Food Literature

The annual Key West Loves Literature seminar is drawing the biggest names in food writing from all over the country, and Haley Snow is there to catch a few fresh morsels of insider gossip. Superstar restaurant critic Jonah Barrows has already ruffled a few foodie feathers with his recent tell-all memoir, and as keynote speaker, he promises more of the same jaw-dropping honesty.

Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming - mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account. Enter Jack, class clown and thorn in Pepper’s side. He works in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.

Much to their surprise, the Peaches had a great summer running their food truck business selling their pies across the Mid-West, but they're happy to be back home in Duluth, Minnesota, where they can settle back into a routine just in time for the new school year. That is until Great Aunt Lucinda wants to gift them her historic mansion. But there are conditions: they're to turn it into a cozy bed-and-breakfast, something the Peach kids' mom always dreamed of before she passed away. And they only have until Thanksgiving to do the renovations and prove they can make the business work.

When Jessica Harris flies home to Australia to sort out her late brother's estate, the last thing she wants to face is his altruistic investment - an eatery on the rural Bellarine Peninsula. The injured British/Indian elite cyclist just wants to settle up, move on, get rehab, and certainly not have to deal with the restaurant's beautiful owner and artisan foodie, Lillian McAllister, or her sweet, four-year-old daughter. In order to win, Jessica's disciplined life is dedicated to controlling her emotions, and she isn't sure she'd survive letting her walls down now.

For a long time, Nadja Spiegelman believed her mother was a fairy. More than her famous father, Maus creator Art Spiegelman, and even more than most mothers, hers - French-born New Yorker art director Françoise Mouly - exerted a force over reality that was both dazzling and daunting. As Nadja's body changed and "began to whisper to the adults around me in a language I did not understand", their relationship grew tense.

Since its earliest days, The New Yorker has been a tastemaker: literally. As the home of A. J. Liebling, Joseph Wechsberg, and M. F. K. Fisher, who practically invented American food writing, the magazine established a tradition that is carried forward today by irrepressible literary gastronomes, including Calvin Trillin, Bill Buford, Adam Gopnik, Jane Kramer, and Anthony Bourdain. Now, in this indispensable collection, The New Yorker dishes up a feast of delicious writing on food and drink.

How do dogs think? Do they fantasize? Do they dream? What do their barks, whines, and growls tell other dogs? How do they communicate in groups, and why do they form hierarchies? What do dogs want? Anthropologist Elizabeth Marshall Thomas attempts to answer these and other questions about a species that has been with mankind for over 20,000 years and still remains a mystery. Based on 30 years and hundreds of thousands of hours of research, this volume describes behavior every dog owner has seen thousands of times but will now understand for only the first time.

If Bao Nguyen had to describe himself, he’d say he was a rock. Steady and strong, but not particularly interesting. His grades are average, his social status unremarkable. He works at his parents’ pho restaurant, and even there, he is his parents’ fifth favorite employee. Not ideal. If Linh Mai had to describe herself, she’d say she was a firecracker. The only problem? Her parents rely on her in ways they’re not willing to admit, including working practically full-time at her family’s pho restaurant.

It's a proven fact that people who eat a raw vegan diet live longer, never age, and make approximately a million dollars or more each year (eat more greens, make more green). Now you, too, can learn the secrets of the perfect human diet in The Raw Vegan Bible by esteemed author (and super cool musician), Dr. David "Greens" Connor. Learn why enzymes are the key to increasing vitality and raising your Kundalini energy.

Hoping for some good publicity, Hayley’s boss at Key Zest magazine signs her up to help judge the Key West Topped Chef contest. Stakes are high as the winner could be the next cooking-show superstar. Hayley shows up for the filming nervous but excited, until she sees who’s on the judging panel with her: Sam Rizzoli, big shot businessman—and owner of the restaurant she just panned in her first negative review. When Rizzoli turns up dead, the police assume his killer is one of his business rivals.

