Wheat Belly
by William Davis, M.D.

Over 200 million Americans consume food products made of wheat every day. As a result, over 100 million experience some form of adverse health effect, ranging from minor rashes to high blood sugar to unattractive stomach bulges preventative cardiologist William Davis calls “wheat bellies.” According to Davis, that excess fat has nothing to do with gluttony, sloth, or too much butter: it’s due to the whole grain wraps we eat for lunch. After witnessing over 2,000 patients regain health after giving up wheat, Davis reached the disturbing conclusion that wheat is the single largest contributor to the nationwide obesity epidemic—and that elimination of wheat is key to dramatic weight loss and optimal health. In Wheat Belly, a national bestseller, Dr. Davis exposes the harmful effects of what is actually a product of genetic tinkering and agribusiness being sold to the American public as “wheat”—and provides readers with a user-friendly, step-by-step plan to navigate a new wheat-free lifestyle.

At Mesa’s Edge: Cooking and Ranching in Colorado’s North Fork Valley
by Eugenia Bone

Eugenia Bone, a New York City food writer, was lured by her husband, a transplanted westerner, to buy a forty-five-acre ranch in Crawford, Colorado (population 255). He had just returned from a fishing trip in the Rockies, and Eugenia had sensed his vague discontent with urban life. She reluctantly consented, and bravely jumped into Western Colorado life, packing her suitcase with her “necessities”–imported pasta, artichokes in oil, and cured Italian salami—before she and her 2 young children headed West to live part time in the North Fork Valley. At Mesa’s Edge is the witty, candid, often moving story of ranch restoration and of struggles with defiant skunks, barbed wire, marauding cows, and loneliness. And in the process of learning the way of the West, Eugenia discovers the bounty and blessings of the region. The author approaches life on the Plateau with humor and grace, making fun of herself as she acknowledges the difficulties of ranch life in the North Fork Valley. Partly a memoir, partly a cookbook with 150 appealing recipes, At Mesa’s Edge is a transporting tale of rejuvenation, a celebration of everything local, and a reminder that the best food is to be found in our own back yards.

Alice Waters and Chez Panisse 
“The Romantic, Impractical, often Eccentric, Ultimately Brilliant Making of a Food Revolution”
by Thomas McNamee

Today, Alice Waters may be the most important figure in the culinary history of North America. Chez Panisse, her Berkeley, California restaurant, opened in 1971, revolutionized what it means to eat out and gave birth to a new nationwide cuisine-the first in this country not associated with a single region or ethnic group, the first “American” cuisine. The New York Times has called Alice “the mother of American cooking.” Without an ounce of business sense or financial discipline, Alice, with a small group of devoted friends and followers who developed around her, developed her strong principles of using only locally grown and organic ingredients at the peak of their seasons, to keep her restaurant afloat. This launched an entirely new food culture–committed to using seasonal, organic products from local sources. Today a finely tuned organization, Chez Panisse has come to embody a cuisine that is as politically conscious as it is pleasurable. Together, Alice Waters and Chez Panisse have revolutionized how we think about food, how its grown, how we cook, and how we eat.

Everything I Want To Do is Illegal
by Joel Salatin

Joel Salatin and his family own and operate Polyface Farm, arguably the nation’s most famous farm since it was profiled in Michael Pollan’s New York Times bestseller, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and two subsequent documentary films, Food, Inc., and Fresh. Drawing upon 40 years’ experience as an ecological farmer and marketer, Joel Salatin explains in this book, with humor and passion, why Americans do not have the freedom to choose the food they purchase and eat.

From a reviewer: “Author Joel Salatin is a “farmer.” The word tends to conjure an image of the small farmer of yesteryear … struggling, hapless, about to be made obsolete by today’s industrialized, corporatized agribusiness. Forget that image. Salatin’s business model is uniquely American: innovative, quality-driven, free-thinking, and customer-oriented. He has created a loyal local market for his high-quality poultry, beef, and pork, and he accepts no government monies or subsidies. As if that wasn’t hard enough, Salatin has had to constantly swim against an overwhelming tide of flawed regulations that discriminate in favor of mega-operations. “Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal” tells all about that struggle, and so much more.”

Salatin is an accomplished author of seven books, and a public speaker. Recognition for his ecological and local-based farming advocacy includes an honorary doctorate, the Heinz Award, and many leadership awards.

Salt: A World History
by Mark Kurlansky

The author of five nonfiction books, Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Salt by Mark Kurlansky is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece.

What We Eat When We Eat Alone: Stories and 100 Recipes
by Deborah Madison, Patrick McFarlin

Deborah Madison–cook, restaurateur, teacher and award-winning author of books that herald the garden, stress vegetarian cuisine, and promote eating locally—has taken a new twist with her writing. Madison and her husband, Patrick McFarlin, set out to learn what people chew on when there isn’t anyone else around. The responses are surprising-and we aren’t just talking take-out or leftovers. The result is a delightful, conversational journey about solo eating rituals–this is food-gone-wild in its most elemental form.

Betty Fussell, noted food writer, shares this in one of the chapters: “I eat alone all the time in this my seventy-ninth year, and I love to eat alone. Nobody to please but myself. I open the door of the fridge and look inside. It’s always exciting, so many little things forgotten at the back of the shelves. What can I put together for this improvised, unrepeatable, once-in-a-lifetime meal?”

The book is playfully illustrated with the delightful art of Patrick McFarlin, and each chapter ends with recipes for those who dine alone. And Madison’s upbeat message is–Treat yourself right. Eat what you like. And go ahead, improvise!

Twain’s Feast: Searching for America’s Lost Foods in the Footsteps of Samuel Clemens
by Andrew Beahrs

In the winter of 1879, Mark Twain paused during a tour of Europe to compose a fantasy menu of the American dishes he missed the most. He was desperately sick of European hotel cooking, and his menu, made up of some eighty regional specialties, was a true love letter to American food: Lake Trout, from Tahoe. Hot biscuits, Southern style. Black-bass, from the Mississippi. Food writer Andrew Beahrs weaving together passages from Twain’s famous works and Beahrs’s own adventures to take us on a journey into America’s past, to a time when foods taken fresh from grasslands, woods, and waters were at the heart of American cooking. In Twain’s Feast, he reminds us what we’ve lost as these wild foods have disappeared from our tables, and what we stand to gain from their return.