A celebrated food writer's expansive, audacious excavation of the development of modern queer identity and food culture.Food in America and Europe has long been shaped, twisted, and upended by queer creatives. Beloved food writer John Birdsall fills the gap between the past and present, channeling the twin forces of criticism and cultural history to propel readers into the kitchens, restaurants, swirling party-houses, and humming interior lives of James Baldwin, Al...

Named Best Cookbook by The New York Times**,** The Washington Post**,** The Boston Globe**,** The Chicago Tribune**, Food Network,** Bon Appetit**, Food52 (Piglet Finalist), Edible Communities, The BBC,** The Independent**,** The Sunday Times**,** The Telegraph**,**

Much of our life is consumed looking for quantitative relationships. For example, How much more sleep do I need at night to make me feel better? How many calories do I need to eliminate to lose weight? How much larger does my budget on the job need to be for me to be more effective? All these quantitative questions are preceded, and depend on, qualitative questions. For example, before I decide how much extra sleep I need at night, I need to determine if extra sleep will actually make me f...

**A New York Times Best Book of the Year“A soup-to-nuts-to-brunch-to-all-night-diner portrait of the inextricable link between queerness and food that’s…[a] delicious celebration.” ?New York Times Book ReviewA celebrated culinary writer’s expansive, audacious excavation of the roots of modern queer identity and food culture.**The food on our plates has long been designed, twisted, and elevated by queer hands. Piecing together a dazzling mosaic of q...

In the first portrait of James Beard in twenty-five years, John Birdsall accomplishes what no prior telling of Beard's life and work has done: He looks beyond the public image of the "Dean of American Cookery" to give voice to the gourmet's complex, queer life and, in the process, illuminates the history of American food in the twentieth century. At a time when stuffy French restaurants and soulless Continental cuisine prevailed, Beard invented something strange and new: the notion of an A...

"Mouthwatering. . . . an eye-opening guide to a little-known cuisine" with recipes for home-style Thai and Lao dishes from a Michelin-starred restaurant chef (Publishers Weekly , starred review).James Syhabout's hugely popular Hawker Fare restaurant in San Francisco is the product of his unique family history and diverse career experience. Born into two distinct but related Asian cultures—from his mother's ancestral villa...