Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy of this title in exchange for honest feedback

I guess that the editors decided to combine travel and cooking, so now we have the single volume “The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2024”, edited by Padma Lakshmi; series editor Jaya Saxena. I always enjoyed the separate volumes, but I can see how the two can be intertwined into one common experience.

We start with an absolutely fantastic introduction from editor Padma Lakshmi, by far the best introduction in this series’ history and probably one of the better pieces in the volume. The unexpected grief upon hearing of the loss of her estranged father leads Ms. Lakshmi to a friend/food-centric trip to New Orleans and a visit to family in India, part of her grieving process. A fantastic story. The rest:

“’New American’, ‘Fusion’, and the Endless, Liberating Challenge of Describing American Food Right Now”: A brief history of what fine dining in the USA has been labeled as, and where we stand today. OK.
“The Science of Savoring”: How savoring food changes as we age. Ho-hum.
“The Gay Roots of (Ugh) Friendsgiving”: An interesting history of how a family-centric holiday came to be celebrated by those rejected by their families.
“Orange Is The New Yolk”: How our attitude towards eggs has changed over the past 40 years or so. Kinda interesting but a bit too long.
“India’s Beef With Beef”: How beef is being used as an issue for extreme Hindus to persecute Muslims. Quite surprising.
“The Hungry Jungle”: What could go wrong in attending a destination wedding? Plenty, it turns out.
“Notable Sandwiches #75: Grilled Cheese”: An ode to a simple pleasure.
“My Favorite Restaurant Served Gas”: Reliving the author’s childhood down in Mississippi.
“Our Daily Celeb”: Appreciating millet in Senegal. Another ho-hum.
“Tell Me Why the Watermelon Grows”: The racial history of watermelons, from Africa to Illinois.
“Taste the Feeling”: Why we like crunchy food, and other reflections on texture.
“My Catalina”: The author sees Catalina salad dressing as a window to her past. I used to love the stuff as well.
“Forbidden Fruit”: A small town in Mexico fights in the avocado wars. A fascinating story.
“In the West Bank, Palestinians Preserve Grapes and Tradition”: The growing of grapes and the effects of war.
“Meet America’s Godmother of Tofu”: The history of tofu in the US.
“The Butchering”: Preserving family traditions.
“From Blackout to Bakhmut”: Baking bread during the Ukrainian war.
“The Titan Submersible Was ‘An Accident Waiting to Happen’”: A fascinating and in-depth look at the Titan submersible accident and its causes. