Welcome to Litsy!

I received this as a swap gift from @EllieDottie when it was still a new release. Many months/hammock sessions/stolen pages later, I finally finished it, and I loved it. So many excellent pieces about such a range of food topics, from poverty to produce to PB&Js in the NBA. Great diversity of perspectives and cultures. Even though the included works are from 2017, the book by no means feels dated. I look forward to reading the 2019 collection!

The world is in shambles, and once again I find myself unable to stay away from the news for long. But - my semester is over and grading done, and there‘s sunshine and trees and gin and books. ❤️

Good!

My husband teases me because I‘ve been reading this book in bits for over a year. It‘s the first time the Best American series has done a food collection! and “food writing” is expansively defined. great essays from Lauren Michele Jackson, Mary H.K. Choi & others. But now the 2019 one is out (edited by Samin Nosrat) so I had to stop playing around & finally finish. If you value the craft of creative nonfiction & great reporting you‘ll dig it.

#7Covers7Days just yummy!

Celebrated the last day of summer by taking myself and my book to the beach😎

The final essay in this collection is by Wyatt Williams, writing about John McPhee and his seminal work, “Oranges.”
“Nothing has given me more license to try to be interesting about boring things than reading John McPhee.”
I am a big fan of McPhee also. But I wouldn‘t call oranges a boring topic.

(Above: I made candied orange peel today.)

I love reading about food so this collection is a tasty smorgasbord. The only piece I‘d previously read was about shojin ryori (from Saveur magazine) & it was nice to revisit the article after experiencing Buddhist temple cuisine in Japan. Francis Lam—of The Splendid Table podcast—writes how food connects a Malaysian immigrant to her country of origin. Pizza stylings, agribusiness, socioeconomic politics of food, NBA‘s PB&Js & more. 😋

April‘s weather hasn‘t been great but the upside of that is lots of time for reading. 😎

Maybe I would have learned this reading anything, but I learned it reading cookbooks: words can be used to make an idea more precise or more vague, to make something clear or to blur its edges. Some writers are good at imagining people who don‘t live a life exactly like their own, and others seem incapable.
—Tejal Rao, The Joy of Reading About Cooking

Farmers poured out almost 50 million gallons of unsold milk last year—actually poured it out, into holes in the ground—according to US Department of Agriculture data. In an August 2016 letter, the National Milk Producers Federation begged the USDA for a $150 million bailout.
—Clint Rainey, The Mad Cheese Scientists Fighting to Save the Dairy Industry

I got fired often, although never for reasons related to job performance. The most common reason was a mysterious word—insubordination—essentially a pretext used by power-mad bosses to shed themselves of people they didn‘t like.
—Chris Offutt, The Country Sausage That‘s Going to Town

I struggle with the equation of food with love, of effort with love. Women especially are held to a standard that equates cooking with a way to express love and care. […]
My grandmother‘s love was in opening a can of soup and heating it over a stove burner. She didn‘t make broth from scratch. She didn‘t dice vegetables or braise meat. We were poor and she was tired. There is no other way to say it.
-Marissa Higgins

A wide range of perspectives, from a profile on Azerbaijan cuisine by Anya von Bremzen to an article from ESPN Magazine about the NFL's obsession with peanut butter and jelly. Three of the essays had ties to South Carolina, including an examination of legacy of racism with our BBQ and whitewashing of "craft culture." The #metoo movement is a focus of two essays including the acclaimed New Yorker piece, "Mario Batali and the Appetites of Men."

@EllieDottie!!! THANK YOU for this amazing array of gifts. Your theme of a foodie‘s Christmas was just perfection. LOVE the metal alphabet mugs and feel like they would totally be used at Hogwarts. Speaking of, ❤️❤️❤️ the candle (as great-smelling as it is adorable) and the card!! The cookie mix/cutter, spatula, and coffee will be put to work simultaneously very soon. 😋 And the truffles are incredible...hope you got some for yourself, too!! ⬇️⬇️

An extremely solid addition to the Best American lineup. Reichl did an excellent job pulling together articles covering a huge range from within the general topic of “food” - craft culture, the tasting experience, #metoo and systemic racism, food science, food celebrity, and on and on.

Second book finished for #readathon.