoir with recipes, my book club cooked (and ate) our way through this one.
The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber
Another memoir with recipes book club selection, this time with a local connection.
97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman
I enjoyed the social history, but would have appreciated more about the individual families.
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by Michael Pollan
I will read anything Michael Pollan writes.
The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table by Tracie McMillan
Very interesting... and disturbing
Beyond the Pasta: Recipes, Language & Life with an Italian Family
by Mark Leslie
A month in Italy learning the language and culinary skills while living in a family setting? Yes, please.
Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin
Recipes. stories, and more from one of America's most beloved food writers.
What are your foodie nonfiction favorites? Have you read any of these?
Links to all of this week's Nonfiction November posts are here.
Love it! Way to hit all the link-ups with one post! I love Michael Pollan - his In Defense of Food totally changed the way I ate. I need to check out some of his other work you've shared. And loved My Life in France as well!
ReplyDeleteSarah - I loved In Defense of Food, too! Just didn't want to put three Pollan's on the list ;-)
DeleteMichael Pollan is one of those authors on my To Read list. So many on your list I'm glad to hear about, too. My Life in France is so fabulous! It's one of my favorites as well.
ReplyDeleteMonica - Michael Pollan is a good writer and his books are so interesting. I especially liked his most recent, Cooked, but In Defense of Food might be a good place to start. Would have put it on this list, but thought he was already pretty well represented.
DeleteThe Julia Child is one of my all time fave nonfiction foodie books! Great choices here are all around. I still have A Homemade Life on my TBR and I adored her other book, Delancey.
ReplyDeleteAndi - Ans I still have Delancey on my wish list...
DeleteI also love Blood, Bones, Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton and Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking by Anya von Bremzen. Very different books, but both memoirs of growing up with food (or, in the latter case, sometimes without) and becoming food professionals.
ReplyDeleteAmy - I'm adding both of them to my wish list. Thanks!
DeleteI remember reading A Homemade Life many moons ago, but unfortunately didn't follow Molly any further. A few of my favorite "foodie" books are: Heat by Bill Buford; Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton (would love to dine at her reportedly fabulous restaurant called Prune in the Big Apple); and Chef Marcus Samuelsson's first book called New American Table (his restaurant, The Red Rooster in Harlem, is calling me as well). It seems I love to read about great chefs and what goes into making their food great. :-)
ReplyDeleteJudyMac - Another mention of Blood, Bones, Butter... hurray! Heat has just been added to my wish list, too. I met Marcus Samuelson a couple of years ago at a Random House event in NYC and he signed his book Yes, Chef for me. Still need to read it though, and check out his other books.
DeleteThose all look good to me!
ReplyDeleteKathy - I love foodie nonfiction!
DeleteI don't read nearly enough food nonfiction! I read it infrequently, but always enjoy it when I do. I'd definitely like to read more by Pollan :)
ReplyDeleteDoingDewey - I read tons of it a couple of years ago, but not nearly as much this year.
DeleteGreat list JoAnn. I've read all of Pollan's books except for Cooked (although it is on my TBR pile).
ReplyDeleteGlad to see it's as good if not better than his other books :-)
Brona - I just love Pollan's books. Cooked was very entertaining!
DeleteThose books really do all look great even though I rarely read nonfiction!
ReplyDeletePatty - These foodie books may just convince you to give nonfiction a try!
DeleteI love Laurie Colwin's writing. Cheers
ReplyDeleteCarole - need to read the rest of Colwin's work.
DeleteYou know how I love Laurie Colwin! I've also read 97 Orchard. Such a good book. I have the Baklava book on the shelf but haven't read it yet. And I have the Julia book, along with a couple others. I keep thinking I will sit down and read all my books about her/by her one right after the other!
ReplyDeleteNan - Did you know you were the one who introduced me to Laurie Colwin? Thank you! I was not familiar with her a decade ago...
DeleteI actually didn't care for My Life in France. I loved the food and the setting but Julia herself kind of annoyed me. I don't know if it was just my mood or just that we wouldn't have gotten along in real life. I really want to try the Baklava book and Beyond the Pasta sounds fantastic. I loved A Homemade Life! Have you read her 2nd book Delaney? I found it really interesting and very different from her first book.
ReplyDeleteKatherine - I can understand how you could have that reaction to Julia... she certainly would've been tough for some people to take back then, lol. I still have Delancey on my wish list.One of these days...
DeleteYou have some great books-I really enjoyed A Homemade Life, and My Life in France.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Esme. I love foodie nonfiction.
DeleteI really like the sound of some of these, though always nervous about behind the scenes books as not sure I want to know too much....
ReplyDeleteEmma - In that case, I recommend you avoid Anthony Bourdain ;-)
DeleteGreat list! The only one I've read so far is Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin. I'm a big fan of her books.
ReplyDeleteLaurie C - I need to read her other books!
DeleteAwesome list!!! I love Laurie Colwin! My Life in France was amazing. Well, actually, so are all the other books on this list. I haven't yet read 97 Orchard, but plan to some day.
ReplyDeleteBeth F - I have been meaning to visit The Tenement Museum ever since reading 97 Orchard... maybe next trip to NYC?
DeleteBeth Howard's Making Piece and Donia Bijan's Maman's Homesick Pie!
ReplyDeleteCare - Adding to my list! :)
DeleteOne of my favorite genres! I loved Home Cooking and The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry. My book group read In Defense of Food in 2009 and we all thought it was very good.
ReplyDeleteI STILL have A Homemade Life on my TBR shelf and I keep meaning to get a copy of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I have so many other foodie memories on my shelves, I could easily spend months reading nothing but those. Hmmm.... :)
Les - One of my favorite genres, too - no surprise! I thought In Defense of Food was very good, but didn't want to include another Pollan. I forgot about Animal, Vegetable, Miracle... would have included it here if I'd remembered. I need to read The Sharper Your Knife, the Less you Cry.
DeleteI love Laurie Colwin's books. What a talent she was. My Life in France is another one of my favorites. What a great list!
ReplyDeleteSunday - Thank you... I need to read more of Laurie Colwin!
DeleteCooked is the only one in this list that I have read. I need to read more Michael Pollan - I generally enjoy his articles.
ReplyDeleteAthira - Pollan is excellent! I could also have included In Defense of Food here, but decided not to since I had already mentioned a couple of his books.
DeleteI love nonfiction about food, but I haven't read any of these except Home Cooking. I am currently reading nonfiction about food: Eating in America by Waverly Root. It's an informative and entertaining history of food in the United States, starting in pre-colonial times.
ReplyDeletePatience_Crabstick - I've always got several foodie titles near the top of my wish list. Sounds like I need to investigate Eating in America!
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