Margaret Bragg does not own a single cookbook. She measures in "dabs" and "smidgens" and "tads" and "you know, hon, just some." She cannot be pinned down on how long to bake corn bread ("about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the mysteries of your oven"). Her notion of farm-to-table is a flatbed truck. But she can tell you the secrets to perfect mashed potatoes, corn pudding, redeye gravy, pinto beans and hambone, stewed cabbage, short ribs, chicken...

"It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother's house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations. Marcus Samuelsson was only three years old when he, his...

A singular, powerfully expressive debut memoir that traces one chefs struggle to find her place and what happens once she does.Burn the Place is a galvanizing memoir that chronicles Iliana Regans journey from foraging on the family farm to running her Michelin-starred restaurant, Elizabeth. Her story is raw like that first bite of wild onion, alive with startling imagery, and told with uncommon emotional power.Regan grew up the youngest of four headstrong...

Before Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune, she spent twenty fierce, hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning in her life. Above all she sought family, particularly the thrill and the magnificence of the one from her childhood that, in her adult years, eluded her. Hamilton's ease and comfort in a kitchen were instilled in her at an early age when her parents hosted grand parties, often for more than one hundred...

Americas most prominent Latino chef shares the story behind his food, his family, and his professional journey. Before Chef Aaron Sanchez rose to fame on shows like MasterChef and Chopped, he was a restless Mexican-American son, raised by a fiercely determined and talented woman who was a successful chef and restaurateur in her own rightshe is credited with bringing Mexican cuisine to the New York City dining scene. In many ways, Sanchez, who lost...

Tracking his own strange and unexpected voyage from journeyman cook to globe-traveling professional eater and drinker, and even to fatherhood, Bourdain takes no prisoners as he dissects what he's seen, pausing along the way for a series of confessions, rants, investigations, and interrogations of some of the most controversial figures in food.

"A cookbook and culinary memoir about growing up as the daughter of culinary legend Alice Waters: a story of food, family, and figuring out who you are". Alice Waters shares recipe-complemented vignettes about the traditions that shaped her upbringing, her insights into her mother’s philosophies and her own culinary coming of age.-- Provided by publisher.

"Lisa Donovan is anyone's definition of a strong woman. She has built several lauded restaurants from the ground up, including Sean Brock's Husk empire; she raised two brilliant children with no money; she is a rape survivor; she is a profoundly talented artist. But from her early childhood, she had been told at every juncture that she wasn't enough: she came from a poor Southern family that despised its own Zuni/Mexican roots and repeatedly silenced...

The food-obsessed, award-winning actor, reflecting on the intersection of food and life, presents a heartfelt and delicious memoir of life in and out of the kitchen that takes readers on a gastronomic journey through the good times and bad. "From award-winning actor and food obsessive Stanley Tucci comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen"-- Provided by publisher.

"In 1975, Tung Nguyen fled Vietnam as a pregnant refugee and landed in Miami, where she met Kathy Manning, an American grad student who opened her doors to eleven immigrants. The two women grew close, raising Tung's daughter, Lyn, together and opening a tiny restaurant. Hy Vong, meaning Hope in Vietnamese, quickly became famous in the local community for its delicious, authentic Vietnamese flavors. The restaurant continued to gain in popularity, until...