More than 200 blue-ribbon winning homemade dishes from across the country. Americans love to celebrate and share their unique and delicious regional culinary specialties- from Maine lobsters to Gilroy garlic to Texas barbeque to Idaho mashed potatoes. Now, award- winning chef and food journalist James Fraioli has culled the best recipes from the finest food festivals across the United States to delight and inspire cooks everywhere of every level. The wide range of recipes included here are all simple to make, with basic, easy-to-find ingredients. Complete with photographs and featuring a delightful portrait of the festivals themselves, this one- of-a-kind cookbook is certain to satisfy food lovers.

More than 200 blue-ribbon winning homemade dishes from across the country. Americans love to celebrate and share their unique and delicious regional culinary specialties- from Maine lobsters to Gilroy garlic to Texas barbeque to Idaho mashed potatoes. Now, award- winning chef and food journalist James Fraioli has culled the best recipes from the finest food festivals across the United States to delight and inspire cooks everywhere of every level. The wide range of recipes included here are all simple to make, with basic, easy-to-find ingredients. Complete with photographs and featuring a delightful portrait of the festivals themselves, this one- of-a-kind cookbook is certain to satisfy food lovers.

"Eating is in : everything from haute cuisine to diner chic. But the best place to find the heart and soul of American cooking is still in the hundreds of local, year-round food festivals that are as American as fresh-caught Maine lobster or fiery Louisiana jambalaya. 'Food Festival!' is the first complete introduction to the sights, sounds, doings, and good eats of these colorful celebrations. It combines : complete introductions to 58 of the country's most enjoyable festivals with a wide-ranging collection of over 130 recipes. This delicious tour of everything from legendary Lexington, North Carolina barbecue to fresh Ipswich, Massachusetts strawberry shortcake includes : a brief history of each festival ; vivid, you-are-there descriptions of the major events ; important travel tips (with general directions, dates, times, and ticket information ) ; a savory selection of fully tested recipes (including everything from Maple Baked Ham to Crawfish Etouffé). 'Food Festival!' is the ultimate companion to the wide-open world of American eating."--

In this groundbreaking anthology, celebrated food writer Molly O’Neill gathers the very best from over 250 years of American culinary history. This literary feast includes classic accounts of iconic American foods: Henry David Thoreau on the delights of watermelon; Herman Melville, with a mouth-watering chapter on clam chowder; H. L. Mencken on the hot dog; M. F. K. Fisher in praise of the oyster; Ralph Ellison on the irresistible appeal of baked yam; William Styron on Southern fried chicken. American writers abroad, like A. J. Liebling, Waverly Root, and Craig Claiborne, describe the revelations they found in foreign restaurants; travellers to America, including the legendary French gourmet J. A. Brillat-Savarin, discover such native delicacies as turkey, Virginia barbecue, and pumpkin pie. Great chefs and noted critics discuss their culinary philosophies and offer advice on the finer points of technique; home cooks recount disasters and triumphs. A host of eminent American writers, from Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Walt Whitman to Thomas Wolfe, Willa Cather, and Langston Hughes, add their distinctive viewpoints to the mix. American Food Writing celebrates the astonishing variety of American foodways, with accounts from almost every corner of the country and a host of ethnic traditions: Dutch, Cuban, French, Italian, Jewish, Chinese, Irish, Indian, Scandinavian, Native American, African, English, Japanese, and Mexican. A surprising range of subjects and perspectives emerge, as writers address such topics as fast food, hunger, dieting, and the relationship between food and sex. James Villas offers a behind-the-scenes look at gourmet dining through a waiter’s eyes; Anthony Bourdain recalls his days at the Culinary Institute of America; Julia Child remembers the humble beginnings of her much-loved television series; Nora Ephron chronicles internecine warfare among members of the “food establishment”; Michael Pollan explores what the label “organic” really means. Throughout the anthology are more than fifty classic recipes, selected after extensive research from cookbooks both vintage and modern, and certain to instruct, delight, and inspire home chefs.

A guide to America's diverse food heritage offers a culinary tour of all fifty states, covering everything from the best diner food in New Jersey to the top fish tacos and burritos in the West.

The Great Southern Food Festival Cookbook is a celebration of Southern food and fun with over 500 recipes with information on 100 great events. A food festival is a wonderfully American event that happens in small towns and large cities all over the South, celebrating everything from onions to peanuts, chocolate to chowder. This collection will be both cookbook and travel guide with delicious recipes and festival information for more than 70 festivals from Virginia to Texas. Southern food and Southern parties-or rather Southern parties about Southern food-are the very best kind. Featured festivals include: Chicken and Egg Festival - Moulton, Alabama West Virginia Strawberry Festival - Buckhannon, West Virginia Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival - Warren, Arkansas Shrimp and Grits: The Wild Georgia Shrimp Festival, Jekyll Island, Georgia Suffolk Peanut Festival - Suffolk, Virginia Cornbread Festival - South Pittsburgh, TN Houston Hot Sauce Festival - Houston, Texas