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We’ve rounded up a few of this year’s food-related books and magazines that would make great gifts for others or to keep all for yourself.
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal (below)
By Mary Roach
In the same vein as her other popular exposes on corpses, the supernatural, space, and sex, Gulp follows food through the body—literally—from entrance to exit, with historical anecdotes, interviews with experts in the food and medical fields, and Roach’s participant-observations along the way (she sticks her arm into a cow’s stomach, for example). Equally informative and entertaining, the book will be sure to please the more cerebral foodies on your list who aren’t squeamish.
Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (above)
Like Roach, Pollan knows how to use a winning formula when writing a book. In his case, he returns to the four-part structure of his bestseller The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Shifting from food production to food preparation, Pollan showcases grilling, braising, bread making, and fermenting, under the clever headings “fire,” “water,” “air,” and “earth.” As controversial as ever—Pollan managed to provoke the ire of a few feminists thanks to his remarks on what’s ruined the American family’s dinner ritual—the author delivers an engrossing read as he profiles some of the more interesting personalities in the world of food preparation.
Anything that Moves: Renegade Chefs, Fearless Eaters, and the Making of the New American Food Culture (below)
Readers of The New Yorker will recognize staff writer Goodyear’s essays collected in the book, which begins with the author, who spent much of her childhood in St. Louis, shadowing Pulitzer-Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold searching for unusual eats in LA. Like Gold’s seemingly bottomless appetite (this man can eat unbelievable quantities of food, especially when joined by fellow critic Tom Sietsema), Goodyear’s book is an expansive collection of profiles, personal anecdotes, and history of unusual foods and even more unusual people.
Shop Like a Chef: A Food Lover’s Guide to St. Louis Neighborhoods (above)
By Clara Moore and Matt Sorrell
Chef Clara Moore and food writer Matt Sorrell have collaborated to produce a handy guide to food via St. Louis neighborhoods and markets. Part local history, part grocery directory, part cookbook, Moore and Sorrell’s book not only instructs the reader on where to shop for certain ingredients, but it also details how to use those ingredients in multiple recipes. Sorrel and Moore, who used to chef at Local Harvest Café and now splits her time between St. Louis and Seattle, have written a culinary love letter to St. Louis that will rest comfortably alongside cookbooks and neighborhood histories alike. Check out the book’s website for the authors’ upcoming appearances at local markets and stores timed perfectly for the holiday season.
A quarterly magazine concentrating on “farm, food, life,” published out of New York, will be sure to please all walks of farmers, from the everyday to weekend to still-fantasizing-about-quitting-the-9-to-5-job. With a focus that ranges from the domestic to the international, the publication offers topics serious (whether or not agroterroism should be feared), instructive (how to chop a stack of wood), and humorous (goat week!).
Just in time to school Time magazine on its sexist ways, Cherry Bombe is another new quarterly focusing entirely on women in the food industry. A cross between Harper’s (where the editors happen to hail from), minus the glossy pages, and Lucky Peach, with its often irreverent tone, Cherry Bombe appeals to the brain, eyes, and stomach. The usual suspects in the industry are included—chefs and restaurateurs—along with women who work as food stylists, photographers, and even owners of specialty food-related bookstores. We were hooked by the inaugural issue’s interview with chef-author Gabrielle Hamilton and photo essay of Helen Turner, pit master of Helen’s Bar-B-Q in Tennessee, and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future.
Editor's Note: And last, but not least (and in an admitted shameless plug), there's always St. Louis Chefs' Recipes, Volume 2, 200 recipes from the city's top chefs, published in October 2013. It makes a great companion to Volume 1, which SLM published last year. The cookbooks are available at major grocery stores, local book stores, or by calling SLM at 314-918-3000 X3006.
