The Pizza Pilgrims Journey Spawned this Book

10 years ago I read a book called “The History of Food” which chronicles human eating habits from the hunters and gatherers we started as through the birth of restaurants and into today’s modern industrial food complex (disaster). A History of Food in 100 Recipes sets out to drop the same knowledge but in a more approachable less academic prose. There’s pretty pictures too which softens some of the more aggressive and outright despicable turns in our food history. For anyone who wants to not only what we eat but why we do, this is a great read.

Here at FT HQ, we’re used to chicken of the fried, roasted, baked, and, well, eaten variety. But that doesn’t mean we can’t talk up the alternatives, like David Ezra Stein’s “Interrupting Chicken”, an illustrated story-within-a-story book geared towards the sleepy little chicks in your life. Let’s hope this funny, not-so-cautionary tale about a young chicken named “Chicken” who can’t stop interrupting his bedtime story succeeds in easing your clutch into quick and uninterrupted slumber instead of, well, the opposite. If, on the other hand, you’re reading this to your brood in Bushwick after a drink and draw, all bets on sleep are off. You know as well as we do you’ll finish the story at Roberta’s.

Anthony Bourdain’s World Travel: An Irreverent Guide is a bitter sweet release given the icons untimely passing. Set for release in April, we have not read it yet but expect a must eat list in true Tony voice. Promised by write ups and his long time assistant and co-writer, Laurie Woolever, are his stories and picks of some of the most fascinating places he visited, according to him. As we always made sure to mention, if not obvious, all of Anthony’s shows and books were about experience, not food. Sure, food was his co-protagonist, but his use of that common interest allowed him to share experiences from cultures many of use will never touch first hand. This truth married with his snarky, yet caring, prose drew us in and…kept us “hungry for more”. The pages promise a travel guide in Tony’s own words dropping essential advice on how to get around, where to stay and, what to avoid and of course what to eat. Augmenting the guide are essays by friends, colleagues, and family shedding further light on the location and Anthony’s experience. Illustrations by Wesley Allsbrook carry that frenetic, punk rock story vibe visually through the book. Pre-orders are now available.