After the holiday crush, settle in with tasty reads

When the last of the revelers leave, it’s time to sit down, relax and enjoy yourself.

Tis’ the season when all chefs (and for that matter every restaurant employee) begin to work even more brutal hours than typical. Yes, the holidays are upon us and that means family celebrations and good-spirited debauchery that run right up until that last hallowed night of New Year’s Eve. January is often a nicely paced reward (sometimes even downright slow) for all of the hard work the holidays demanded from us.

To make that downtime a bit more pleasant, why not kick back with a good read? The books below bring food to the page and give deeper, and often humorous looks, at the role that food plays in the lives of individuals as well as the fabric of cultures around the world.


The Omnivore’s Dilemma
By Michael Pollan

Pollan’s intense, journalistic look at all things food digs deep into what he terms “our national eating disorder”, which runs the gamut from the weight of our great nation to our obsession with eating in general. He takes a journey through four food experiences, wrapping up each chapter with a meal inspired by the experience. He begins with a microscopic look at the impact that one ingredient, corn, has on our national tastes and the journeys that it takes from stalks in fields to its role as 13 of the 38 ingredients in McNuggets. From the field, he heads to Whole Foods to gather ingredients and examine the role that large purveyors of so-called natural foods play in the food chain. His next meal is had at a small organic farm where he digs into that way of living and eating. His final chapter, and last course, focuses on a meal that he forages on his own.


The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation
By David Kamp

We are a nation of conflicts, developing a taste for the finer foods in life, while also reveling in the fact that we can order and eat McWhoppers without even ever standing up. Kamp’s book looks at the transition that we’ve gone through as a nation and the role that James Beard, Julia Child and Craig Clairborne, had in the shift in our desire from canned conveniences to caviar concoctions. But, perhaps the book’s most appealing element is that it’s got a juicy side and we get to peer behind the aprons of and learn about three dominant forces who helped develop the American palette.


The Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine
By Rudolph Chelminski

In February of 2003, France went into a national state of mourning when the renowned chef and proprietor of La Cote d’or, Bernard Loiseau, committed suicide just after the lunch service wrapped up. It is mostly the story of Loiseau, a high-school dropout and obsessive workaholic who was driven by his desire to be awarded the much-coveted Michelin three stars — and a much beloved chef in a nation that knows how to eat and love. The added bonus is that throughout the narrative of Loiseau’s life, the book also offers a history of the Michelin family, who’s who in French cuisine and a modern look at food in France.


It Must Have Been Something I Ate
By Jeffrey Steingarten

In his follow-up to his “The Man Who Ate Everything,” (another notable read), Steingarten continues his gustatory cavorting across a range of topics, including a trip on a tuna boat questing for bluefin; tracking the wild and crazy trail of turducken; and even dipping into a story about crossing the border in search of a diet drug that got pulled from the shelves in the United States. How else do you stay trim when there are so many meals left to eat?


This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader
By Joan Dye Gussow

More is being made all the time of the move away from the imported perfection of the produce aisle and toward locally grown ingredients. Perhaps no one discusses it with as much conviction, and experience, as Gussow, who two decades ago cultivated a small backyard garden into a full-blown obsession with eating only fruits and vegetables that she herself had grown. The book contains good factual information about the benefits of local eating that’s interspersed with recipes from her garden and tales of her family, neighbors and life. Though technically a gardening book, Gussow helps us remember where our food really comes from.


Honey from a Weed: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apulia
By Patience Gray

Like its title, this book is a golden sweet read that is much, much more than just a book about food. It’s a literary work of art. Gray takes local, seasonal eating to exotic locales and tells the tale of foraging for ingredients, creating great meals and telling wonderful stories about creating and enjoying both meals and life. Be sure your fridge is stocked with ingredients, since you’ll be itching to make a meal by the end of the first chapter.