In The Tradition of M.F.K. Fisher and Laurie Colwin, Teresa Lust writes about the preparation of food and the breaking of bread with the exuberance of an impassioned cook and the clarity of a graceful writer. The author venerates old-fashioned simplicity -- from stove-top coffee in a rustic Italian cucina to antique varieties of apples in a New Hampshire orchard. She skewers passing food trends: "Polenta is family food. Mama feeds it to her baby when his teeth are coming in. Papa feeds it to his mama when her teeth have fallen out". And she offers a smorgasbord of food trivia: The artichoke "enjoyed a long reign as an aphrodisiac because of its alleged ability to heat the body ... Catherine de Medici could not contain her scandalous predilection for artichokes". A professional chef and skilled culinary historian, Lust has created a book that is part memoir, part cookbook, and part exploration into the origins of her favorite foods and dishes. It is a celebration of home cooking and of people who know how to make meals more than just thrice-daily opportunities to refuel.Lusts chapters typically revolve around stories that include the preparation or consumption of a particular dish -- from chicken with figs and fresh thyme to spaghetti alla carbonara -- and Pass the Polenta contains an index of recipes that readers will come to treasure.

A delicious journey through Italy and a celebration of the relationship between family and food. Moving from the Italian Piedmont to the Maremma and then to Le Marche, chef Teresa Lust interweaves portraits of the people who served as her culinary guides with cultural and natural history in this charming exploration of authentic Italian cuisine. We learn how to prepare bagna cauda—a robust dipping sauce of anchovies, garlic, and olive oil—with Lust’s relatives outside Torino. We learn about making hand-stretched grissini, Italy’s iconic breadstick, the secrets of whipping up zabaione, a classic dessert of ethereal foam made with egg yolks, sugar, and marsala. Then there is acquacotta, a rustic soup that nourished generations of the area’s shepherds and cowhands. In the town of Camerano, an eighty-year-old woman reveals the art of hand-rolling pasta with a three-foot rolling pin. Underpinning Lust’s travels is our journey from chef to cook, mirroring the fact that Italians have been masters of home cooking for generations, so they are an obvious source of inspiration. Today, more and more people are rediscovering the pleasures of cooking at home, and Lust’s account—and wonderful recipes—will help readers bring an Italian sensibility to their home tables.

The debut cookbook from one of the most celebrated restaurants in Canada, featuring inventive twists on French market cuisine, plus spirited anecdotes and lush photography. Earning rave reviews for their unforgettable approach, Joe Beef co-owners/chefs David McMillan and Frédéric Morin push the limits of traditional French cuisine with over 125 recipes (nearly all of them photographed) for hearty dishes infused with irreverent personality. The Strip Loin Steak comes complete with ten variations, Kale for a Hangover wisely advises the cook to eat and then go to bed, and the Marjolaine includes tips for welding your own cake mold. Joe Beef’s most popular dishes are also represented, such as Spaghetti Homard-Lobster, Foie Gras Breakfast Sandwich, Pork Fish Sticks, and Pojarsky de Veau (a big, moist meatball served on a bone). The coup de grâce is the Smorgasbord—Joe Beef’s version of a Scandinavian open-faced sandwich—with thirty different toppings. Featuring lively stories and illustrations showcasing gangsters, oysters, Canadian railroad dining car food, the backyard smoker, and more, this nostalgic yet utterly modern cookbook is a groundbreaking guide to living an outstanding culinary life.

Not so long ago, Italian food was regarded as a poor man's gruel-little more than pizza, macaroni with sauce, and red wines in a box. Here, John Mariani shows how the Italian immigrants to America created, through perseverance and sheer necessity, an Italian-American food culture, and how it became a global obsession. The book begins with the Greek, Roman, and Middle Eastern culinary traditions before the boot-shaped peninsula was even called "Italy," then takes readers on a journey through Europe and across the ocean to America alongside the poor but hopeful Italian immigrants who slowly but surely won over the hearts and minds of Americans by way of their stomachs. Featuring evil villains such as the Atkins diet and French chefs, this is a rollicking tale of how Italian cuisine rose to its place as the most beloved fare in the world, through the lives of the people who led the charge. With savory anecdotes from these top chefs and restaurateurs: - Mario Batali - Danny Meyer - Tony Mantuano - Michael Chiarello - Giada de Laurentiis - Giuseppe Cipriani - Nigella Lawson And the trials and triumphs of these restaurants: - Da Silvano - Spiaggia - Bottega - Union Square Cafe - Maialino - Rao's - Babbo - Il Cantinori

