Gael Greene is one of New York City’s most influential food critics, working for New York magazine starting in 1968. Careers were made and broken by her. This collection of her essays from 40 years of reviewing and writing reveal the spicy, provocative life she led along the way, expressed in her hilarious style, including what she ate and who she’s done what with. It starts out with a story about her encounter with Elvis in his hotel room but mainly she remembers what he ordered from room service.

David Sedaris is known for his caustically funny autobiographical writings and this, his forth book, is no exception. He is published in the New Yorker and does performances of his material on Public Radio. He regales about his normal yet strange childhood in North Carolina, his bizarre career path and his move to France with his partner. He makes the every day funny and the unusual even funnier. Also available on tape read by him with his distinctive voice.

This insightful book about how and what we really eat is divided into 3 sections so the author can investigate what’s going on in our food systems. The first section looks at industrial farming (some times called factory farming) and how this expansion adversely affects the quality and nutrition of our food. He concludes that many foods are made from either corn, corn oil, or corn syrup and many farm animals are fed corn. Part two is more about Organic food from large farms and small. He discusses how mass grown organics, while helping the environment through less chemicals are actually soaked in fossil fuels from the “food miles” accumulated as they travel across the globe to market. The third section investigates foraging for ones own food. His main point is to get us to change our eating, suggesting we eat more “food”. But what he means by “food” is, read the label of what you’re eating and if there’s and ingredient listed that your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize, it’s not food. After reading this book you’ll never eat the same again.

Laurie Colwin, though no longer with us, has a bit of a cult following for her writing. Her columns were published in Gourmet Magazine and this book plus its sequel, More Home Cooking, is a collection of her passion for wonderful food and the deep understanding of its importance transforming in every day life and its meals into a celebration of the senses through the enjoyment of cuisine. Each piece is like a conversation with friend that inspires me to want to cook the recipe that follows.

I’ve had Dorie Greenspan on my Food Network show, Sweet Dreams, and she’s just a treat. She’s smart, enthusiastic and an expert in her field and her newest book reflects all that. She’s been the writer for such luminaries as Julia Child (where I met her) and Pierre Herme, maybe the best pastry chef currently alive. This book is filled with 230 recipes from her life as a baker and pastry chef and the lemon tart filling is the best I’ve ever had. She also somehow mistakenly got the life I was supposed to get and lives half of the year in Paris. Maybe someday…a girl can dream, can’t she?