It may be Christmastime, but thoughts of peace on earth, goodwill toward men don’t seem to extend to the restaurant biz. Hayley has been assigned to interview Edel Waugh, chef/owner of Key West’s hottest new restaurant. But off the record, Edel reveals someone’s sabotaging her kitchen and asks Hayley to investigate.

For better or worse, Hayley has agreed to bake over 200 cupcakes for her friend Connie’s wedding while still meeting her writing deadlines. The last thing she needs is family drama. But her parents come barreling down on the island like a category 3 hurricane, and on their first night in town her stepbrother, Roby, disappears into the spring-break party scene in Key West.

Mark Kurlansky, winner of the James Beard Award for Excellence in Food Writing, leads us on a mouthwatering culinary tour around the world and through history and culture from the fifth century B.C. to the present day. This wonderful collection contains essays by Plato on the art of cooking, Pablo Neruda on french fries, and many other writers on the passions of cuisine.

The goodness of God is waiting for us to taste and see. The aroma of Christ surrounds us. In Sensing God, musician and theologian Joel Clarkson points us to a life of faith that is enchanted by the glory of divine craftsmanship, inviting us to practice a faith that is true, good, pure, and altogether lovely.

Food of Love tells the story of Regina, a former supermodel, now princess of a tiny European principality, who has lost her skeletal figure and finds herself threatened by an unknown assassin. Fearing her royal husband wants to kill her now that she’s not model-thin, she seeks protection from her estranged African-American foster sister, conservative Christian television pundit, Rev. Cady Stanton.

Crew arbeitet für den privaten Sicherheitsdienst von Mr. Jones - dem Milliardär und Besitzer der weltbekannten Restaurant-Kette Magical Fries. Dass Crew nach einer Beförderung nun durch die ganze Welt reisen soll, um Gewürze für Pommes zu sammeln, hinterfragt er bei seinem Gehalt nicht. Aber sein neuer Kollege Lennon, der Sohn von Mr. Jones, macht ihm seinen Job nicht eben leicht. Als Crew erfährt, dass Jones überzeugt ist, die perfekte Würzmischung würde ihm die göttliche Fähigkeit verleihen, seine verstorbene Frau wiederzubeleben, setzt er die Mission aus Mitgefühl fort.

"Eggnog Murder": When a gift-wrapped bottle of eggnog proves to be a killer concoction for a Tinker's Cove local, all Lucy Stone wants for Christmas is to find the murdering mixologist who's stirring up trouble. "Death By Eggnog": Food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell has never cared much for Bar Harbor's grouchy town librarian, Agatha Farnsworth. But after the Scroogy senior has a fatal - and suspicious - allergic reaction to supposedly non-dairy eggnog, it's up to Hayley to ladle out some justice.

Amateur sleuth Isabelle "Izzy" James thinks life in Sunshine Springs has finally settled down. Her boozy pie cafe is running smoothly, and she has a whole new circle of friends. But nothing stirs up a quiet week like a man being pushed from a rooftop to his death. The unlucky man had been participating in a scavenger hunt when he met his demise, and Izzy goes on a scavenger hunt of her own-looking for clues about who the murderer might be. But even with her trusty Dalmatian, Sprinkles, by her side, Izzy struggles to solve the case.

Amateur sleuth Isabelle "Izzy" James proudly serves her famous boozy pies at the hundredth birthday party of Sunshine Springs' oldest citizen. But the celebration ends with a bang when the guest of honor himself is shot dead. At first, everyone thinks it's obvious who killed him. But what if everyone is wrong? Izzy has a hunch that there's more to this murder than meets the eye, and she's determined to get to the bottom of things. With her trusty Dalmatian Sprinkles at her side, she chases down clues.

Torn from his family, Adam lands in a world of giants, wild animals, and marauding mountain people. Unable to find his way home, he discovers an alluring paradise - a golden city where he builds a new life, safe from the terrors outside the walls. But when the city begins to crumble, a chance encounter with a strange little girl changes everything. She claims to know why he was brought into this world and the way back to his family, but insists he leave the doomed city and follow her to the high country to join the mountain people.