We are entering my favorite time of year. It’s stopped being 900 degrees outside, the leaves have turned beautiful colors, and I’m being haunted by pumpkin spice everything. You know what that means? That’s right, the holidays are here. And what better way to celebrate than with food. In my family, we show our love by stuffing you so full you could burst. Once you’ve had your fill of delicious treats, check out these books about fellow foodies. These are our people.

Elizabeth Zott is a chemist. But she’s also a woman in the 1960s, so no one thinks she's capable of being a scientist. When she finds herself a single mother, she becomes a TV cooking sensation in order to support her daughter. Because after all, cooking is just chemistry right? I loved this book. It’s one of my favorite fic pics I’ve read so far this year. Zott totally falls into one of my favorite genres -  Smart People in Love. But this is more about strong women in the workplace in the 60s instead of a lovey-dovey HEA story.  I remember watching cooking shows on PBS when I was younger (in the 80s, not the 60s thank you very much), but I would have loved to see something like this. Women have long been underestimated, when in reality we are forces of nature.

I saw this nonfiction gem on the new shelf at Main and immediately grabbed it. There were some interesting stories here. Did you know that British pie crust is so much thicker than ours because originally, like in the Middle Ages, it was not meant to be eaten. Basically it functioned as their version of Tupperware. Also, resources were so scarce in the American colonies, that they were forced to stretch the pie dough thinner, which made it flakier and much more yummy. So everyone enjoying pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving owes a debt of thanks to those hardy souls who made it possible for delicate pastry today. Learned a lot, had some fun. Check this one out.

I loved this fiction book. It was so cute. Interns at an ersatz Food Network go viral with online videos and become way more popular than anyone expected. If I have a complaint about anything, it’s that Benny is just a little too perfect. He’s so understanding and supportive and patient with Reese as she works through her issues. I’m not sure that was realistic - I’dve had to have a conversation with her way before he did. I did like how much backbone Reese had and how she didn’t put up with the workplace misogyny. Would I watch their show? Sure. It seems fun. Highly recommend this read.  

It is amazing how many variations our food supply is capable of - and how badly we are ruining it in the never-ending quests for higher yields and more money. When you only grow one type of corn world-wide and that strain gets sick, there aren’t a lot of options beyond starvation. Saladino traveled the world to find all the foods that are in danger of becoming extinct. I’m not sure I’d be brave enough to try all of them. The skerpikjot, from the Faroe Islands is gonna be a hard pass from me. Well-preserved (read: moldy) sheep’s carcass is not my idea of yummy snack, but it’s existence kept the people of those islands alive when nothing else did. This is an interesting look at foods I had never heard of. Check this one out now before these disappear forever.

Reading all this just made you hungry, didn’t it? Good thing there’s plenty more where that came from. 

Hope you are having a great Thanksgiving and I wish you and your families the best holiday season.

Happy fooding…

:) Amanda