The Edible Woman
by Margaret Atwood

Ever since her engagement, the strangest thing has been happening to Marian McAlpin: she can't eat. First meat. Then eggs, vegetables, cake, pumpkin seeds—everything! Worse yet, she has the crazy feeling that she's being eaten. Marian ought to feel consumed with passion, but she really just feels . . . consumed. A brilliant and powerful work rich in irony and metaphor, The Edible Woman is an unforgettable masterpiece by a true master of contemporary literary fiction.

“Throughout her literary career. . . . Margaret Atwood has impressed and delighted readers with her wit, lyric virtuosity and imaginative acuity.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

Click here for a complete list of titles by Margaret Atwood.

Banana Heart Summer
by Merlinda Bobis

In her lush, luminous debut novel, Merlinda Bobis creates a dazzling feast for all the senses. Richly imagined, gloriously written, Banana Heart Summer is an incandescent tale of food, family, and longing.

The Mistress of Spices
A Novel
by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

“Divakaruni’s prose is so pungent that it stains the page, yet beneath the sighs and smells of this brand of magic realism she deftly introduces her true theme: how an ability to accommodate desire enlivens not only the individual heart but a society cornered by change.”
—The New Yorker

Click here for a complete list of titles by Chitra Divakaruni.

Heartburn
by Nora Ephron

“Great fun. . . . Though Heartburn bristles ferociously with wit, it's not lacking in soul.”
—The New York Times Book Review

Like Water for Chocolate
A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies
by Laura Esquivel
translated by Carol and Thomas Christensen

“A tall-tale, fairy-tale, soap-opera romance, Mexican cookbook and home-remedy handbook all rolled into one, Like Water For Chocolate is one tasty entree from first-time novelist Laura Esquivel.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
by Fannie Flagg

Here is a folksy and funny, endearing and affecting, southern-fried tale about two very special friendships.

Rosewater and Soda Bread
A Novel
by Marsha Mehran

“A mouthwatering tale with flavors of Chocolat and Under the Tuscan Sun. . . . sinfully sweet and satisfying.”
—Orlando Sentinel

New
Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love
by Lara Vapnyar

In a triumphant return to the short story, the form in which she made her extraordinary debut with There Are Jews in My House, Lara Vapnyar gives us a delightful new collection in which food and love intersect, along with their overlapping pleasures, frustrations, and deep associations in the lives of her unforgettable characters.

The Language of Baklava
by Diana Abu-Jaber

“Incredibly powerful. . . . The world described is so strange and sumptuous, the characters so large and comedic, and the descriptions of the food so enveloping and mouthwatering that you want to climb into this world and make it your own.” —The Oregonian

Hallelujah! The Welcome Table
A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes
by Maya Angelou

Throughout Maya Angelou's life, from her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas, to her world travels as a bestselling writer, good food has played a central role. Preparing and enjoying homemade meals provides a sense of purpose and calm, accomplishment and connection. Now in Hallelujah! The Welcome Table, Angelou shares memories pithy and poignant—and the recipes that helped to make them both indelible and irreplaceable.

Heat
An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany
by Bill Buford

“Buford develops a superbly detailed picture of life in a top restaurant kitchen. . . . Heat is a sumptuous meal.”
—The New York Times

My Life in France
by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme

“Captivating. . . . Her marvelously distinctive voice is present on every page.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“Delighful and ebulliently written. . . . Her joy just about jumps off the books pages.”
—Christian Science Monitor

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I
40th Anniversary Edition
by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck

“Has it really been 40 years since Julia Child rescued Americans from dreary casseroles? This reissue, clad in a handsome red jacket, is what a cookbook should be: packed with sumptuous recipes, detailed instructions, and precise line drawings. Some of the instructions look daunting, but as Child herself says in the introduction, ‘If you can read, you can cook.’”
—Entertainment Weekly

Appetite for Life
The Biography of Julia Child
by Noel Riley Fitch

“Because Child allowed Fitch complete access to her papers, we get a real feel for the relentless work that went into the much-massaged Mastering.”
—Washington Post

The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs. Beeton
The First Domestic Goddess
by Kathryn Hughes

“Scrupulously researched, definitive. . . . Mrs. Beeton emerges as a fascinating blend of Betty Crocker and Emily Post, with a little Martha Stewart or Nigella Lawson thrown in for good measure. . . . She constructs a detailed picture of fashions and social customs at the high-water mark of the Victorian age. For readers of Dickens and Trollope, this section of the book is pure gold.”
—William Grimes, The New York Times

Climbing the Mango Trees
A Memoir of a Childhood in India
by Madhur Jaffrey

“Wistful, funny and tremendously satisfying. . . . Jaffrey's taste memories sparkle with enthusiasm, and her talent for conveying them makes the book relentlessly appetizing.”
—The New York Times Book Review

The Tenth Muse
My Life in Food
by Judith Jones

“An entire generation of women (including me) learned to cook from Julia Childs’ books. And for that we have Judith Jones to thank. Judith was the first to champion Julia’s brilliant career, as well as many others who have changed the world of food. This, Judith’s personal adventure, is a truly wonderful story.”
—Ina Garten

Under the Tuscan Sun
At Home in Italy
by Frances Mayes

Frances Mayes entered a wondrous new world when she began restoring an abandoned villa in the spectacular Tuscan countryside. In Under the Tuscan Sun, she brings the lyrical voice of a poet, the eye of a seasoned traveler, and the discerning palate of a cook and food writer to invite readers to explore the pleasures of Italian life and to feast at her table.

