Preamble I will begin this preamble with a witty humorous story of how the birth of this book had come about ! One day, I was invited to a cooking competition, involving several culinary artists and executive Chefs, who were creating and presenting an array of amazingly appetizing dishes.  More over, I had imagined how I would have made these dishes, if I had participated.  The next day, after several fruitless searches on the Internet, and in some various ref...

“A true populist, as interested in celebrating the most humble wok-slinger as he is in extolling the superchef. If his sharp eye and his wicked tongue have brought him acclaim, what has kept him in the spotlight is his heart. Like Oscar Wilde, he is a moralist in the guise of a libertine.” —Denver PostThe instant New York Times bestseller and follow-up to Anthony Bourdain’s blockbuster classic on the cooking life, Kitchen Confidential

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Calvin Trillin's Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin.“Trillin is our funniest food writer. He writes with charm, freedom, and a rare respect for language.”–New York magazineIn this delightful and delicious book, Calvin Trillin, guided by an insatiable appetite, embarks on a hilarious odyssey in search of “something decent to eat.” Across time zones and cultures, and often with his wife, Alice, at his side, Tri...

For two hundred years, a rogues' gallery of chefs, line cooks, and dishwashers have slaved away, largely unseen, to serve the dining public. Their pedigrees reach back to the first restaurants during the reign of France's Louis XVI and extend to the Delmonico brothers in New York, Escoffier in Paris, and, in Fried: Surviving Two Centuries in Restaurants, a renegade cook in Minneapolis walking like a duck with a whole, raw salmon on his head.Author and professional chef Steve Lerach...

HAUTE OUT OF THE OVEN—BITCHIN’ KITCHEN’S NADIA G IS COOKIN’ FOR TROUBLE!Culinary It-girl Nadia G is just as skilled strutting in stilettos as she is wielding a meat cleaver. Now this Julia Child of the Net generation and host of the wildly popular Bitchin’ Kitchen TV show on the Cooking Channel brings her savvy chef know-how and rock star ’tude to glam up your dining experience. Trained at the culinary institute of Hard Wooden Spoon Whacks, Nadia says tha...

One of America's best novelists Jay McInerney is also well-known for being a wine connoisseur. Since beginning to drink wine, in emulation of his literary and cultural heroes - which he admits were not only Hemingway and Fitzgerald but also the characters that they gave birth to - the writer's understanding of and fascination with wine has only grown.The Juice gives an insight into a passion and pastime that McInerney believes should be accessible to everyone, from those p...

An inspiring, recipe-filled memoir about loss, recovery, and finding oneself through food and cooking."I rose from my wheelchair slowly, using the arms of the seat to steady myself; I managed to lift my weighty limbs and limp the three steps to the counter. Stirring left-handed, I did not want to leave the warmth of the kitchen. I felt good. And for a moment I forgot about the life that I was living. Being in the kitchen, the sights and smells, the smear of cri...

Witty and irreverent, informative and provocative, Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge is the highly readable story of Gordon Edgar's unlikely career as a cheesemonger at San Francisco's worker-owned Rainbow Grocery Cooperative. A former punk-rock political activist, Edgar bluffed his way into his cheese job knowing almost nothing, but quickly discovered a whole world of amazing artisan cheeses. There he developed a deep understanding and respect for the styles, producers, animals, ...

"Well-researched and original" essays on the intersection between food and adventure ( Publishers Weekly).Culinary Tourism is the first book to consider food as both a destination and a means for tourism. The book's contributors examine the many intersections of food, culture, and tourism in public and commercial contexts, in private and domestic settings, and around the world.The contributors argue that the sensory experience of eating pr...

Simon Majumdar is probably not your typical idea of an immigrant. As he says, “I’m well rested, not particularly poor, and the only time I ever encounter ‘huddled masses’ is in line at Costco.” But immigrate he did, and thanks to a Homeland Security agent who asked if he planned to make it official, the journey chronicled in Fed, White, and Blue was born. In it, Simon sets off on a trek across the United States to find out what it really means to become an American, using what he ...

In this meditation on the culinary life that blends elements of memoir and cookbook, Paul Liebrandt shares the story of his own struggle to become a chef and define his personal style.To the Bone is Liebrandt’s exploration of his culinary roots and creative development. At fifteen, he began his foray into the restaurant world and soon found himself cooking in the finest dining temples of London, Paris, and ultimately, New York. Taking inspiration from the ...