Culinary Memoir

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of A Half Baked Idea by Olivia Potts. At the moment her mother died, Olivia Potts was baking a cake. She was trying to impress the man who would later become her husband. Meanwhile, 275 miles away, her mother was dying. In the grief-stricken months that followed, Olivia came home from her job as a criminal barrister miserable and tired, and baked soda bread, pizza, and chocolate banana cake. Even when it went badly (which was often), cooking brought her comfort.

Hannah Howard is a Columbia University freshman when she lands a hostess job at Picholine, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Manhattan. Eighteen years old and eager to learn, she’s invigorated by the manic energy and knife-sharp focus of the crew. By day Hannah explores the Columbia arts scene, struggling to find her place. By night she’s intoxicated by boxes of heady truffles and intrigued by the food industry’s insiders. She’s hungry for knowledge, success, and love, but she’s also ravenous because she hasn’t eaten more than yogurt and coffee in days.

When 22-year-old Susan Stachler was diagnosed with cancer, her mother, Laura, was struck by déjà vu. The same illness that took her sister's life was threatening to take her daughter's too. Heartbroken but steadfast, Laura pledged to help Susan through the worst of her treatments. When they discovered that Laura's homemade ginger cookies soothed the side effects of Susan's chemotherapy, the mother - daughter duo soon found themselves opening the business "Susansnaps" and sharing their gourmet gingersnaps with the world.

In this wildly funny and charming memoir, Patricia Volk entertains with a unique perspective of New York in the mid- to late-twentieth century and of a bigger-than-life family that owned fourteen restaurants, including Morgen's in the garment district....

Craig Carlson set out to do the impossible: open the first American diner in Paris. Despite never having owned his own business before - let alone a restaurant, the riskiest business of all - Craig chose to open his diner in a foreign country, with a foreign language that also happens to be the culinary capital of the world. While facing enormous obstacles, Craig and his diner, Breakfast in America, went on to be a great success - especially with the French.

When a New Jersey native moves to Minnesota, she discovers a local food movement strong enough to survive the toughest winter. Fascinating and heartfelt, this memoir demonstrates that even in a place with a short growing season, food grown locally and organically can be healthy, community-based, environmentally conscious, and - most of all - delicious.

In Cooking as Fast as I Can, Cat Cora reveals, for the first time, coming-of-age experiences from early childhood sexual abuse to the realities of life as a lesbian in the Deep South. She shares how she found her passion in the kitchen and went on to attend the prestigious Culinary Institute of America and apprentice under Michelin-star chefs in France. After her big break as a cohost on the Food Network's Melting Pot, Cat broke barriers by becoming the first-ever female Iron Chef.

Memoria, sabores y olores: esto es El gusto es mío. Un recorrido por la vida de Víctor Manuel alrededor de una mesa o frente al fogón de la cocina. Ingrediente tras ingrediente, el cantautor va trenzando una ristra de recuerdos, anécdotas, emociones y sentimientos que componen un banquete de memoria. Viajes por distintas carreteras, reuniones con viejos amigos, anécdotas culinarias junto a los abuelos o los hijos, la historia de un gran amor..., todo sin salir de la cocina, realizando esa receta perfecta con los sabores y olores que han dado sentido a toda una vida.

Den dag, da Francis Cardenau faldt bevidstløs om på restaurant Umami, ændrede hans liv sig. I 45 år havde han stået bag et komfur og gjort det, han er bedst til: at lave mad på allerhøjeste niveau. Først på nogle af verdens førende restauranter i Paris, siden i Danmark, hvor han med sin kompromisløse kogekunst var den første til at hente to michelinstjerner til landet.

What happens when a classically trained New York chef and fearless omnivore heads out of the city and into the wild to track down the ingredients for her meals? After abandoning Wall Street to embrace her lifelong love of cooking, Georgia Pellegrini comes face to face with her first kill. From honoring that first turkey to realizing that the only way we truly know where our meat comes from is if we hunt it ourselves, Pellegrini embarks on a wild ride into the real world of local, organic, and sustainable food.