Monsoon Diary
A Memoir with Recipes
by Shoba Narayan

“An entirely enchanting look at growing up in South India, in an exotic world populated by the flower woman, maamis, and the colorful and opinionated members of an extended Hindu family. Food and recipes are a powerful element in Shoba’s story—tokens of identity and a passport to freedom.”
—Nancy Novgorod, editor in chief, Travel & Leisure

Tender at the Bone
Growing Up at the Table
by Ruth Reichl

“While all good food writers are humorous . . . few are so riotously, effortlessly entertaining as Ruth Reichl. . . . [She] is also witty, fair-minded, brave, and a wonderful writer.”
—New York Times Book Review

Wrestling with Gravy
A Life, with Food
by Jonathan Reynolds

“Picaresque. . . . Reynolds is at his best when purposefully entangling libido and linguine. . . . He’s expert at the confessional.”
—The New York Times Book Review

New
Eat Me
The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin
by Kenny Shopsin and Carolynn Carreño

Kenny Shopsin, legendary (and legendarily eccentric, ill-tempered, and lovable) chef and owner of the Greenwich Village restaurant (and institution), Shopsin’s, which has been in existence since 1971 has finally put together his 900-plus-item menu and his unique philosophy—imagine Elizabeth David crossed with Richard Pryor—to create Eat Me, the most profound and profane cookbook you’ll ever read.

Plenty
Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet
by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon

“This very human and often humorous adventure about two people eating food grown within a short distance of their home is surprising, delightful, and even shocking. If you’ve only talked about eating locally but never given yourself definitions—especially strict ones—to follow, I assure you that your farmers’ market will never again look the same. Nothing you eat will look the same! This inspiring and enlightening book will give you plenty to chew on.”
—Deborah Madison, author of Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets

Stuffed
Adventures of a Restaurant Family
by Patricia Volk

“The message of Volk's loopy, generous memoir, Stuffed, is that there is no such thing as too much food or too much feeling. . . . Stuffed is just what a good restaurant meal should be—soaked in atmosphere, full of strong flavors, handsome on the plate.” —Los Angeles Times

New
Dear Darkness
Poems
by Kevin Young

Begun as a reflection on family and memory, Dear Darkness became a book of elegies after the sudden death of the poet’s father, a violent event that silenced Young with grief until he turned to rhapsodizing about the food that has sustained him and his Louisiana family for decades. Flavorful, yet filled with sadness, these stunningly original odes—to gumbo, hot sauce, crawfish, and even homemade wine—travel adeptly between slow-cooked tradition and a new direction, between everyday living and transcendent sorrow.

The Devil's Cup
A History of the World According to Coffee
by Stewart Lee Allen

“Stewart Lee Allen is the Hunter S. Thompson of coffee, offering a wild, caffeinated, gonzo tour of the World of the Magic Bean. His wry, adventurous prose delights, astonishes, amuses, and informs.”
—Mark Pendergrast, author of Uncommon Grounds

In the Devil's Garden
A Sinful History of Forbidden Food
by Stewart Lee Allen

From the lusciously tempting fruit in the Garden of Eden to the divine foie gras, here is a wickedly delicious smorgasbord of forbidden foods that have defined cultures around the world. Matching each of these taboo dishes to one of the Seven Deadly Sins, Stewart Lee Allen illustrates that when a pleasure as primal as eating is criminalized, the resulting tale is rarely less than astonishing.

Letters from the Hive
An Intimate History of Bees, Honey, and Humankind
by Stephen Buchmann and Banning Repplier

“Letters from the Hive is the engrossing story of our long and richly layered relationship with bees. It reminds us of the fragile interconnections between all the creatures on this earth.” —Alice Waters, Owner, Chez Panisse Restaurant

The United States of Arugula
The Sun Dried, Cold Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution
by David Kamp

“With the sweep of an epic novel, David Kamp takes us behind the scenes and into the sweaty, wacky, weird trenches of the Great American Food Revolution. His reporting is solid, his storytelling magnificent, and his good humor is seemingly inexhaustible . . . . a terrific book.” —Molly O’Neill

The Taste of Conquest
The Rise and Fall of the Three Great Cities of Spice
by Michael Krondl

“As a chef I have always been deeply intrigued by the mystique of spices. Michael Krondl’s book awakens and transports the reader into this mysterious world, showing us how our lives and history have been transformed by the sensuous odors of cardamom, nutmeg, and turmeric.”
—Gray Kunz, chef and owner of Café Gray and Grayz, co-author of The Elements of Taste

The Big Oyster
History on the Half Shell
by Mark Kurlansky

“A small pearl of a book . . . a great tale of the growth of a modern city as seen through the rise and fall of the lowly oyster.” —Rocky Mountain News

The Last Fish Tale
The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America's Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town
by Mark Kurlansky

In his most colorful, personal, and important book to date, Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a disappearing way of life: fishing—how it has thrived in and defined one particular town for centuries, and what its imperiled future means for the rest of the world.

