Hughes - Best Food Writing 2011

More Praise for the Best Food Writing series

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

Reflects not only a well-developed esthetic but also increasingly a perceptive politics that demands attention to agricultural and nutritional policies by both individuals and governments.

Booklist

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

best
Food
WRITING
2011

ALSO EDITED BY HOLLY HUGHES

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 500 Places to See Before They Disappear

Frommers 500 Places to Take the Kids
Before They Grow Up

Edited by
HOLLY HUGHES

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Da Capo Press was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial capital letters.

Copyright 2011 by Holly Hughes

Pages 302-305 constitute an extension of the copyright page.

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. Printed in the United States of America.

Set in 11 point Bembo by the Perseus Books Group

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

First Da Capo Press edition 2011

ISBN 978-0-7382-1531-0

Published by Da Capo Press

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

www.dacapopress.com

Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 255-1514, or e-mail .

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After four months, takeouteven New York City takeoutcan get really, really old.

But what else do you dowhat else can you dowhen your kitchen is under renovation for four months? (Six to eight weeks, the contractor estimatedHA!) The old kitchen had lasted us for twenty-four years, but the appliances were dying one by one, like needles dropping off an old Christmas tree. A wall had to be knocked down; clogged exhaust vents needed to be ripped out; my family of five (it was just me and Bob when we did the first reno) needed a table we could all sit around at the same time.

And so the demolition proceeded. Meanwhile, we fell into a routine. Pizza one night, Chinese another, hamburgers and fries (yes, I caved) another. The delivery guy from Texas Rotisserie came to our apartment so often, hed just laugh when we opened the door: Me again! A roasted chicken and bagged salad from the supermarket was the closest we got to home cooking. On school nights, homework meant we couldnt go out for dinner, despite the temptation of at least 10 good restaurants within a 5-minute walk. Instead, we sat in the dining room, squeezed amidst stacked cardboard boxes of dishes and pots and pans, pulling each evenings repast out of plastic carrier bags, then rummaging for the packets of plastic cutlery, napkins, and salt and pepper pouches.

For four months.

The renovation might have been a little less painful if I had been able to ignore foodbut unfortunately, it coincided with the time of year when I annually immerse myself in a gorge of reading for this years Best Food Writing selections. And the hungrier my reading made me, the harder it was to drum up enthusiasm for yet another aluminum pan of greasy arroz con pollo.

There I was, reading accounts of spectacular culinary accomplishmentslike Colman Andrewss ode to Venetian seafood (page 2), Jay Rayners appreciation of Heston Blumenthals artistry (page 225), or Lisa Abends behind-the-scenes look at El Bull (page 249)while picking through cold leftover Hunan pork with string beans for lunch. How I longed to try out the cooking techniques outlined by Pete Wells (page 42), Daniel Duane (page 46), or Indrani Sen (page 117); how I despaired of ever again being able to fill my refrigerator with artisanal cheeses like Eric LeMay describes (page 110) or Mike Madisons melons (page 136) or Brett Andersons silky, plump fresh oysters (page 176).

As my own eating choices became of necessity weirder and weirder, I couldnt help but respond to a number of wonderful writers waxing rhapsodic over their secret food indulgenceshence an entire new section titled Guilty Pleasures. I cant say I totally agree with John Thornes passion for Vienna sausages (page 184), but Kevin Pangs tater tots (page 188) and Elissa Altmans (page 204) midnight hot dogs from Grays Papaya? Bring them on.

The books other new section this year, Foodways, also fell into place as if it had always been there. From Jessica B. Harriss definitive essay on soul food (page 9) and Katy Vines inside look at Texas state fair deep-fry champions (page 25), to the cross-cultural musings of Geoff Nicholson (page 20) and Francis Lam (page 37), these examinations of how food defines cultureand vice-versawere just too good not to highlight at the front of the book.

In the course of the spring, however, I witnessed a tempest roiling the food writing community. Im talking about self-appointed cultural critic B. R. Myerss now-famousor perhaps I should say infamousarticle in the March 2011 issue of The Atlantic. You can guess the thrust of it from its title: The Moral Crusade Against Foodies. In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that Myers plucked many quotes from recent