Roadtripping documents a decade of road trips through the fiefdom of Alberta. The men and women who make up the Buffalo Gals first set out in July 1999 to experience the unusual and charming roadside attractions of south-central Alberta. Never dreaming that this one-off adventure would turn into an annual event, it’s ten years later and they continue their escapades. Each year a new destination is chosen and the weekend-long travel begins. Traditions have evolved including elaborate scrapbooking, eating in gourmet dining rooms (when available) and excessive snacking (without fail). Beyond the joys and challenges of being on the road and a deepening bond of friendship, this book is a love poem to Alberta, a province often misunderstood and mislabelled as being the right-wing cowboy haunt of Canada. With trip route maps, hilarious photos, and appendices including checklists and recipes, Roadtripping explores the bizarre and wonderful attractions of wild rose country, stuffed gophers, political fanaticism, mad cows and more.

"A serious and important contribution to the whole food, plant-based world. . . Not infrequently I get asked about this diet for skin conditions-now I have a great reference to pass on to people."- T. Colin Campbell, co-author of The China Study From YouTube stars Nina and Randa Nelson comes the doctor-approved, clinically-tested, low-fat vegan diet that instantly and dramatically transformed their skin. Over $3 billion dollars is spent treating acne every year. But YouTube celebrities Nina and Randa Nelson have found a solution that is easy, affordable, and as close as your local grocery store. Based on solid nutritional science, vetted by top nutrition experts, and proven by the authors' experiences and now so many others, The Clear Skin Diet will help you clear your skin for good. This is it: a six-week plan to take control of skin issues using the simple principles of a low-fat vegan diet, foods such as potatoes, pasta, rice, corn, beans, oatmeal and whole grains. Complete with detailed grocery lists, simple meal prep strategies, and delicious recipes using affordable, familiar ingredients, The Clear Skin Diet is an accessible guide to curing acne that will give readers, whether 13 or 43 years old, the confidence to start living life again.

Exploring the history and importance of corn worldwide, Arturo Warman traces its development from a New World food of poor and despised peoples into a commodity that plays a major role in the modern global economy. The book, first published in Mexico in 1988, combines approaches from anthropology, social history, and political economy to tell the story of corn, a "botanical bastard" of unclear origins that cannot reseed itself and is instead dependent on agriculture for propagation. Beginning in the Americas, Warman depicts corn as colonizer. Disparaged by the conquistadors, this Native American staple was embraced by the destitute of the Old World. In time, corn spread across the globe as a prodigious food source for both humans and livestock. Warman also reveals corn's role in nourishing the African slave trade. Through the history of one plant with enormous economic importance, Warman investigates large-scale social and economic processes, looking at the role of foodstuffs in the competition between nations and the perpetuation of inequalities between rich and poor states in the world market. Praising corn's almost unlimited potential for future use as an intensified source of starch, sugar, and alcohol, Warman also comments on some of the problems he foresees for large-scale, technology-dependent monocrop agriculture.

From veteran teacher and acclaimed author Joni B. Cole comes a revised and expanded edition of her popular writing guide Toxic Feedback. Successful writers know that feedback is often the difference between writing and not writing, and between writing and writing well. But feedback mismanaged is more likely to leave the writer confused, intimidated, or even deflated. This book not only detoxifies the feedback process with humor, but it also shows writers and feedback providers how to make the most of this powerful resource at every stage of the writing and publishing process. This new edition includes a second preface, four new chapters, updates throughout the original material, and several additional exercises. Cole also includes new and previous interviews with authors such as Khaled Hosseini, Juan Morales, Grace Paley, Jodi Picoult, and Matthew Salesses. Toxic Feedback remains essential reading for all writers, critique groups, MFA programs, and teachers of writing at every level.

Discover this modern vegetarian bible for delicious, nutritious food. Perfect for lifelong vegetarians, and those just getting started. Raw Thai salads, hearty quesadillas and a vegan chocolate layer cake are among the 200 recipes that make up this delicious, flavour-packed book. Covering a wide range of nourishing, vegetarian meals, chapters focus on moods and occasions such as Mornings, Grazing, Quick, Thrifty, Gatherings, Grains, Raw-ish and Afters. The marriage of healthy vegetarian recipes with an indulgent twist are intrinsic to everything Alice Hart cooks. She cooks colourful and natural ingredients with taste and enjoyment in mind and with these recipes you can turn dull Veganuary dishes into meals that zing and sparkle. The New Vegetarian will speak to everyone who loves feel-good food for your body and the planet. 'I could cook from this book every night and have the perfect supper on the table daily' Nigella Lawson