Diet for a Small Planet
by Frances Moore Lappé

With the new emphasis on environmentalism in the 1990's, Lappe stresses how her philosophy remains valid, and how food remains the central issue through which to understand world politics.

Larousse Gastronomique
The World's Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia
by Librarie Larousse

Since its first publication in 1938, Larousse Gastronomique has been an unparalleled resource. In one volume, it presents the history of foods, eating, and restaurants; cooking terms; techniques from elementary to advanced; a review of basic ingredients with advice on recognizing, buying, storing, and using them; biographies of important culinary figures; and recommendations for cooking nearly everything. The new edition, the first since 1988, expands the book’s scope from classic continental cuisine to include the contemporary global table, appealing to a whole new audience of internationally conscious cooks.

New
Milk
The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages
by Anne Mendelson

Part cookbook—with more than 120 enticing recipes—part culinary history, 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.

Slow Food Nation
A Blueprint for Changing the Way We Eat
by Carlo Petrini
foreward by Alice Waters

“Carlo Petrini's manifesto makes switching from grabbing dinner from a drive-thru to seeking out environmentally friendly foods seem not just worth the effort, but necessary.” —Atlantan

Slow Food Revolution
A New Culture for Eating and Living
by Carlo Petrini and Gigi Padovani

Founded in Italy in 1986 by charismatic Italian gourmand Carlo Petrini, Slow Food has grown into a phenomenally successful movement against the uniformity and compromised quality of fast food and supermarket chains. With nearly 85,000 members in 45 countries around the world, Slow Food has developed from a small, grassroots group into the most influential gastronomic movement in the world.

The Botany of Desire
A Plant's-Eye View of the World
by Michael Pollan

“A whimsical, literary romp through man’s perpetually frustrating and always unpredictable relationship with nature.” —Los Angeles Times

Life Is Meals
A Food Lover's Book of Days
by James Salter and Kay Salter

“James and Kay Salter’s book is the fruit of a lifetime of informed and opinionated eating. This erudite and wholly compelling book is more than a passionate inventory of food and recipes: Life Is Meals describes how to integrate the best of our civilization into our daily lives.” —Alice Waters, Chez Panisse

Tastes of Paradise
A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants
by Wolfgang Schivelbusch

Schivelbusch chronicles how humanity transformed its history in the course of finding the rare condiments, stimulants, intoxicants, and narcotics—from coffee, tea, and chocolate to nutmeg, alcohol, and opium—that helped to make life more tolerable, and how the drive for these pleasure substances fueled the energies of the Old World with a power that propelled Europeans across the oceans and into a new age.

The Man Who Ate Everything
by Jeffrey Steingarten

Winner of the Julia Child Book Award

“It was to indulge his obsession that in 1989 Steingarten gave up a career as a lawyer and became the food critic at Vogue. The Man Who Ate Everything is a wonderful book, comprising a selection of his brilliant essays from the magazine and elsewhere.” —Alexander Chancellor, The New York Times Book Review

Now in Paperback
Good Calories, Bad Calories
Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health
by Gary Taubes

“Easily the most important book on diet and health to be published in the past one hundred years. It is clear, fast-paced and exciting to read, rigorous, authoritative, and a beacon of hope for all those who struggle with problems of weight regulation and general health.” —Richard Rhodes

Alice, Let's Eat
Further Adventures of a Happy Eater
by Calvin Trillin

“Trillin is our funniest food writer. He writes with charm, freedom, and a rare respect for language.” —New York Magazine

Feeding a Yen
Savoring Local Specialties, from Kansas City to Cuzco
by Calvin Trillin

“Calvin Trillin is to food writing what Chaplin was to film acting.”
—Business Week

Spice
The History of a Temptation
by Jack Turner

“Spice is an erudite and engaging account of how foodstuffs can change the flow of history.”
—New York Times Book Review

Are You Really Going to Eat That?
Reflections of a Culinary Thrill Seeker
by Robb Walsh

“Walsh approaches food as an amateur culinary anthropologist, exploring the origins and preparations of foods, and seasoning his tales with cultural lore. . . . A treat for cooks and food lovers alike.”
—The Christian Science Monitor

Mindless Eating
Why We Eat More Than We Think
by Brian Wansink, Ph.D.

“[Mindless Eating] does more than just chastise those of us guilty of stuffing our faces. It also examines the effectiveness of such popular diets as South Beach or Atkins, and offers useful tips to consciously eat nutritiously.” —Boston Herald