Oct 9 – In Inventing Wine, Paul Lukacs chronicles wine’s transformation from a source of sustenance to a consciously pursued pleasure, in the process offering a new way to view the present as well as the past.
Food History
The Slow Food Story – Oct 11
Oct 11 – The Slow Food Story is an extensive critique of the fast-moving, work-obsessed contemporary capitalist culture.
Soul Food – Dec 14
Dec 14 – In Soul Food, an insightful and eclectic history, Adrian Miller delves into the influences, ingredients, and innovations that make up the soul food tradition.
Black Smoke – Mar 9
Mar 9 – In Black Smoke, Adrian Miller chronicles how Black barbecuers, pitmasters, and restauranteurs helped develop this cornerstone of American foodways and how they are coming into their own today.
The President’s Kitchen Cabinet – Nov 14
Nov 14 – President’s Kitchen Cabinet vividly tells the stories of the African Americans who worked in the presidential food service as chefs, personal cooks, butlers, stewards,and servers for every First Family since George and Martha Washington.
Consider the Fork – Nov 14
Nov 14 – In Consider the Fork, award-winning food writer Bee Wilson provides a wonderful and witty tour of the evolution of cooking around the world, revealing the hidden history of everyday objects we often take for granted
Chocolate – Feb 13
Chocolate is a delectable journey into the world of chocolate–from manufacturing to marketing, French boutiques to American multinationals.
Drunken Botanist – Dec 13
In The Drunken Botanist, Amy Stewart explores the dizzying array of herbs, flowers, trees, fruits, and fungi that humans have, through ingenuity, inspiration, and sheer desperation, contrived to transform into alcohol.
Language of Food – Dec 9
In The Language of Food, Stanford University professor and MacArthur Fellow Dan Jurafsky peels away the mysteries from the foods we think we know and dives into the hidden history of food.
A History of the World in 6 Glasses
A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the 21st century through the lens of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola.
Read More
Cooked & Terra Madre Talk
In Cooked, Michael Pollan discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements—fire, water, air, and earth— to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink.
Read More
Gathering: Memoir Of A Seed Saver
This is the story about Seed Savers Exchange that began humbly as a simple exchange of seeds among passionate gardeners and how the membership has grown from a small circle of people to more than thirteen thousand.
Read More
Salt: A World History
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.
Read More
Twain’s Feast: Searching for America’s Lost Foods in the Footsteps of Samuel Clemens
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.
Read More
Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages
Part culinary history, part cookbook—with more than 120 enticing recipes,—part inquiry into the evolution of an industry, Milk is a one-of-a-kind book that will forever change the way we think about dairy products.
Read More