“Tell me where you eat, what you eat, and at what time you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” This is the motto of Anka Muhlstein’s erudite and witty audiobook about the ways food and the art of the table feature in Honore de Balzac’s The Human Comedy.

Nine Lives is about blazing a way out from a rough childhood through talent and an unbridled passion for the craft of cooking. A story that's still being written as Brandon works with Crux, the pop-up culinary collective he founded, and plans for the opening of his own restaurant, Nine Lives serves up a raw and riveting memoir about food, rock-and-roll, and redemption.

An outsider within her Jersey Shore family, Chef Rossi finds a home for her punk sensibilities inside the kitchen. When their high-school-age, punk, runaway daughter is found hosting a Jersey Shore hotel party, Rossi's parents feel they have no other choice: They ship her off to live with a Hasidic rabbi in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Within the confines of this restrictive culture, Rossi's big-city dreams take root.

With the lyrical precision of Annie Dillard and the exquisite food writing of M.F.K. Fisher, Gabrielle Myers takes us on a Northern California idyll - an internship at the Tip Top Farm and Produce in Vacaville. Here, the beauty of the land - light streaming through fig branches, carnelian tomatoes exploding in front of rows of sweet peas - is tended by the mysterious frenetic Farmer and her companion, Baker. Together with their intern, Gabrielle, the trio tends a landscape full with sustenance and life.

"Il vino può essere quell'elastico che ci riporta indietro. Per me è stato un'occasione di rinascita personale ma può esserlo per chiunque voglia cambiare vita." Dopo gli inizi come giornalista nella sua Bergamo, Laura Donadoni si è dovuta trasferire in America dove ha ricominciato da zero diventando in poco tempo esperta di vino e sommelier di successo e fondando uno dei wine blog e canali Instagram più seguiti, The Italian Wine Girl.

From the bestselling author of Alice Waters and Chez Panisse comes the first biography of the passionate gastronome and troubled genius who became the most powerful force in the history of American food - the founding father of the American food revolution.

Everyone has an opinion about Pino Luongo. To Tony Bourdain, he was the notorious Pino Noir, the shadowy kingpin of a restaurant empire. To Manhattanites, he was either the savior or the scourge of the city's dining scene. To the many fans of his cookbooks, he was the herald of Tuscan cuisine. In Dirty Dishes, Luongo emerges to tell his side of the story. And its quite a story: After an idyllic (and well-fed) childhood in Tuscany, Luongo came to New York as an actor, and, after quickly washing out, fell into the restaurant business....

Si King and Dave Myers, aka The Hairy Bikers, have lived life to the fullest. They had fantastically rich northern childhoods laced with food and fun, but of course with some tragedy too. But we also get to know the early Bikers - we find out how their friendship developed and all of the mad capers and round-the-world trips they went on. Perfect for their fans, heavily seasoned with warmth, food, love, bikes and bro-mance, the Hairies never fail to entertain.

Redwood is a gripping true story of a once successful and popular Baltimore restaurant known for its great cuisine, vivacious musical entertainment, radiant atmosphere, and lavish celebrity events. So what happened to the Redwood Grill? What caused its demise? The book dives into the incredible story of three young entrepreneurs who bought the business and worked tirelessly to make this restaurant the pinnacle dining experience.

Forever a girl obsessed with all things French, sweet freak Amy Thomas landed a gig as rich as the purest dark chocolate: leave Manhattan for Paris to write ad copy for Louis Vuitton. Working on the Champs-Élysées, strolling the charming streets, and exploring the best patisseries and boulangeries, Amy marveled at the magnificence of the City of Light. But does falling in love with one city mean turning your back on another? As much as Amy adored Paris, there was part of her that felt like a humble chocolate chip cookie....