From the category archives:

food books

Homegrown Truths From Chef Aaron French

January 24, 2012 berkeley bites

Sunny Side Cafe chef Aaron French explains why he thinks local, seasonal, sustainable food is important for people and the planet in The Bay Area Homegrown Cookbook: Local Food, Local Restaurants, Local Recipes.

16 comments Read the full article →

Michael Pollan’s Eating Advice for the New Year

January 3, 2012 berkeley bites

Author Michael Pollan offers timely advice to start the new year right with commonsense Food Rules.

21 comments Read the full article →

Best Blog Posts from the 2011 Lettuce Eat Kale Archives

December 28, 2011 baking

Wherein we look back at the stories of 2011 on LEK, pick the best of the bunch, and then take a nap.

24 comments Read the full article →

New Guide Aims to Improve School Food Beyond Berkeley

November 17, 2011 bay citizen

At a hands-on workshop at the recent Community Food Security Coalition Conference school food folk test recipes from the new guide, Cooking with California Food.

21 comments Read the full article →

Michael Pollan: New Food Rules, No Need to be Neurotic

November 3, 2011 berkeley bites

Author Michael Pollan teams up with artist Maira Kalman — and several reader-eaters — in the new edition of Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual.

25 comments Read the full article →

Gabrielle Hamilton: Blood, Bones & Bombshells

October 25, 2011 bay area bites

Reluctant chef and contrarian conversationalist Gabrielle Hamilton keeps Kim Severson on her toes at a City Arts & Lectures event.

27 comments Read the full article →

Toast: A Slice of Nigel Slater’s Life Comes to the Screen

October 13, 2011 bay area bites

Nigel Slater’s new film, “Toast,” based on his best-selling memoir of the same name, reveals a boy, his hunger, and the power of food in an unhappy family.

19 comments Read the full article →

Joe Yonan on the Joys of Solo Suppers

October 11, 2011 bay area bites

Joe Yonan on why cooking for one is worthwhile–and the joys of leaving dishes in the sink with no one to nag you about the mess.

17 comments Read the full article →

Bread, Cheese and Banter: On Artisan Food

April 26, 2011 baking

Kim Severson talks with Sue Conley of the Cowgirl Creamery and Chad Robertson of Tartine Bakery about the artisan way as part of the City Arts & Lectures program in San Francisco.

27 comments Read the full article →

Author Raj Patel’s Food Revolution: From Chips to Salad

April 1, 2011 berkeley bites

Author Raj Patel on why there’s reasons to be cheerful about the global food movement.

24 comments Read the full article →

From Psych Ward to Bagel Mensch

February 25, 2011 berkeley bites

Noah Alper overcame obstacles early in life and went on to run a wildly successful West Coast bagel business, Noah’s Bagels. He shares lessons learned from his successes in a recent book.

3 comments Read the full article →

Cookbook Giveaway: Fast, Fresh & Green

February 17, 2011 food book giveaways

Cookbook contest: Win a copy of Fast, Fresh, & Green by Susie Middleton

66 comments Read the full article →

Ravenous: Dayna Macy Faces Her Food Obsessions

January 28, 2011 berkeley bites

The author, who has had a challenging relationship with food much of her life, writes about how she made her peace with eating in a new book.

22 comments Read the full article →

Five Bay Area Cookbook Clubs

January 24, 2011 bay area bites

Each of these Bay Area cookbook clubs has its own flavor. Find out what’s cooking with each one.

12 comments Read the full article →

Alice Medrich’s Sweet Life

January 14, 2011 baking

Award-winning cookbook author Alice Medrich on the sweet life, including her new book, Chewy Gooey, Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies.

26 comments Read the full article →

Best Blog Posts From the 2010 Lettuce Eat Kale Archives

December 29, 2010 bay area bites

Highlights from the 2010 food files of Lettuce Eat Kale.

35 comments Read the full article →

Farm Together Now

December 20, 2010 bay area bites

Amy Franceschini, Daniel Tucker, and Anne Hamersky provide a portrait of the people, places, and ideas in the American New Food Movement in their recently-released book Farm Together Now.

11 comments Read the full article →

Bumper Cookbook Giveaway Update

December 4, 2010 food book giveaways

The winners of the Lettuce Eat Kale end-of-year bumper cookbook giveaway. And a mystery solved.

8 comments Read the full article →

Bumper Cookbook Giveaway

November 26, 2010 food book giveaways

A dozen non-fiction food books up for grabs in the Lettuce Eat Kale end of year book giveaway.

111 comments Read the full article →

A Meat Lover’s Manifesto for Meatless Monday

October 24, 2010 civil eats

Omnivore Kim O’Donnel makes the case for taking a day away from meat.

