A Fork in the Road

Many places sell The Perfect Egg as a cookbook, but we think this is more of a collection of food essays that are accompanied with a smattering of recipes. Yes, Aldo Buzzi teaches us how to cook the perfect egg (what else?), how to make lime soup, what goes into an olla podrida - but he also shows us what the difference is between edible and inedible pigeons, and the emotional resonance of overcooked pasta. Food is an emotional thoughtful thing, and not just a mix of chemistry. And Buzzi definitely brings to the table a whole lot of heart with this.

Most of us buy our beef and milk from the store, but for author Gubert Alan who grew up on his family farm, it was just in his backyard. "Land of Milk and Honey" is his and his daughter-editor Mary Foxwell's memories of his time in the farm - sore fingers, tiresome machines and fond times like how the family spent Christmas. If your journey of food should start anywhere, then it better be from this family-run farm.

And word of advice from Alan: Uncle Honey had it right with his succinct philosophy for overcoming adversity: “the secret's not to stop.”

Think of your favourite foods. Now think: if you could only live with unprocessed food, then would your favourite food make the cut? Chances are probably not. So when Megan Kimble, a twenty-year old something editor decides to go full "unprocessed food" for a year, it must have been a tough one.

What's unprocessed food anyway? Does pasta from a box count? In this part-diary, part-American food journey, Kimble discovers that going unprocessed doesn't mean cutting out snacks and soda. What made a food processed was inextricably tied to gender and economy, politics and money, work and play.

Is there a still place on earth that is left untouched by technology and man's interference? One that's pure, idyllic as it was during the ancient times?

National Book Award winner Bob Shacochis decides to find out in "Between Heaven and Hell", and travels to the ancient kingdom of Mustang in Nepal. Where grand landscapes, violent geography and suspenseful travels await him and his wife, Cat. And in a relationship between man and nature, one thing's for sure: nature wins every time. The travels are eye-opening, yet dangerous. But Shacochi's travel memoir isn't just about the wonderful sights, but also about the human condition being tested along the way. The feelings documented are raw and real, just like the landscapes that lay out before him. And you might just want to finish the book in private, where you won't have to put your own emotions on display as well.

They say, you are what you eat. So Barbara Kingsolver decides, in her first non-fiction book, to involve her family on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it.

Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.

Rather than watch from the shelter of a hotel terrace, he rented rooms, learned the language, made friends, and became embroiled in conspiratorial picnics, hashish-laced dinners and in the enchantments and misunderstandings of the street, with its festivals, love affairs, potions and gossip.

When Julia Child arrived in Paris in 1948, she spoke barely a few words of French, and didn’t know the first thing about cooking. "What’s a shallot?" she asked her husband Paul, as they waited for their sole menu.

And so it goes, that "My Life in France" captures post-war Paris with wonderful vividness and charm. But also locks her in as one of the best chefs who inspired aplenty.

The only thing Anthony Bourdain loves as much as cooking is traveling, and A Cook's Tour is the shotgun marriage of his two greatest passions.

From Japan to try the poisonous puffer fish, and through the mine-riddled autonomous Khmer Rouge territory and to Phnom Penh's Gun Club, where local fare is served up alongside a menu of available firearms, Bourdain tantalises the taste buds with exceptional local fare, and stirs up a wanderlust that will make you want to pack your bags.

In the Miso Soup is no feel good travelogue about Japan. Instead it's a slow burning, crime-thriller that opens your eyes to the underbelly of Tokyo. There are no epiphanies, no reflections about the lonely city - just a tour guide who thinks that his customer is the recent serial murderer plaguing the streets. For those who have never been to Tokyo before, this is truly one of the most vivid and spot-on descriptions about the brightly-lit city. And for those who have, well, then it'll take you right into the heart of action. Now all you have to do is imagine the smell and the sounds and you're back there.

Vendela Vida vividly captures the disorientation and freedom of travel by whizzing around places and never stopping. Set in Morocco, The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida already starts with a nameless protagonist arriving in bustling Casablanca, with her passport stolen as she’s checking into her hotel. Through her, you experience frantic taxi rides through the chaotic streets and absurd interactions with the city’s police chief. It's true when they say you can close your eyes and recreate a scene - but with Vida's novel, the other side of the world jumps through her words.

The Improbability of Love is one of those love novels whose ending is predictable - you know what's going to happen. But what makes this book such a beautiful read is its indulgent, vivid descriptions of the art world.

As the chair of the London National Gallery's Board of Trustees and part of the illustrious banking family, Hannah Rothschild's English art world romp, The Improbability of Love is as "insider" as you can get. Even if you got to the London National Gallery itself, you won't even get to see all the behind-the-scenes or the everyday workings. And that's what makes this novel a must-read for every art fanatic, every London-phile and every wanderluster.

What happens when you fall in love with a French man? Why, you move to his city and fall in love with the food as well. Elizabeth Bard's Lunch in Paris is a memoir about her time in the city of love, but it's also part-cookbook and travel guide as she waxes lyrical about blood sausage, pains aux chocolats and irregular verbs.

To summarise, this is one seafood's lover round-the-world quest for the best of the best seafood. But one that's ethically sourced and sustainable. Grescoe travels to the end of the seafood supply chain and back, and hauls lobsters from Nova Scotia, grills three-star Michelin chefs in Manhattan, and samples poisonous pufferfish in Japan. But it's not all travel and fun an food for Grescoe. From his adventures lie the huge problems of how out-of-control pollution, over-fishing and global warming are affecting the fish in the ocean.

Through this book, Grescoe brings you all over the world yes, but he also teaches you which fish are the best for your body, how to pick the best of the best, and how to go for the underrated picks of the sea.