Travel and food writing are among my favorite genres, so I am very happy that after a short absence they returned in „The Best American Writing” antology, this time together. I agree with the series editor, who remarks in the preface that “the food writer and the travel writer [...] often are one and the same” – after all, is there a better way to get to know a new country and its culture than through local meals?

I find it refreshing that this volume contains a lot of stories from less known magazines and publications, so it is guaranteed that you will find something new and worth reading here.

Thanks to the publisher, Mariner Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

This is an outstanding collection of essays! There’s something for everyone in here - from a report on violence in the avocado industry to an ode to grilled cheese to the history of tofu in the United States. Unsafe Passage, about the ongoing war in Gaza, should be mandatory reading for everyone.

Many of the selected essays, including by Lakshmi at the beginning of the book, have themes relating to loss and the role food can play in the grieving process. I found the most poignant story to be My Catalina, which was about a woman trying to connect with memories of her mother.

Travel is present in many of the essays about food, but the story that stood out to me as pure travel writing was about a lesbian wedding in the jungle in Guatemala. The report on the submersible that imploded near the Titanic is more of a cross between travel writing and a consumer warning.

If you enjoy food, travel, or are interested in topics of social justice, this is a book you will love.

A collection of travel writing and food writing.

A nice pairing of travel and food writing from various voices.
Recommend.

The Best food and travel writing 2024 was a great collection. It had a range of styles and some quality authors.

There's a lot of sadness and darkness in this book. It's the successor to the "Best American Travel Writing" annual compilations (or at least, that's how I know it, as I used to read those, but there was a Best American Food Writing series I hadn't read, too--and now they're merged). The old travel series wasn't always cheery or fun stuff. Like this book, it was a collection of articles from a variety of publications, and it wasn't like reading a sunny travel story. There was good and bad. But it feels like this compilation was made by someone having a bad year.

Sure, we could say the world isn't in the best place now, seeing too much war on the heels of a pandemic. Even so, I didn't expect something quite so negative. The food articles are largely the importance of food in the shadow of loss or of someone having to learn to slaughter sheep with his own hands and a knife, to uphold family/tribal tradition. Or the work of preserving Palestinian food traditions in the midst of massive bloodshed. It doesn't matter who you fault in that ongoing war, it's not an entertaining food subject. Not that everything has to be sunshine and roses, but this was an example of the best American food writing?

Similarly, an article about the Titan submersible disaster? I suppose that's a form of travel, but really? And yes, the subject was important, but is that what this book should be about?

Or an article about watermelon and its unfortunate entwining with deep-seated racism? Or an article about a lesbian wedding in the jungle and some of the truly disgusting things one can deal with deep in a Central American jungle?

You may find this book interesting and informative, but I can't imagine it's anything like the best of food and travel writing for the year. It's an okay book, but I feel it could be much better and truer to its supposed subjects.

I've read previous titles in the series and always enjoyed them. I like the combination of food and travel as the two frequently go together. There were so many interesting stories and authors to discover.

I’m just going to say that I really did not enjoy this book at all. Not at all what I expected. Between ticks on a woman’s vagina to restaurants that sell gas, it wasn’t at all enjoyable to me. I can see from other’s reviews that I am definitely in the minority here. I’m not going to insult the publisher or authors with a negative review, so I won’t be posting this anywhere. Thanks for the opportunity, it just wasn’t for me.

I’ve read the last three editions of best American food writing and I’m so thankful to get an early copy from Mariner books and Netgalley of the 2024 edition!

This anthology rocks. I can’t stop recommending essays from this collection and they are curated so wonderfully from complex food politic journeys in Mexico and India and Palestine, to single serving pieces about gas station food in Mississippi, the near-spiritual grilled cheese sandwich. I love how the later half of the anthology focused multiple essays on journeys - solemn pilgrimage to refugee crossing to the titan submersible. Brilliant writing and I don’t think there was a single piece that didn’t deserve to be included.

Personally, I love how these pieces are coming from all forms of publishing both traditional and non-traditional across the internet. The inlcusion of substack newsletter pieces and blog posts makes the collection feel intimate and erudite.

Note: the grilled cheese piece near altered my brain chemistry and I’ve read it 4? 5? more times since.

In writing about food, one can capture the gist of the culture and the times. It is a portrait of the world at the time of the essays in the book. Cultural attitudes and opinions are triggered by food, and a particularly good dish, especially one shared by friends, can take us back to the happiest times in the past, and hopefully lift us out of sadness brought on by a loss , or produce happiness and pleasant memories.
The essays are short and approach the topic from an angle we might not have considered.
The chapter on Friendsgiving exposes " the dark side" of our national bird. Oh, the pleasure of waxing ecstatic over eggs and yolks! Quite funny. It also exposes how the birds are treated..
Each chapter approaches different foods with an admiring attitude or one that exposes the attitude of the times. I wanted to bring the birds home with me to improve their quality of life. I also considered how alike the citizens of the world are, and how the need to feed ourselves and our loved ones is the ultimate expression of caring for one another. It isn't overly romanticized, and some things that were said raised an eyebrow, but it is a good look at our world in 2024.
I didn't know a lot about Padma, but appreciate the circumstances of her childhood that made her a warm, loving, and interesting person.

Such a great selection of stories. Padma has such a great energy and it's seen and felt in all that she does.

Very important and beautiful stories full of history and culture, community and identity and done in a way that it's a honoured in ways it should be.

Thank you NetGalley, Padma Lakshmi, Jaya Saxena and Mariner Books for giving me an ARC of this book!

