The Starving Artist Cookbook

We left New Orleans with a copy of John Kennedy Toole’s a Confederacy of Dunces in our digital back pocket. We were inspired to read the comedic, novel depicting Ignatius J. Reilly’s exploits because of Cynthia LeJeune Nobles’ cookbook of the same name. The Confederacy of Dunces Cookbook is a series of dishes inspired by 1960’s New Orleans and Ignatius’ favorite foods. The research that went into this book is incredible. I’m not sure which one I suggest you read first. Maybe read them both and cook simultaneously for a real immersive trip.

It’s not often the person we spend our work week five feet from publishes a food book. It’s even less often there’s a city-specific theme which awakens our travel bug gene. Nina, as us lucky insiders know to call her, hails from Athens Georgia, the Classic City, in the shadow of Hotlanta. Nina lifts this veil in a who’s who, foodie filled, Athenian hardcover. Classic City Cooking is perfect for those Georgian friends or people like us who just added another city to our gastro-travel list. If you’re in NYC and want to celebrate all things Athens, her book party is on September 16th. You’ll find us in Athens ASAP, book in hand.

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.

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.