Edited by Holly Hughes
Da Capo, $16.00, 305 pages
Any good writing is a pleasure to read. If you love food, no, passionate about food to a degree of calling yourself a foodie, this book rates very high for you. If you are a good home cook who enjoys food and cooking, you are likely to flip over the pages and lose interest very quickly. Yes, the writing is very good, every one of the 45 carefully selected food writers know how to grab your attention and hold it—provided you have interest in the subject. Subject that varies widely covering virtually any topic related to food, cooking and eating: environment, food trends, politics, culture, fast foods, even philosophy.
This is the eleventh year of Best Food Writing and apparently the readers are there to continue. Each of the seven sections separated by topics includes six to eight writers. The sections are Foodways, Home Cooking, Stocking the Pantry, Food Fights, Guilty Pleasures, Someone’s in the Kitchen and Personal Tastes. The book is un-illustrated, soft-cover and not meant to last long. The stories are short; perfect for reading when you have ten minutes to sit down with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine.