Favorite Food Books? Not to be confused with Cookbooks- necessarily.

[Kylie Charter]

Food writing has become it's own genre and I have found it so extraordinary to read other peoples experiences with something so near and dear to my heart. I have loved all 3 of Ruth Reichl's books, Steingarten's The Man Who Ate Everything, Bourdain's Cooks Tour and Kitchen Confidential. Fisher's Gastronomical Me, Ruhlman's The Making of a Chef , and so many more. What are your faves, what has inspired you?

[Rich Lang]

This is not exactly a food book (depending on your definition), but I absolutely loved Michael Pollan's Botany o Desire. I've read other books and articles by him as well, but that is his masterpiece as far as I am concerned.

[Lydia Walshin]

Last year I ran a feature on my blog called Bookworms in the Pantry, and my readers created a list of more than 100 of their favorite food books (not cookbooks). You can find the list on my site, The Perfect Pantry, here.

[Kylie Charter]

What a fantastic list, thank you.

[twak]

The books you mention are all great.

A few more for the list:

Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out
by Steven A. Shaw


The Tummy Trilogy
by Calvin Trillin

And don't forget Harold McGee!

[Adrian d Irish Guy]

cooking for kings, tough cookies, the perfectionist,

humble pie and white slave to a lesser extent

can't stand jeffrey steingarten...
his writing comes across as sounding superior to us and it drives me nuts.
Read the man who ate everything and the only article i liked is the one when he cooks with the non-fattening cooking oil

[ELS]

I just read "United States of Aruglua", it was very interesting. It's a historical view of how we became a gourmet nation.

[Andrea Sloan]

I've been meaning to write about two books I've read recently that kind of reinforced everything I think about food and wine, but I've been too lazy! Alice Waters and Chez Panisse was inspiring, thoughtful, rich in detail-and it made me really hungry-for food, for knowledge, and pretty much just for life.
The second book was Adventures on the Wine Route by Kermit Lynch. It's about Kermit's unexpected introduction into the world of wine importing and his "adventures" in France while searching for new producers. This book is positively hysterical at points, and is full of hilarious anecdotes-but Kermit's philosophies about wine and life shine through on every page. This should be the first wine book anyone ever reads and it should never leave your nightstand.
Also, shameless self-promotion: Kermit Lynch wines are once again available in RI!