A Fork in the Road: Tales of Food, Pleasure and Discovery on the Road

As Oseland, who is the editor-in-chief of Saveur, points out in his introduction to this richly appetizing and sometimes humorous collection of travel stories by food critics, chefs, and writers, %E2%80%9CAt their most intense, these tastes of the new reveal something about the place you%E2%80%99re in and about yourself.%E2%80%9D Among the stories from the book%E2%80%99s 34 contributors are a tale of eating fish heads and rice on a boat from Jakarta bound for Singapore by PW reviews director Louisa Ermelino; Texas Monthly barbecue editor Daniel Vaughan%E2%80%99s account of his search for the perfect %E2%80%99cue in Georgia; and the London Observer restaurant critic Jay Rayner%E2%80%99s description of an encounter with oysters in Colchester, where %E2%80%9Ceating them is like being slapped around the face with spray off the bow of a wave-crashing yawl.%E2%80%9D Other notable entries include novelist Andre Aciman%E2%80%99s story about his %E2%80%9Clast supper in Tuscany,%E2%80%9D food writer Josh Ozersky%E2%80%99s %E2%80%9Cmelancholic%E2%80%99s guide to eating in Paris,%E2%80%9D and Wall Street Journal food editor Beth Kracklauer%E2%80%99s paean to chicken livers. Marcus Samuelsson, a contributor and owner of Red Rooster in Harlem, sums up the tone of the collection best: %E2%80%9CIt%E2%80%99s my curiosity about different cultures that keeps me tasting and seeking, and I don%E2%80%99t even want to lose my constant search for the next bite that I have to have.%E2%80%9D (Dec.)