36 comments Read the full article →

Cookbook Giveaway: D.I.Y. Delicious

September 30, 2010 food book giveaways

Win a copy of Vanessa Barrington’s gorgeous new cookbook D.I.Y. Delicious: Recipes and Ideas for Simple Food From Scratch.

39 comments Read the full article →

Vanessa Barrington: The D.I.Y. Delicious Diva

September 29, 2010 civil eats

Vanessa Barrington dishes up unfussy, homemade fare in her new cookbook D.I.Y. Delicious: Recipes and Ideas for Simple Foods from Scratch. Ever wondered how to make kitchen staples like pickles, yogurt, or bread? Then this may well be the book for you.

39 comments Read the full article →

Fearless Critic Brings Blind Tasting To UC Berkeley

September 17, 2010 berkeley bites

Do More Expensive Wines Taste Better? Not necessarily so says Fearless Critic Robin Goldstein, who continues his research into how price and marketing impact people’s palate in blind tasting research at UC Berkeley.

22 comments Read the full article →

Book Giveaway: Will Write For Food

August 30, 2010 food book giveaways

Win a copy of Will Write for Food by Dianne Jacob, a bible for food scribes.

52 comments Read the full article →

Q&A With The Homesteader’s Kitchen Author

July 29, 2010 food book giveaways

I heard you. Help is on the way. This post is for all you artichoke, eggplant, beet, kale, parsnip, kohlrabi, rutabaga, celeriac, and (your veg of choice here) phobes. July’s cookbook giveaway sparked so much reader interest — and requests for help with veggie recipes in particular, that I felt compelled, compelled I tell you, [...]

30 comments Read the full article →

Cookbook Giveaway: The Homesteader’s Kitchen

July 15, 2010 farmers' markets

Win a copy of The Homesteader’s Kitchen: Recipes From Farm to Table by Robin Burnside

87 comments Read the full article →

Photographer Sara Remington on Shooting Food

July 1, 2010 civil eats

Photographer Sara Remington talks about shooting food, adventures with bees, and more.

46 comments Read the full article →

Cookbook Giveaway: Mixt Salads

June 6, 2010 food book giveaways

Want to win a copy of Mixt Salads by Andrew Swallow, co-owner of the boutique salad bar Mixt Greens? Tell me about your favorite salad.

48 comments Read the full article →

Farmer Jane: Females in the Fields

May 4, 2010 civil eats

A queen of green focuses her first book on female farmers, a subject author Temra Costa comes to organically. Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat, grew out of Costa’s career in sustainable food, and her passion for eating locally and seasonally.

29 comments Read the full article →

Book Giveaway: Spoon Fed by Kim Severson

April 15, 2010 civil eats

Book Giveaway: Spoon Fed by Kim Severson, food writer for The New York Times.

50 comments Read the full article →

Darra Goldstein's Global Gastronomical Tour

April 7, 2010 civil eats

Going around the globe with Gastronomica’s Darra Goldstein without leaving Berkeley.

18 comments Read the full article →

Seven Reasons Why the Time is Ripe for School Lunch Reform

April 5, 2010 civil eats

Academic Janet Poppendieck, author of Free for All: Fixing School Food in America, discusses school food reform at a California Food Policy Advocates event.

34 comments Read the full article →

A Culinary Confession

March 23, 2010 civil eats

Confessions of a lapsed vegetarian. Blame it on Bakesale Betty.

72 comments Read the full article →

Mollie Katzen: Get Cooking Author Dishes

March 4, 2010 food book giveaways

Q&A with beloved & bestselling cookbook author Mollie Katzen of Moosewood fame.

16 comments Read the full article →

Michael Pollan Talks Food Rules in San Francisco

January 23, 2010 civil eats

Find out what the affable, ethical epicurean had to say today in my post on Michael Pollan for Berkeleyside, which was also republished at Civil Eats. And check back here next week for this month’s book giveaway, a signed copy of Pollan’s Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual.

0 comments Read the full article →

Cool Cuisine Author Advocates Green Grub to Save Globe

January 14, 2010 food book giveaways

Laura Stec combines her passion for the planet with a love of food in her efforts to promote green cuisine — eating healthily and well while treading lightly on Mother Earth. And she’s got the cred to back up her good intentions.  Laura trained at the Culinary Institute of America, School of Natural Cookery, and [...]

23 comments Read the full article →

Book Giveaway: My Nepenthe

November 13, 2009 baking

It’s always tricky to write about a pal’s book, you don’t want to come off sounding like a fawning friend, frankly. So, in the case of My Nepenthe by Romney “Nani” Steele, I’m going to let others hand out the praise. Sunset describes Nani’s cookbook-cum-memoir as “a valentine to one of the most beautiful places [...]

