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In stories, recipes, and photographs, James Beard Award–winning writer Robb Walsh and acclaimed documentary photographer O. Rufus Lovett take us on a barbecue odyssey from East Texas to the Carolinas and back. In Barbecue Crossroads, we meet the pitmasters who still use old-fashioned wood-fired pits, and we sample some of their succulent pork shoulders, whole hogs, savory beef, sausage, mutton, and even some barbecued baloney. Recipes for these and the side dishes, sauces, and desserts that come with them are painstakingly recorded and tested.

But Barbecue Crossroads is more than a cookbook; it is a trip back to the roots of our oldest artisan food tradition and a look at how Southern culture is changing. Walsh and Lovett trace the lineage of Southern barbecue backwards through time as they travel across a part of the country where slow-cooked meat has long been part of everyday life. What they find is not one story, but many. They visit legendary joints that don’t live up to their reputations—and discover unknown places that deserve more attention. They tell us why the corporatizing of agriculture is making it difficult for pitmasters to afford hickory wood or find whole hogs that fit on a pit.

Walsh and Lovett also remind us of myriad ways that race weaves in and out of the barbecue story, from African American cooking techniques and recipes to the tastes of migrant farmworkers who ate their barbecue in meat markets, gas stations, and convenience stores because they weren’t welcome in restaurants. The authors also expose the ways that barbecue competitions and TV shows are undermining traditional barbecue culture. And they predict that the revival of the community barbecue tradition may well be its salvation.

Mexican food, Tex-Mex, Southwestern cuisine—call it what you will, the foods that originated in Mexico have become everyone's favorites. Yet as we dig into nachos and enchiladas, many people worry about the fats and calories that traditional Mexican food contains.

Deleites de la Cocina Mexicana proves that Mexican cooking can be both delicious and healthy. In this bilingual cookbook, Maria Luisa Urdaneta and Daryl F. Kanter provide over 200 recipes for some of the most popular Mexican dishes-guacamole, frijoles, Spanish rice, chiles rellenos, chile con carne, chalupas, tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, menudo, tamales, and flan-to name only a few. Without sacrificing a bit of flavor, the authors have modified the recipes to increase complex carbohydrates and total dietary fiber, while decreasing saturated and total fats. These modifications make the recipes suitable for people with diabetes-and all those who want to reduce the fats and calories in their diet. Each recipe also includes a nutritional analysis of calories, fats, sodium, etc., and American Diabetic Association exchange rates.

Because diabetes is a growing problem in the Mexican-American community, Deleites de la Cocina Mexicana is vital for all those who need to manage their diet without giving up the foods they love. Let it be your one-stop guide to cooking and eating guilt-free Mexican food.

“Such a fun and fascinating book! Extra! Extra! Eat All About It! deftly delves into Wisconsin’s long-ago food fads, evolutions, and absurdities. Don’t be surprised if this book inspires new trends that are riffs on some of these century-old ideas. Pickled walnuts, anyone? Or mock pumpkin pie, with prunes?” — Mary Bergin, author of Wisconsin Supper Club Cookbook  

“Both cookbook and chronicle, Extra! Extra! Eat All About It! is an ingenious, illuminating tasting menu of our culinary past. Sourced from nineteenth and early twentieth century Wisconsin newspapers, its fifty vignettes serve up historical insights, forgotten fads and bygone recipes. From paper bag cookery and ‘oyster saloons’ to fire-baked eggs and maple taffy, I ate this book right up.” — Terese Allen, coauthor of The Flavor of Wisconsin  

“This beautiful, fun, and informative book is a masterclass in how historical cooking opens a window onto wider historical themes, including mechanization, the impacts of war, immigration, globalization, and changing nutritional advice.” — Eleanor Barrett, author of Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation

“Conway and Ramsden do a great job of using historical documents to demonstrate what people were eating and how they entertained. They describe recipes as interaction and community, as well as how food trends change over time. The writing is smart and clever. A wonderful read.” — Kimberly Wilmot Voss, author of The Food Section: Newspaper Women and the Culinary Community 

Culinary journeys from around the globe: recipes and stories from immigrants to the United States

Immigrants carry more than hope as they cross oceans and traverse continents to come to the United States. They hold tightly to stories and recipes, remembrances of what they left behind. Kitchens of Hope brings together these memories from contributors who hail from more than thirty countries, offering a glimpse into their kitchens and insight into their lives. This book is a celebration of people and cuisines from around the world, infused with the aromas of epazote and cardamom, the tang of fish sauce, the heat of chile peppers, and the bite of mustard greens.

With tales as compelling as the brimming bowls and overflowing platters of these foods that represent home, Kitchens of Hope features immigrants coming from vastly varied circumstances. Some arrived in the United States fleeing war and violence, others were seeking education and opportunity; some have called the United States home for years, and others have only recently arrived. Despite the differing situations that brought them here, the contributors all find comfort and tradition as they gather to share meals with family and friends. They are activists and entrepreneurs, parents and community leaders, and some are affiliated with the Minnesota-based nonprofit the Advocates for Human Rights, the organization that inspired the creation of this book.

Structured around the contributors’ personal stories of their journeys, the chapters reflect the main themes connecting them: community, resilience, opportunity, justice, hope, and celebration. In these pages, readers will find inspiration, along with more than fifty recipes, from curry, mole, biryani, and borscht, to pita, pho, sambusa, pupusas, and so much more. Welcome to the Kitchens of Hope table.

The secret history of manly eating in the Heart of Dixie

Man Food: Recipes from the Iron Trade is a flavorful tribute to Alabama’s industrial soul and culinary heart. Born from the legendary Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham—once the beating heart of the Magic City’s iron industry—this cookbook blends Southern tradition, foundry grit, and backyard hospitality into one unforgettable volume.

Collected from the pages of Pig Iron Rough Notes, a magazine once circulated among Alabama’s ironworkers, these recipes reflect the lives of men who forged metal by day and cooked with cast iron by night. Inside, you’ll find dishes like Brunswick Stew, Catfish Chowder, and Bean Hole Beans—hearty meals rooted in Alabama’s outdoors, work camps, and family kitchens.

With colorful stories, vintage illustrations, and a deep appreciation for cast-iron cooking, Man Food celebrates the “Gentlemen Cooks” of the South—men who knew that good food and good company were just as important as hard work. Whether you're a native Alabamian, a history buff, or a lover of Southern foodways, this book offers a delicious slice of Alabama culture.

Fire up your skillet, pour a cup of camp coffee, and taste the legacy of the Iron Trade—Alabama style.

Part travelogue, part cookbook, Mercados takes us on a tour of Mexico’s most colorful destinations—its markets—led by an award-winning, preeminent guide whose passion for Mexican food attracted followers from around the globe. Just as David Sterling’s Yucatán earned him praise for his “meticulously researched knowledge” (Saveur) and for producing “a labor of love that well documents place, people and, yes, food” (Booklist), Mercados now invites readers to learn about local ingredients, meet vendors and cooks, and taste dishes that reflect Mexico’s distinctive regional cuisine.

Serving up more than one hundred recipes, Mercados presents unique versions of Oaxaca’s legendary moles and Michoacan’s carnitas, as well as little-known specialties such as the charcuterie of Chiapas, the wild anise of Pátzcuaro, and the seafood soups of Veracruz. Sumptuous color photographs transport us to the enormous forty-acre, 10,000-merchant Central de Abastos in Oaxaca as well as tiny tianguises in Tabasco. Blending immersive research and passionate appreciation, David Sterling’s final opus is at once a must-have cookbook and a literary feast for the gastronome.

By universal acclaim, Diana Kennedy is the world’s authority on the authentic cuisines of Mexico. For decades, she has traveled the length and breadth of the country, seeking out the home cooks, local ingredients, and traditional recipes that make Mexican cuisines some of the most varied and flavorful in the world. Kennedy has published eight classic Mexican cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning Oaxaca al Gusto. But her most personal book is My Mexico, a labor of love filled with more than three hundred recipes and stories that capture the essence of Mexican food culture as Kennedy has discovered and lived it. First published in 1998, My Mexico is now back in print with a fresh design and photographs—ready to lead a new generation of gastronomes on an unforgettable journey through the foods of this fascinating and complex country.

Just about everyone loves Mexican food, but should you eat it if you want to manage your weight or diabetes? Yes, absolutely! There are literally hundreds of authentic Mexican dishes that are naturally healthy—moderate in calories, fat, and sugar—and completely delectable. In Naturally Healthy Mexican Cooking, Jim Peyton presents some two hundred recipes that have exceptional nutrition profiles, are easy to prepare, and, most important of all, taste delicious.

Peyton starts from the premise that for any diet to work, you have to enjoy the food you’re eating. Substitutions that alter the taste and pleasure of food, such as nonfat yogurt for mayonnaise, have no place here. Instead, you’ll find tasty, highly nutritious, low-calorie dishes from the various schools of Mexican and Mexican American cooking in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. From traditional meat, seafood, and vegetarian entrees and antojitos mexicanos, including tacos, enchiladas, and tamales, to upscale alta cocina mexicana such as shrimp ceviche and mango salsa, these recipes are authentic, simple for home cooks to prepare with supermarket ingredients, flavorful, and fully satisfying in moderate portions. Every recipe includes nutritional analysis—calories, protein, carbs, fat, cholesterol, fiber, sugar, and sodium. In addition to the recipes, Peyton offers helpful information on diet and healthy eating, Mexican cooking and nutrition, ingredients, cooking techniques, and cooking equipment.

Try the recipes in Naturally Healthy Mexican Cooking, and you’ll discover that comfort food can be both delicious and good for you. ¡Buen provecho!

This primer offers the recipes and techniques for mastering quick-slurper staples and luxurious from-scratch feasts. Albala made a different noodle soup every day for two years. His obsession yielded all you need to know about making stock bases, using dried or fresh noodles, and choosing from a huge variety of garnishes, flavorings, and accompaniments. He lays out innovative techniques for mixing and matching bases and noodles with grains, vegetables, and other ingredients drawn from an international array of cuisines. In addition to recipes both cutting edge and classic, Albala describes new soup discoveries he created along the way. There's advice on utensils, cooking tools, and the oft-overlooked necessity of matching a soup to the proper bowl. Finally, he sprinkles in charming historical details that cover everything from ancient Chinese millet noodles to that off-brand Malaysian ramen at the back of the ethnic grocery store.

Filled with more than seventy color photos and dozens of recipes, Noodle Soup is an indispensable guide for cooking, eating, and loving a universal favorite.

Featuring new and revised recipes, photos, and bêtes noires, this culminating book of an illustrious career presents the favorite dishes and personal stories of the world’s foremost authority on traditional Mexican cooking and one of its most-celebrated food writers

Diana Kennedy is the world’s preeminent authority on authentic Mexican cooking and one of its best-known food writers. Renowned for her uncompromising insistence on using the correct local ingredients and preparation techniques, she has taught generations of cooks how to prepare traditional dishes from the villages of Mexico, and in doing so, has documented and helped preserve the country’s amazingly diverse and rich foodways. Kennedy’s own meals for guests are often Mexican, but she also indulges herself and close friends with the nostalgic foods in Nothing Fancy.

This acclaimed cookbook—now expanded with new and revised recipes, additional commentary, photos, and reminiscences—reveals Kennedy’s passion for simpler, soul-satisfying food, from the favorite dishes of her British childhood (including a technique for making clotted cream that actually works) to rare recipes from Ukraine, Norway, France, and other outposts. In her inimitable style, Kennedy discusses her addictions—everything from good butter, cream, and lard to cold-smoked salmon, Seville orange marmalade, black truffle shavings, escamoles (ant eggs), and proper croissants—as well as her bêtes noires—kosher salt, nonfat dairy products, cassia “cinnamon,” botoxed turkeys, and nonstick pans and baking sprays, among them. And look out for the ire she unleashes on “cookbookese,” genetically modified foods, plastic, and unecological kitchen practices! The culminating work of an illustrious career, Nothing Fancy is an irreplaceable opportunity to spend time in the kitchen with Diana Kennedy, listening to the stories she has collected and making the food she has loved over a long lifetime of cooking.

Winner of the James Beard Award for Best Book in Food Issues and Advocacy

Immigrants have left their mark on the great melting pot of American cuisine, and they have continued working hard to keep America’s kitchens running, even during times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. For some immigrant cooks, the pandemic brought home the lack of protection for essential workers in the American food system. For others, cooking was a way of reconnecting with homelands they could not visit during periods of lockdown. 

 Resilient Kitchens: American Immigrant Cooking in a Time of Crisis is a stimulating collection of essays about the lives of immigrants in the United States before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, told through the lens of food. It includes a vibrant mix of perspectives from professional food writers, restaurateurs, scholars, and activists, whose stories range from emotional reflections on hardship, loss, and resilience to journalistic investigations of racism in the American food system. Each contribution is accompanied by a recipe of special importance to the author, giving readers a taste of cuisines from around the world. Every essay is accompanied by gorgeous food photography, the authors’ snapshots of pandemic life, and hand-drawn illustrations by Filipino American artist Angelo Dolojan. 

Winner, James Beard Foundation Best Cookbook of the Year Award, 2015
James Beard Foundation Best International Cookbook Award, 2015
The Art of Eating Prize for Best Food Book of the Year, 2015

The Yucatán Peninsula is home to one of the world's great regional cuisines. With a foundation of native Maya dishes made from fresh local ingredients, it shares much of the same pantry of ingredients and many culinary practices with the rest of Mexico. Yet, due to its isolated peninsular location, it was also in a unique position to absorb the foods and flavors of such far-flung regions as Spain and Portugal, France, Holland, Lebanon and the Levant, Cuba and the Caribbean, and Africa. In recent years, gourmet magazines and celebrity chefs have popularized certain Yucatecan dishes and ingredients, such as Sopa de lima and achiote, and global gastronomes have made the pilgrimage to Yucatán to tantalize their taste buds with smoky pit barbecues, citrus-based pickles, and fiery chiles. But until now, the full depth and richness of this cuisine has remained little understood beyond Yucatán's borders.

An internationally recognized authority on Yucatecan cuisine, chef David Sterling takes you on a gastronomic tour of the peninsula in this unique cookbook, Yucatán: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition. Presenting the food in the places where it’s savored, Sterling begins in jungle towns where Mayas concoct age-old recipes with a few simple ingredients they grow themselves. He travels over a thousand miles along the broad Yucatán coast to sample a bounty of seafood; shares “the people’s food”at bakeries, chicharronerías, street vendors, home restaurants, and cantinas; and highlights the cooking of the peninsula’s three largest cities—Campeche, Mérida, and Valladolid—as well as a variety of pueblos noted for signature dishes. Throughout the journey, Sterling serves up over 275 authentic, thoroughly tested recipes that will appeal to both novice and professional cooks. He also discusses pantry staples and basic cooking techniques and offers substitutions for local ingredients that may be hard to find elsewhere. Profusely illustrated and spiced with lively stories of the region’s people and places, Yucatán: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition is the long-awaited definitive work on this distinctive cuisine.