BEST FOOD WRITING 2001

Following last year's initial anthology, which she also edited, Hughes (Frommer's New York City with Kids) serves up this year's offerings like a satisfying, well-rounded meal. The selections are divided into six sections: Stocking the Larder, Food Fights, Home Cooking, Someone's in the Kitchen, Dining Around and Personal Tastes. The contributors include food industry insiders as well as professional writers who are lay foodies in their spare time, Jeffrey Eugenides and Malcolm Gladwell among them. From notable food critics like Colman Andrews and Ruth Reichl to such writers as Derek Cooper and Mort Rosenblum, the anthology provides engaging insight into food, cooking, eating and various relevant cultural and emotional phenomena. With extracts culled from books, magazines, newspapers and the Internet, the compilation ranges from the serious "Toro, Toro, Toro" by Jeffrey Steingarten to the amusing "Abstinence Makes the Taste Buds Grow Fonder" by David Leite. Short, light pieces provide welcome interludes to the longer, denser fare. All are enjoyable and worthwhile. Foodies will recognize many of the selections from magazines such as Gourmet and Food & Wine and books such as The Last Days of Haute Cuisine by Patric Kuh and Reichl's Comfort Me with Apples. (Dec.)

Forecast:Foodies browsing extracts such as Rosenblum's delightful "Another Roadside Attraction," taken from A Goose in Toulouse, will likely walk away with a copy—and may probe the shelves for books excerpted in this volume.