My all time favorite cookbook is written by Padma Lakshmi - so when I saw this compilation I jumped at the chance to read it.
Much more than just a glorification of food - this is a celebration of how identity, community, history, and culture all come together on a plate. It’s detailed and luxurious as I expected with deep dives into delicious food, but the slice-of-life along side streets or at tables in people’s homes felt like I was invited to the feast myself. More than ingredients worked alchemically into a dish we get people and various tastes from various backgrounds all coming together in a new fusion of life. Vibrant and charming, fresh and illuminating - this collection is amazing and poignant.

I really loved this collection of stories. I look forward to this series every year, but this is the first one that had me fully hooked - start to finish. Loved the forward from Padma and the special eye on essays chronicling Palestine and Gaza. Shedding light is what journalism should do and I was proud to see these essays reflected here.

Thank you, Mariner Books, for the ARC.

*This book was received as an Advanced Reviewer's Copy from NetGalley

I wasn't sure how to feel when I learned that they were combining the food and travel writing anthologies for 2024. I'd enjoyed the previous years books (having only read the food and not the travel) and thought there was more than enough content from just that standpoint. I think this one is still technically food, but with a few travel stories thrown in. It more seems a disservice to the travel anthologies and writers.

The collection of stories in this one were ok. I can't say that any were hugely impactful for me, but I think they were well chosen. Lakshmi chose a variety of stories that spanned typical food writing about the food itself, to more sociological topics that touched on culture along with food. The one that comes to mind most after reading was about avocados and its impact on drought in Mexico. As a lover of avocados, it means that I'm going to look into sourcing more sustainably when I do have them.

Not a bad anthology but I'm not a fan of combining with the travel. While I enjoy travel writing, and I recognize that a lot of journeys have food incorporated, for me they are separate and deserving of their own editions.

Review by M. Reynard 2024

These essays used to be two separate books but combining food and travel works well. I appreciate being able to find new authors from this series.

As usual, this is an incredible collection of stories about the power of food and people — highly recommended.

In this collection of Best American Food and Travel are twenty-one robust and arresting pieces from around the world that invite readers in to little slices of life. From cheesesteaks in Philly and fast food in Mississippi to avocados in Mexico and grapes in Palestinian vineyards.

These essays, though packed with mouth-watering meals and exquisite travels, offer much more to savor. In the introduction, we witness Lakshmi wrestle with the grief of her absent father’s death. In “The Science of Savoring”, Andrews explores how mindful eating can lead to a more fulfilled life. In “The Gay Roots of (Ugh) Friendsgiving”, Birdsall explores the origin of Friendsgiving—originally Queer Thanksgiving—in America in response to the 1980’s AIDS crisis in San Francisco. In “My Favorite Restaurant Served Gas”, Laymon describes finding a love for food in a gas station. In “Meet America’s Godmother of Tofu”, Sen relays an inspiring tale of one woman’s determination for Americans to embrace tofu.

As with most essay collections, there are hits and misses; some I enjoyed more than others. Still, each piece was written well and the writers chosen for this year’s collection are excellent contenders. The themes of food and/or travel stay present throughout each essay. At the root of these essays is the human desire to connect, specifically over our shared need for food.

Thank you Mariner Books and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review! Available 10/22/2024.

The Best American Food and Travel Writing incorporates multiple different authors for each sections which creates an interesting approach. There’s a lot of history immersed into the book. It was interesting to learn about how food is an important part of history.

One of the sections "India's Beef with Beef” was fascinating to learn about how government policies had such a role in extreme acts of some Hindu groups.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

I read a past book in this series, 2022's Best American Food Writing. I remember it being an excellent read with some stand-out works. This new edition, that now incorporates the best travel writing as well? Astonishing. Piece after piece was educational and enlightening, each one unique.

Some of the works that left me the most impressed:

- "India's Beef with Beef" - an insightful piece about the role of beef within Indian society and how some extreme Hindu groups are using beef as an excuse to persecute Muslims.
- "The Hungry Jungle" - I thought this would only be about a trek into the Guatemalan jungle for a wedding, but it included a piece of evocative body horror that has lingered with me for days. I will NOT be making a similar journey myself, let me tell you.
- "Notable Sandwiches #75: Grilled Cheese" - a rapturous short work on the glory of the grilled cheese sandwich. It made me crave.
- "My Catalina" - a meditation on grief and memory revolving around the author's mother's reliance on Catalina dressing. "Eating Badly," the very last piece in the book, took a different angle on the theme of grief through a Chinese-American perspective, with a final line that was breathtaking.
- "The Titan Submersible Was 'An Accident Waiting to Happen'" - A deeply-researched piece on the Titan submersible and its bombastic creator, who died when the submarine and its passengers were lost over the wreck of the Titanic. Really, a piece about arrogance and innovation, and the lack of industry safeguards. I had no idea how hard a whistleblower fought to end this project.
- "Unsafe Passage" - a first-person account from a Palestinian man who tried to get out of Gaza with his family. Heart-breaking and infuriating.

Really, I could cite something that was noteworthy about every story. There is not a dud in the bunch. The curators did an incredible job.

I'm not sure how to review a book like this. Will everyone find a few pieces of writing that they enjoy? I do think that they will. Take a look at the table of contents, because it is likely that you're considering this book because you're interested in a certain place or kind of food. But I would also urge you to take the opportunity to visit a new place, try a new food and make some new discoveries. It's that kind of book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. Always a pleasure!

A wonderful collection of essays compiled by Padma Lakshmi .Padmas essay about her connection to food family and the heartbreak of her fathers abandonment was outstanding.#netgalley #marinerbooks.