Food Writing as Travel Writing
On the heels of The 150 Best American Recipes (reviewed here), The Best American Travel Writing 2006 comes out this month. The collection, edited by Tim Cahill, is written by an intimidating band of bourgeois philosophers (Alain de Botton), essay-writing New Yorkers (Ian Frazier), persuasive satirical fiction writers moonlighting as investigative journalists (George Saunders), beloved expat humorists (David Sedaris), and several others.
The book opens with a touching piece called “A Shared Plate” from Gourmet by Bengali food writer Chitrita Banerji. Her essay is part chronicle of a traditional wedding ceremony in Calcutta and part tribute to her parents’ marriage. “That daily tableau of the table, I now saw, was neither duty nor obligation–” she writes, “it was love.” Through their own experiences, many of her fellow travelers in this anthology no doubt found the same thing.
[…] The May 2007 issue of Food and Wine magazine seems to be a must-have for foodie travelers this summer. The majority of this issue focuses on the Go List, an essential guide to 335 of the hottest restaurants to visit in 40 cities around the world. The writers who had the rough job of touring these restaurants provided the readers with excellent, but brief, reviews. They also coded each restaurant with various symbols, easy to pick out if you are just flipping through the magazine. At a glance, you can tell by the symbol if the restaurant is classic, new, has a great wine list, a value or a buzz hot spot. […]