Imagine my surprise when, back in February, I discovered Bookworms in my pantry. It started with one -- my friend Marcia, who lives up the road -- and spread from Rhode Island to The Philippines to Michigan to Washington DC to Wisconsin, to North Carolina, to England ... well, it turns out that there are bookworms everywhere! More than twenty-five Pantry readers shared their favorite reads. Each Bookworm recommended five food-related non-cookbooks to add to our collective library. On this list you'll find Michael Pollan and Julia Child, of course. Ruth Reichl and Anthony Bourdain. Calvin Trillin, Nigel Slater, Lewis Carroll, MFK Fisher, Kermit Lynch, Dr. Seuss. There's something for everyone. More or less alphabetically, here's the entire list for 2007 (books mentioned more than... Read more →
From her natural products shop in Keene, New Hampshire, Susan Ginsburg writes Views from VitaSource, a blog about "good health, natural living, and the hope for a great green world." VitaSource, her current business, focuses on supplements, herbs, body care and teas, and on her blog Susan shares the knowledge she's accumulated in 25 years of running stores and a restaurant. She also delves into philosophical and ecological issues of the day, so you'll always find something interesting when you visit. Susan loves culinary mysteries (as do I), and as this week's Bookworm in the Pantry she gives us five deliciously crafted series. UPDATE. Susan recommended: Killer Calories (Savannah Reid Mysteries) Killer Pancake The Body in the Bouillon: A Faith Fairchild Mystery The Nantucket Diet... Read more →
Nicole Spiridakis, a San Francisco-based journalist, is the passionate cook behind the stove at Cucina Nicolina, and this week's Bookworm in the Pantry. A copy editor at a private financial news wire service, Nicole contributes frequently to the San Francisco Chronicle's Home and Garden section. As a freelance writer in Washington, DC, before returning to California, she wrote features for the Reuters wire (notably, on cold-water swimmer Lynn Cox of "Swimming to Antarctica" fame, and Aron Ralston, the Colorado climber who survived a harrowing experience trapped in a Utah canyon). You never know where Cucina Nicolina will take you -- to Greece, to the farmers' market, on a hike or a barbeque -- but you'll always end up with food, and a good book to... Read more →
Zoomie Station, a three-month-old blog, springs from the kitchen of Zoomie, the nom de plume of a San Francisco-based career counselor who writes about lots of things: cooking, restaurants, tableware, weddings, books, her Beloved, and her great-grandmother's china, to name a few. Clearly her taste is eclectic -- the same probably can be said, thank goodness, about all of the Bookworms in the Pantry -- and her list of recommended food-related non-cookbooks is unique: five books from a series of fifteen that's completely new to me (and how did I miss it?). Zoomie adds, "All are amusingly written by Michael Bond [the creator of Paddington Bear] and all feature the bumbling ex-Sureté-officer-turned-food-critic for a major French restaurant guide, Monsieur Pamplemousse, and his bloodhound, Pommes Frites.... Read more →
A Santa Monica, California, accountant turned full-time mom of a young son, MetaMommy blogs about pretty much anything that strikes her fancy -- pancakes, cell phones, travel, potty training -- on her young blog, They Call Me Mommy. This week's Bookworm in the Pantry, MetaMommy keeps us all entertained, while keeping an eye on her active toddler. She has a particular passion for cooking, but also writes about technology, parenting, and the charming absurdities of everyday life. UPDATE. MetaMommy recommended: Eating Between the Lines: The Supermarket Shopper's Guide to the Truth Behind Food Labels Hungry Planet: What the World Eats Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly Pomegranate Soup: A Novel Toast Would you like to be a Bookworm in the Pantry and add to... Read more →
Imagine my surprise when, back in February, I discovered Bookworms in my pantry. It started with one -- my friend Marcia, who lives up the road -- and spread from Rhode Island to The Philippines to Michigan to Washington DC to Wisconsin, to North Carolina, to England ... well, it turns out that there are bookworms everywhere! To date, more than twenty Pantry readers have shared their favorite reads. Each Bookworm recommended five food-related non-cookbooks to add to our collective library. On this list you'll find Michael Pollan and Julia Child, of course. Ruth Reichl and Anthony Bourdain. Calvin Trillin, Nigel Slater, Lewis Carroll, MFK Fisher, Kermit Lynch, Dr. Seuss. There's something for everyone. More or less alphabetically, here's the entire list to date (books... Read more →
One of my favorite writers, Tea of Tea & Cookies, recently moved to Seattle, and her stunningly beautiful and eloquent blog has brought her readers along on the journey as she discovers new food, new places, and new people. A skilled photographer and gentle storyteller, a writer and editor by profession, Tea tells the stories of food, and life, and farms, and family, and neighbors, and how they all intertwine in the ways that count. Visiting her blog is, really, like taking a tea-and-cookie break with an old friend: restorative, thought-provoking, always a treat. She's this week's Bookworm in the Pantry. UPDATE. Tea recommended: Gluten-free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back ... and You Can Too The Book of Salt The... Read more →