Food lit : a reader's guide to epicurean nonfiction

An essential tool for assisting leisure readers interested in topics surrounding food, this unique book contains annotations and read-alikes for hundreds of nonfiction titles about the joys of comestibles and cooking.

Food Lit: A Reader's Guide to Epicurean Nonfiction provides a much-needed resource for librarians assisting adult readers interested in the topic of food--a group that is continuing to grow rapidly. Containing annotations of hundreds of nonfiction titles about food that are arranged into genre and subject interest categories for easy reference, the book addresses a diversity of reading experiences by covering everything from foodie memoirs and histories of food to extreme cuisine and food exposés.

Author Melissa Stoeger has organized and described hundreds of nonfiction titles centered on the themes of food and eating, including life stories, history, science, and investigative nonfiction. The work emphasizes titles published in the past decade without overlooking significant benchmark and classic titles. It also provides lists of suggested read-alikes for those titles, and includes several helpful appendices of fiction titles featuring food, food magazines, and food blogs.

• Series Foreword p. ix
• Acknowledgments p. xi
• Introduction p. xiii
• Part I Life Stories
• Chapter 1 Food Memoirs and Autobiographies p. 3
• Definition of Food Memoirs and Autobiographies p. 3
• Appeal of Food Memoirs and Autobiographies p. 4
• Organization of the Chapter p. 5
• Working Life Memoirs p. 6
• Personal Endeavor Memoirs p. 24
• Foodie Memoirs p. 37
• Comfort Food p. 55
• Consider Starting With p. 62
• References p. 62
• Chapter 2 Food Biographies p. 65
• Definition of Food Biographies p. 65
• Appeal of Food Biographies p. 66
• Organization of the Chapter p. 67
• Collective Food Biographies p. 80
• Consider Starting With p. 81
• References p. 81
• Part II Nonfiction Genres
• Chapter 3 Food Travel p. 85
• Definition of Food Travel p. 85
• Appeal of Food Travel p. 86
• Organization of the Chapter p. 87
• Food Travel p. 87
• Expatriate Life p. 100
• Consider Starting With p. 108
• References p. 108
• Chapter 4 Food Adventure p. 111
• Definition of Food Adventure p. 111
• Appeal of Food Adventure p. 112
• Organization of the Chapter p. 112
• Food Adventures and Explorations p. 112
• Extreme Cuisine p. 119
• Consider Starting With p. 125
• References p. 125
• Part III Nonfiction Subject Interests
• Chapter 5 History of Food p. 129
• Definition of History of Food p. 129
• Appeal of History of Food p. 130
• Organization of the Chapter p. 130
• Epic Food Histories p. 130
• Defining Times p. 136
• Influential Food Enterprises p. 148
• Food Micro-Histories p. 154
• Consider Starting With p. 175
• References p. 175
• Chapter 6 Food Science p. 177
• Definition of Food Science p. 177
• Appeal of Food Science p. 178
• Organization of the Chapter p. 178
• Consider Starting With p. 185
• References p. 185
• Part IV Stylistic Genres
• Chapter 7 Investigative Food Writing p. 189
• Definition of Investigative Food Writing p. 189
• Appeal of Investigative Food Writing p. 190
• Organization of the Chapter p. 191
• In-Depth Reporting p. 191
• Immersion Journalism p. 206
• Food Exposés p. 223
• Consider Starting With p. 240
• References p. 241
• Chapter 8 Narrative Cookbooks p. 243
• Definition of Narrative Cookbooks p. 243
• Appeal of Narrative Cookbooks p. 244
• Consider Starting With p. 251
• References p. 252
• Chapter 9 Food Essays p. 253
• Definition of Food Essays p. 253
• Appeal of Food Essays p. 254
• Consider Starting With p. 264
• References p. 264
• Appendix A Cooks and Their Books p. 267
• Appendix B Other Formats p. 273
• Appendix C Food in Fiction p. 291
• Appendix D Food Writing Awards p. 303
• Author/Title Index p. 319
• Subject Index p. 345