Holly Hughes - Best Food Writing 2014

PRAISE FOR THE

Best Food Writing

SERIES

Longtime editor Hughes once again compiles a tasty collection of culinary essays for those who love to eat, cook and read about food... A literary trek across the culinary landscape pairing bountiful delights with plenty of substantive tidbits. Kirkus Reviews

What is so great about this annual series is that editor Holly Hughes curates articles that likely never crossed your desk, even if youre an avid reader of food content. Nearly every piece selected is worth your time. The Huffington Post

This latest annual anthology of short writings reveals a nation sorely conflicted about foods nutritional benefits versus the sheer sensual pleasures of the table. Booklist

The essays are thought-provoking and moving... This is an absolutely terrific and engaging book... There is enough variety, like a box of chocolates, that one can poke around the book looking for the one with caramel and find it. New York Journal of Books

A top-notch collection, Hughes brings together a wonderful mix that is sure to please the foodie in all of us. San Francisco Book Review

This collection will leave you both chuckling and pondering, and perhaps a little wiser about the American food scene. Taste for Life

Not just for foodies! This will delight anyone who enjoys the pleasures of a good read and a good meal. Highly recommended. Library Journal

Theres a mess of vital, provocative, funny and tender stuff... in these pages. USA Today

An exceptional collection worth revisiting, this will be a surefire hit with epicureans and cooks. Publishers Weekly, starred review

If youre looking to find new authors and voices about food, theres an abundance to chew on here. Tampa Tribune

Fascinating to read now, this book will also be interesting to pick up a year from now, or ten years from now. Popmatters.com

Some of these stories can make you burn with a need to taste what theyre writing about. Los Angeles Times

This is a book worth devouring. Sacramento Bee

The cream of the crop of food writing compilations. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The book captures the gastronomic zeitgeist in a broad range of essays. San Jose Mercury News

There are a few recipes among the stories, but mostly its just delicious tales about eating out, cooking at home and even the politics surrounding the food on our plates. Spokesman-Review

The next best thing to eating there is. New York Metro

Stories for connoisseurs, celebrations of the specialized, the odd, or simply the excellent.Entertainment Weekly

Spans the globe and palate.Houston Chronicle

The perfect gift for the literate food lover. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

ALSO EDITED BY HOLLY HUGHES

Best Food Writing 2013

Best Food Writing 2012

Best Food Writing 2011

Best Food Writing 2010

Best Food Writing 2009

Best Food Writing 2008

Best Food Writing 2007

Best Food Writing 2006

Best Food Writing 2005

Best Food Writing 2004

Best Food Writing 2003

Best Food Writing 2002

Best Food Writing 2001

Best Food Writing 2000

ALSO BY HOLLY HUGHES

Frommers 500 Places for Food and Wine Lovers

Frommers New York City with Kids

Frommers 500 Places to Take the Kids Before They Grow Up

Copyright 2014 by Holly Hughes

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information, address Da Capo Press, 44 Farnsworth Street, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02210.

Set in 10 point Bembo BQ by the Perseus Books Group

Cataloging-in-Publication data for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

First Da Capo Press edition 2014

ISBN: 978-0-7382-1792-5 (e-book)

Published by Da Capo Press

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

www.dacapopress.com

Note: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. This book is intended only as an informative guide for those wishing to know more about health issues. In no way is this book intended to replace, countermand, or conflict with the advice given to you by your own physician. The ultimate decision concerning care should be made between you and your doctor. We strongly recommend you follow his or her advice. Information in this book is general and is offered with no guarantees on the part of the authors or Da Capo Press. The authors and publisher disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

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CONTENTS

Sugar. Vanilla. Chocolate. Sure, we all know they taste good. But what was even more important last winter was how good they smelled.

It was one of the hospice volunteers main duties: To bake a nonstop supply of chocolate chip cookiesnot only for the patients, but also for the heart-sore family and friends at their bedsides. So what if the volunteers were scooping premade industrial batter out of plastic tubs bought in bulk from Costco? These werent artisanal chocolate chip cookies, not gourmet confections, and they didnt need to be. They were literally to die for (a term Ill never again use lightly).

After weeks in the Lysol-bedpan aroma of hospitals and nursing homes, that sugar-vanilla scent helped make the hospice a haven of peace for my nieces, my sister, and me. No more beeping machines and intercoms, no more rattling carts, no more nutritionists and physical therapists trying to strong-arm my brother into getting better. The freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies were the final touch, the stroke of genius that made it all feel homey and natural and honest.

Granted, it wasnt just the cookies that made us (okay, mostly me) pack on a collective 15 pounds that month. We couldnt even walk outdoors, not with snow banked up to the windowsills by a relentless series of blizzards, so in those agonizing weeks of waiting, hoping, denying, the necessity of eating provided our only escape. We desperately snatched opportunities to run out into the snow for take-out foodfirst dashing to the hospitals sad fast-food court, later grabbing pallid heat-and-eats from a Stop & Shop near the nursing home. At last, it seemed like wed hit a gustatory jackpot when we discovered near the hospice a Whole Foods, a Panera caf, AND a Bertuccis. (Whoo-hoo!) What relief it was when one of the sons-in-law burst back indoors, cheeks red from the cold, loaded down with plastic bags of dinner. We craved the caloric buzz of starches and fatsuntil we craved salads even more. (With chocolate-chip cookies for dessert, of course.) Comfort food, indeed.