A Book for Foodies

We’re preparing for a hurricane this morning in my neck of the woods, and to be honest, it feels a little eerie.

First, we had unseasonably sweltering heat for a couple of weeks (Maine’s version of sweltering, at least), and then nonstop rain for days until yesterday afternoon when the clouds parted and the sun started shining. If I wasn’t watching the hurricane weather alerts on my phone like a hawk (or like a mom who just sent her firstborn off to college in a port town), I would be headed off for a weekend full of outdoor fall fun right about now.

Instead, we’re buying gallons of water and putting new batteries in our headlamps and waiting.

And I’m charging up every book light in the house and putting together a stack of new books I recently added to my TBR pile—one of which is this delicious book, Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat, with art by Wendy MacNaughton.

It’s not a newly published book, but although it did receive a fair amount of hype when it first hit the shelves back in 2017-2018, I first read about it a few weeks ago in the latest issue of Oh Reader magazine (the best bookish magazine for non-stuffy bookish folks, if you ask me), and the article was so compelling that I bought a copy of the book the very next weekend.

Here’s what the article said:

“Salt Fat Acid Heat has transcended the categories of my literary world. It has changed my way of cooking, and it is the only cookbook that I love as a book. It is a book I read over and over. It is a book that I reference, and not just to consult a recipe. It is a cookbook that I consider a book book. . .

Salt Fat Acid Heat contains the two things I look for in a good book: stories and information. Maybe those two things are just one thing: stories that convey information; information shared in story. When I read this book, I become better, every time. A better cook, yes, definitely. But also a better storyteller. A better observer. Better at offering hospitality.

Samin’s book makes me think about the acts of cooking and eating with those I love. The acts of teaching and learning. Of having something to share and being able to skillfully share it. That’s why I go back to Samin’s book, over and over. That’s why I keep inviting her into my kitchen.”

I haven’t read the whole thing yet, but I agree.

I’m not particularly skilled in the kitchen and although I do appreciate good food when I encounter it, I wouldn’t classify myself as a foodie, which may be why I don’t read a lot of cookbooks. But this one I really love. (I also wouldn’t technically call it a cookbook since it’s far more full of stories and food science than recipes, but to each her own.)

So, if you happen to be a foodie or a wannabe foodie like me, or if you just happen to be in for a weekend full of reading for one reason or another, now you have a good book book about food to consider.

I hope you love it.

💛

Sending some almost-fall love from Maine, where a few red leaves have already started falling,