The Best American Food Writing of 2020 by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and Silvia Killingsworth Review

 Title: The Best American Food Writing of 2020 

Editors: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and Silvia Killingsworth 

Age Group: Adult 

Genre: Nonfiction, essays 

Series: The Best American Food Writing 

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars 

I borrowed this book from my local library and reviewed it. 

If you know anything about me at all, you know that I’m totally obsessed with food, mainly eating and cooking. (I’m not much of a baker yet!) So, with that in mind, I reserved a copy of these essays. Normally, I’m not a huge nonfiction reader; as a whole, I tend to find the genre rather dry. But these curious little bundle of essays takes the new of 2020, the year of the global pandemic, and attempts to put it in perspective using a medium that connects us all, across the globe and the oceans: food. This meaty (ha, I couldn’t resist at least one food pun) collection of 26 essays explores how food affects culture, history, and humanity in general. I won’t review the entire collection; rather, I will give the collection an overall rating and highlight my favorites! Okay, without further ado, here we go! 

The Kitchen at Per Se Was a Clean Place but Hard and Heartless, Too by Kwame Onwauchi and Joshua David Stein: I admit that this essay was difficult for me to read. I’ve followed Onwauchi’s career ever since his Top Chef days, and it was especially hard to read about the abuse and the racism that the young chef suffered early in his career. This essay was especially eye-opening, every word searing itself into my brain. Stunning, eye-opening, and powerful! 

A Real Hot Mess: How Grits Got Weaponized Against Cheating Men by Cynthia R. Greenlee: I knew vaguely of the origins of Nashville, Tennessee’s hot chicken, a devilish dish whipped up as a nasty surprise for unfaithful lovers, particularly husbands. But I had no idea that sometimes, a woman in that area will wait in a dark kitchen, patiently stirring a hot pot of grits, all the better to fling upon an unfaithful partner. Famously, a philandering singer back in the 20s was known to be a playboy. When he returned that night to see his paramour, she waited until he was naked in the bathtub before promptly dumping a pot of hot grits all over his back. A lot of people don’t really associate food with culture, as if the two don’t go hand in hand. I really liked this essay; it gave me the impression that the South hides more than its share of dark secrets, and it was really interesting! 

Open Wide by Burkhard Bilger: Have you ever wondered about a baby’s sense of taste, their journey from the womb to their first taste of breastmilk, their transition to solid foods? This essay took me to the beginning of an explosive food movement: the baby food industry! It sounds strange, doesn’t it? Bilger goes deep into the origin of the fairly new industry, and the puzzle he tries to solve is: How do we figure out what we like, don’t like? Why do we hate some foods, but love others? This essay was extremely thought-provoking, and I find myself, days later, returning to it. This was such a weird, surprising essay; it was definitely unexpected. One of my favorites! 

Fare Access: DC Restaurants Could Do More to Welcome Diners with Disabilities, by Laura Hayes: This particular essay really struck a chord with me. I’ve been disabled my entire life with spastic cerebral palsy, and this essay, admittedly, really hurt. Most people don’t seem to notice my disability, despite the fact that I walk with a cane and have multiple surgeries done on my legs. Thinking about how hard it can be for disabled people, especially in DC, to go about their lives normally, especially when there is a great percentage of restaurants don’t even bother to try accommodating disabled individuals, was extremely painful. This essay hit really hard, and it reminded me that as much progress as we’ve made as Americans, we have a long, long way to go nonetheless. 

Lean Cuisine Doesn’t Want to be Part of Diet Culture Anymore: Does It Have a Choice? By Kaitlyn Tiffany: Ah, Lean Cuisine! Honestly, this was one of the essays that caught my eye and intrigued me to the entire collection! It’s strange to think that the popular diet food brand wasn’t always around, owned by the corporate giant, Nestle (who, interestingly enough, comes up twice in the collection). It debuted back in the 70s and early 80s, as an alternative to busy, working women, who also just so happened to be longing to be thin. Lean Cuisine was brought forward at the peak of the diet-culture explosion, and has since tried to shake off the mantle, despite the trademark orange lettering and white box. Lean Cuisine will quite possibly be forever linked to dieting, to women fooling themselves that they only need to eat a certain number of calories, and despite it all, all the revamping and rebranding, it remains one of the biggest diet/weight loss brands in America. Very interesting reading! Stunning! 

The Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store, by Joe Fassler: I’ll start this off by being honest: Marketing, business, and other such things normally bore me to tears. (There are only so many numbers and figures you can read before your brain breaks.) But this essay was very interesting and thought-provoking: What hidden forces behind the scenes propel and engineer our favorite stores, locally and on the national stage? This essay took me behind the scenes of America’s most beloved grocery store chains: Aldi, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods (now owned by Amazon, interestingly enough). 

The Provocations of Chef Tunde Wey by Brett Martin: This essay is definitely one of my very favorites; it really brought the insidious nature of racism in America in the spotlight. Chef Tunde Way holds high-cost, thought-provoking pop-up events at various venues, upcharging white guests and selling them at a steal to black ones, to highlight the grave, inexcusable wealth disparity in our nation. This piece was particularly eye-opening and illuminating, and I loved it so much! 

When Jacques Pepin Made All the World an Omelet by Joshua David Stein: This essay might be my favorite of the entire collection; I distinctly remember the first time I ever watched his show, on CBS’s Julie and Jacques, and being captivated by the cozy set, and the comforting, almost purring accents of the two people, one an American expat, the other a French native. I loved this essay so much; both Jacques and Julia are beloved figures in the food world, and this essay perfectly illustrated that! Bravo! 

Easy, Peasy, Japanese-y: Benihana and the Question of Cultural Appropriation by Sho Spaeth: This essay brought into question one of food’s (and by extension, our culture’s) biggest questions: When is it okay for one culture to cherrypick another, all for the sake of profit? Is it moral, ethical, perhaps even defensible? Spaeth brings Benihana’s and Trader Joe’s in particular as the biggest offenders of this cultural taboo, an increasingly red-button issue. Very thought-provoking and interesting reading! 

New Coke Didn’t Die, It was Murdered by Tim Murphy: Who knew the American soft drink market was so cutthroat and secretive?! I certainly didn’t! Murphy pulls back the curtain to the American soda industry, and reveals how Coke tried once to change its signature formula, and how half of the population was on board. But there was a small group of purists who demanded that the soft drink company keep to its original recipe. As a result, the brand canceled the ‘New’ Coke and stuck to its original formula. To be honest I’m a little sad because I’m more than a bit curious about Coke’s new flavor... 

Pete Luger Used to Sizzle, Now It Sputters by Pete Wells: I was waiting for this essay with bated breath! Finally, an essay that discusses the seismic cultural shift that resulted in the #MeToo movement. Specifically, this essay focuses on one restaurant, reborn after their chefs and staff were decimated by the devastation of the dark underbelly of the American industries, exposing years of secretive misogyny and the antiquated boys’ club that permeates our culture. This essay was not easy reading by any means; there were several times when I had to put the book down, due to being emotional or falling down internet rabbit holes. Easily one of the best in the whole collection! 

The Spice Trade by Paige Williams: Spices in general have always intrigued me; they give food magical flavor and depth, and I use them often in my own home cooking! To think about how valuable and precious spices were (and still are) was a really cool thing to read about! Absolutely stunning and one of my favorites of the collection! 

We All Scream by Charlotte Druckman: Ah, what kind of food essay collection would this be without one about one of Americans’ favorite treats: ice cream?! I and many others, I’m sure, have fond childhood memories of this frozen dairy treat. Such a culinary treasure, cool and refreshing and decadent. I really loved this origin story of one of our most precious food resources! 

This collection of food essays was everything I loved in an anthology: essays about a wide range of food topics, from the well-rounded individuals who work in the food industry! I’m normally not a big nonfiction writer, but I really enjoyed this volume! The bottom line: Diverse, well-researched, and surprising, I loved The Best American Food Writing of 2020! Next on deck: Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff!