I try to read at least a couple Best Of books each year and I finally got around to the 2018 Food Writing edition.
And this year’s edition was another fascinating read. The short articles that reached me (in no order) was the Female Chefs piece which was quite the indictment of food media coverage and a roadmap for how to talk about minorities. (Oscars take heed). The science and business behind Driscoll’s strawberries was a peek behind the agricultural curtain to some shady business. White Lies of Craft Culture by Lauren Michelle Jackson was really powerful and though it has beer reference in the first paragraph that is then dropped it also deftly touches on appropriation. How to move forward wasn’t addressed to my liking but it was a thinking piece. And considering my arms length treatment of social medai, the article about a young Alaskan whaler really shows the power of loud voices. Especially in American, wrong loud voices that do not care that they are both.
Search this book out and you will be treated to a collection of well-done stories.