For fourteen years, Best Food Writing has served up the creme de la creme of the year's food writing. The 2014 edition once again offers the tastiest prose of the year, from a range of voices: food writing stars, James Beard Award winners, writer-chefs, bestselling authors, and up-and-coming bloggers alike. With new sections devoted to "A Table for Everyone" and "Back to Basics," you'll find a topic and a flavor for every appetite—the cutting-edge, the thoughtful, the provocative, and the hilarious—a smorgasbord of treats for the foodie in all of us.Contributors include: Elissa Altman, Dan Barber, Monica Bhide, Sara Bir, John Birdsall, Jane Black, Frank Bruni, Albert Burneko, Tom Carson, Brent Cunningham, John T. Edge, Barry Estabrook, Amy Gentry, Adam Gopnik, Matt Goulding, John Gravois, Alex Halberstadt, Sarah Henry, Jack Hitt, Steve Hoffman, Ann Hood, Silas House, Rowan Jacobsen, John Kessler, Kate Krader, Francis Lam, David Leite, Irvin Lin, J. Kenji...

The twelfth annual edition of this classic food writing anthology—an "excellent collection" that evokes "respect for and fascination with eating."—Publishers Weekly

From Publishers WeeklyMourning the demise of Gourmet magazine, series editor Hughes asks "is food writing a dying art?" Readers of this year's anthology will offer a resounding "nowhere close." Ethical concerns of organic and locavore movements and free range meats are tidily summed up by now-famous vegetarian Jonathan Safran Foer. Whereas MIT grad J. Kenji Lopez-Alt shares a recipe for making French fries as good as what McDonalds makes: "salty, crisp, light, and not greasy." At the other end of the spectrum, New York Times restaurant critic Sam Sifton offers a version of Nora Ephron's meat loaf recipe to die for. Pulitzer prize winner Jonathan Gold tracks the shifting locations of Los Angeles' street vendors and Tod Kliman hunts down Peter Chang, the elusive "perfect chef" who moves between Chinese restaurants, from D.C. to Atlanta, to avoid celebrity. Along the way Kliman learns that innocuous Chinese restaurants can have secret menus for the cognoscenti and experiences the exquisite pleasure of hot peppers that scorch and even numb. And travelling to Tokyo, Kevin Pang discovered to his great surprise that eating a bowl of ramen "satisfied every taste sense man is blessed to experience." A sparkling collection. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. FromIn a time where the most elemental of activities—consuming sustenance—is an increasingly political act, it’s not surprising that there might be more attention paid to talking about eating food than there is in actually eating food. Series editor Hughes sheds a tear for the shuttering of the venerable Gourmet, but maintains that “the rumors of food writing’s death have been greatly exaggerated.” Big changes in the culinary world are visible here, from Michael Steinberger’s lament over the passing of France’s reign of culinary mastery (all hail Spain) to Tim Carman’s plea to put Zagat out of its misery. But the trend du jour continues to be locavorism, evidenced by Carla Capalbo’s take on the epicenter of molecular gastronomy, El Bulli, getting dethroned as best restaurant in the world by a small Copenhagen joint that focuses on seasonal, place-specific ingredients. Despite all the delicious food fussiness on parade, though, the best of the best might just be Jason Sheehan’s hilarious (if you’re an industry insider) or terrifying (if you’re an unsuspecting patron) account of flash-defrosting 80-pound blocks of haddock on a frantic fish-fry Friday. --Ian Chipman

Our fascination with food, from farm to table to fork to page, has never been greater. Food writing has continued exploding in the past decade; once again, editor Holly Hughes plumbs the best outlets for food writing, from print to online to books, to catch the trends, big stories, and upcoming stars. From molecular gastronomy to the omnivore’s dilemma, from meat-free to wheat-free to everything goes, there’s something for every foodie in this acclaimed series.Best Food Writing 2013 once more authoritatively and appealingly assembles the finest culinary prose from the past year’s books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and websites, featuring both established food writers (like Anthony Bourdain and Ruth Reichl), rising stars (like Novella Carpenter and J. Lopez Kenji-Alt), and some literary surprises (like Jonathan Safran Foer, who contributed to Best Food Writing 2010).

Set in 1860 as the first wagon trains rumble into the American West, this adventure-filled novel centers on a frontier girl and the beloved pony she tries to save Born in the back of a covered wagon traveling west from Vermont, Annie Dawson dreams of someday seeing what's on the eastern side of the great Mississippi. For now, she'll have to be content living with her parents and younger brother in the Nebraska Territory at the Red Buttes Pony Express station run by her family. That is, until her favorite pony starts going wild, and Annie's friend—Pony Express rider Billy Cody—suspects that someone is poisoning her. But who'd want to hurt gentle Magpie? Indian tribes stirring up trouble? Or the Butterfield Mail, the Pony Express rival that seems to feel threatened by the ponies' speed in delivering mail to California? The night before Magpie is scheduled to be put down, Annie steals out to see if her half-Shoshone friend Redbird...

"Browse, read a bit, browse some more, and then head for the kitchen."—Hudson Valley NewsFrom small-town bakeries to big city restaurants, Best Food Writing offers a bounty of everything in one place. For eighteen years, Holly Hughes has scoured both the online and print world to serve up the finest collection of food writing. This year, Best food Writing delves into the intersection of fine dining and food justice, culture and ownership, tradition and modernity; as well as profiles on some of the most fascinating people in the culinary world today. Once again, these standout essays—compelling, hilarious, poignant, illuminating—speak to the core of our hearts and fill our bellies. Whether you're a fan of Michel Richard or Guy Fieri—or both—there's something for everyone here. Take a seat and dig in.