[pumpkingrl]

What do you think are essential books for a culinary fool?!?

Food writing/essays etc. - I am more interested int hese than cookbooks per say.

[phoebe]

A great place to start is The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fisher. It's really a collection of 5 books, bound as one. She certainly didn't invent culinary writing, but she's one of the best.
And food memoirs are getting very popular. Ruth Reichl has two that I enjoyed. And there's a nice little anthology where writers write brief ones: We Are What We Ate: 24 Memories of Food

[pumpkingrl]

thanks for the suggestions, phoebe.

[phoebe]

Sure! And I just thought of another: Calvin Trillin's Tummy Trilogy

[maggie]

Zingerman's Deli in Michigan has a great catalog. It is a great read for us food people. www.zingermans.com. They also sell books about food and not just recipes.

Enjoy
Maggie

[pumpkingrl]

thanks maggie for the link. i will definitely check it out. i am so glad i found a forum like this. i have a desire to start my own little cooking/food/wine gathering once a month but this is a great place to meet folks in the meantime.

[mrsadm]

Read *anything* by Jeffrey Steingarten. He is absolutely brilliant, amusing, and endearingly self-deprecating at times.

He is the food editor for Vogue magazine (alas, his articles are not online, you have to buy the magazine). He has two books out which are collections of his previously published articles:

"The Man who ate everything"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...173780-3935340

"It must have been something I ate"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...e&s=books&st=*

You will enjoy them!

[chefmikesworld]

All of these are great books, although I have not seen Zingerman's catalog...I love Art, he is a great guy...one time on a trip back from Europe that he went on he gave a balsamic tasting at the Deli for chef's in Ann Arbor that was totally awesome...When I lived there he and I could go on for hours about food, one of my best friend used to be his chef. Am gonna have to give him a buzz, I haven't talked to him in years and am going to check out the site, I didn't even know he had one, but go figure...these days who doesn't....

My favorite by far, although the rest of these were awesome is Shirley Corriher's "Cookwise", she is a brilliant culinarian and food chemist....I still refer to her book on a regular basis especially when I have some how and why questions...

Cheffy

[Jim]

If I might add...
Outlaw Cook by Matt Thorne
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
New American Chef by Andrew Dornenburg & Karen Page