These stories of vampire legends and gruesome nineteenth-century practices is “a major contribution to the study of New England folk beliefs” (The Boston Globe). For nineteenth-century New Englanders, “vampires” lurked behind tuberculosis. To try to rid their houses and communities from the scourge of the wasting disease, families sometimes relied on folk practices, including exhuming and consuming the bodies of the deceased. Folklorist Michael E. Bell spent twenty years pursuing stories of the vampire in New England. While writers like H.P. Lovecraft, Henry David Thoreau, and Amy Lowell drew on portions of these stories in their writings, Bell brings the actual practices to light for the first time. He shows that the belief in vampires was widespread, and, for some families, lasted well into the twentieth century. With humor, insight, and sympathy, he uncovers story upon story of dying men, women, and children who believed they were food for the dead. “A marvelous book.” —Providence Journal Includes an updated preface covering newly discovered cases.

“More local color than a steamed lobster wearing wild blueberry bracelets, along with a mess of wistful nostalgia for any reader raised in Maine or New England.” —Portland Press Herald Nearly 70 renowned New England writers gather round the table to talk food and how it sustains us—mind, body, and soul An award-winning collection of essays by internationally recognized and beloved foodies, Breaking Bread celebrates local foods, family, and community, while exploring how what’s on our plates engages with what’s off: grief, pleasure, love, ethics, race, and class. Here, you’ll find reflections from top literary talents and food writers like Award-winning novelist Lily King on connecting with her children over a tweaked chocolate chip cookie recipe Pulitzer Prize recipient Richard Russo on the Italian soup his mother snubbed that he came to enjoy Coauthor of Mad Honey Jennifer Finney Boylan on how cheese pizza holds her family together through the good and the bad Coauthor of About Grief Brian Shuff on how greasy takeout can be life-giving food for the grieving soul Award-winning writer Ron Currie on the childhood shame—and adult pride—of your mother being a “lunch lady” Author and homesteader Margaret Hathaway on building a community cookbook to bring food and family together in the early days of COVID-19 Other essays address a beloved childhood food from Iran, the horror of starving in a prison camp, and the urge to bake pot brownies for an ill friend. Rich and flavorful, Breaking Bread brings together some of the most influential voices in the literary and food worlds to show how we experience life through the foods we eat. Proceeds from this collection will benefit Blue Angel, a Maine-based nonprofit founded by writer and Breaking Bread coeditor Deborah Joy Corey to combat hunger. The organization purchases food from local farmers and delivers it directly to families in need.

Are your meals usually thrown together at the last minute? Meal planning-- carving out time during the week to figure out your meals-- can make you a better cook. You'll be able to find new sources of inspiration, try new dishes and techniques, and flex your improvisational cooking muscles. Belanger gives you the basics and recipes for planning ahead, showing how it helps in streamlining your efforts, reducing waste, and producing better meals. -- adapted from introduction

From baked beans to apple cider, from clam chowder to pumpkin pie, Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald's culinary history reveals the complex and colorful origins of New England foods and cookery. Featuring hosts of stories and recipes derived from generations of New Englanders of diverse backgrounds, America's Founding Food chronicles the region's cuisine, from the English settlers' first encounter with Indian corn in the early seventeenth century to the nostalgic marketing of New England dishes in the first half of the twentieth century. Focusing on the traditional foods of the region--including beans, pumpkins, seafood, meats, baked goods, and beverages such as cider and rum--the authors show how New Englanders procured, preserved, and prepared their sustaining dishes. Placing the New England culinary experience in the broader context of British and American history and culture, Stavely and Fitzgerald demonstrate the importance of New England's foods to the formation of American identity, while dispelling some of the myths arising from patriotic sentiment. At once a sharp assessment and a savory recollection, America's Founding Food sets out the rich story of the American dinner table and provides a new way to appreciate American history.

Bill Buford's Heat meets Phoebe Damrosch's Service Included in this unique blend of personal narrative, food miscellany, and history In March of 2009, Erin Byers Murray ditched her pampered city girl lifestyle and convinced the rowdy and mostly male crew at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury, Massachusetts, to let a completely unprepared, aquaculture-illiterate food and lifestyle writer work for them for a year to learn the business of oysters. The result is Shucked—part love letter, part memoir and part documentary about the world's most beloved bivalves. Providing an in-depth look at the work that goes into getting oysters from farm to table, Shucked shows Erin's fullcircle journey through the modern day oyster farming process and tells a dynamic story about the people who grow our food, and the cutting-edge community of weathered New England oyster farmers who are defying convention and looking ahead. The narrative also interweaves Erin's personal story—the tale of how a technology-obsessed workaholic learns to slow life down a little bit and starts to enjoy getting her hands dirty (and cold). This is a book for oyster lovers everywhere, but also a great read for locavores and foodies in general.

New England Soup Factory soups are like no other soups, and now you can recreate them in your own home. Soups will no longer be the appetizers or side dishes thanks to the delicious and easy-to-follow recipes found in the New England Soup Factory Cookbook. With more than 100+ of the best soup recipes Boston has to offer accompanied by fun stories and beautiful full-color photography, get ready to delight all your friends at your next gathering. The collection of soups in the New England Soup Factory Cookbook are both scrumptious and versatile to all occasions. The New England Soup Factory is the legendary Boston-based restaurant offering a mix of soups, salads, and sandwiches so good that it claimed the Best of Boston award four times. Owner Marjorie Druker gives you access to all the ingredients, recipes, and cooking methods that put the New England Soup Factory on the map. The New England Soup Factory Cookbook contains 100+ of Boston's best-tasting traditional and creative soup recipes such as... New England Clam Chowder Wild Mushroom and Barley Soup Curried Crab and Coconut Soup Raspberry-Nectarine Gazpacho Cucumber-Buttermilk Soup The New England Soup Factory Cookbook also offers recipes perfect for... Holiday parties and family dinners Church potlucks and school get-togethers Work picnics and lunches Tailgating, Super Bowl parties, and any sports event Fall evenings and summer nights Cookouts and pool parties 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Easter, and Christmas This cookbook is the ideal Christmas or birthday gift for any chef regardless of experience. Don't forget to consider it while you plan your next Thanksgiving or Easter family meal.

Here's a cookbook destined to be talked-about this season, rich in techniques and recipes epitomizing the way we cook and eat now. Bar Tartine—co-founded by Tartine Bakery's Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt—is obsessed over by locals and visitors, critics and chefs. It is a restaurant that defies categorization, but not description: Everything is made in-house and layered into extraordinarily flavorful food. Helmed by Nick Balla and Cortney Burns, it draws on time-honored processes (such as fermentation, curing, pickling), and a core that runs through the cuisines of Central Europe, Japan, and Scandinavia to deliver a range of dishes from soups to salads, to shared plates and sweets. With more than 150 photographs, this highly anticipated cookbook is a true original.