31 comments Read the full article →

Cookbook Giveaway: The Gastrokid Cookbook

October 29, 2009 food book giveaways

This month’s book giveaway, The Gastrokid Cookbook: Feeding a Foodie Family in a Fast-Food World, comes to us from two dedicated foodie fathers who are determined to keep things interesting in the kitchen after children enter the dining picture. Hugh Garvey, features editor at Bon Appetit, and Matthew Yeomans, who writes about eating for a [...]

17 comments Read the full article →

Reassurance for Parents of Picky Eaters

September 25, 2009 food books

Time to debunk a few myths for those of us raising choosy chowhounds.  It’s not your fault. Except when it is. I’ll explain below.  Also, it’s not a problem. Unless, of course, you decide it is. More on that later too. I don’t mean to be cryptic or glib about something that many parents — [...]

16 comments Read the full article →

Recipe Guide Giveaway: My Lunch Box

September 21, 2009 food book giveaways

If you’re like many parents, a few weeks into the new school year you’re probably desperate to come up with some different lunch ideas that your kid will eat, don’t take too long to make, and cover the nutritional bases. Help is on its way. Check out my recent blog post which includes suggestions and [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Beating the Brown Bag Blues a.k.a. Taking the Stress Out of School Lunch

September 10, 2009 food books

The new school year brings earlier mornings for some, the transition to different teachers, curriculum, or kids for most, and — the bane of many parents’ existence — packing a lunch every day. For those of you whose child’s school cranks out edible fare — and your kid willingly eats it — good luck to [...]

6 comments Read the full article →

Book Giveaway: Farm City by Novella Carpenter

August 31, 2009 food book giveaways

In conjunction with the Eat Real Festival in Oakland last weekend, urban farm gal Novella Carpenter hosted an all day soiree at Ghost Town/Goat Town Farm, the one depicted in her very funny food memoir released earlier this summer. I swung by the event, which drew a steady crowd, to see what’s growing in the [...]

29 comments Read the full article →

Adventures of an Urban Farm Gal

August 20, 2009 food books

Uber-funny urban farmer Novella Carpenter has gone from indie garage band status to full-fledged rock star of the urban homestead movement in a matter of months. In part, perhaps, because of zingers likes this one, about the lengths she and her partner go to — including nightly dumpster diving sporting head lamps — to keep [...]

17 comments Read the full article →

Find Food Books at Friendly Independent Book Stores

August 9, 2009 food books

Photo: Courtesy of Omnivore Books on Food Call me old fashioned: I just don’t see myself curling up any time soon with a Kindle. After two beloved bookstores in my neighborhood — Berkeley, a legendary university town no less –  closed up shop this year (Cody’s & Black Oak) I swore off Amazon forever. So, [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

Book Giveaway: Hungry Monkey

August 4, 2009 food book giveaways

Picky eater. I’m one. I’m raising one. Really dislike the term. Can’t we come up with a better way to describe ourselves? I sometimes say “particular” or “quirky” as an alternative to the cliche “picky.” Any ideas, dear readers? There’s a free, autographed copy of Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father’s Quest to Raise an Adventurous [...]

36 comments Read the full article →

Eat Food, Cook Food, and Don't Forget the Salt

July 29, 2009 comfort food

Perhaps the best thing about Cook Food: a manualfesto for easy, healthy, local eating is that it’s a slim little volume. That’s not some snarky reviewer comment. Writer Lisa Jervis aims to demystify how to eat well and cook simple food by keeping her book brief. She includes 20 recipes of the beans, greens, grains, [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

The First Lady of Food

June 19, 2009 food books

So the week began with Paul McCartney’s plea for Meat Free Mondays and ended with Michael Pollan and Novella Carpenter discussing slaughtering chickens, rabbits, goats, and pigs for dinner. What a difference a few days makes. Carpenter, in case you’ve missed her, is the author of Farm City, a new book on urban gardening that’s [...]

5 comments Read the full article →

What Do You Eat When You Eat Alone?

June 13, 2009 comfort food

True confession: When I’m home alone at night sometimes I forget to make dinner. Ten o’clock rolls around, the kitchen is closed, and so I grab a bowl of cereal and call it a night. Terrible habit I know. At least it’s whole grain cereal. It turns out, I’m in good company. Here’s another cereal-for-solo [...]

18 comments Read the full article →

Book Banning Abated

May 28, 2009 food books

Have you been following the controversy over the summer reading selection at Washington State University? It looks something like this: The best-seller Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by good food guru Michael Pollan was slated as a must read for all incoming freshmen. Then the university administration scrapped the book and an [...]

0 comments Read the full article →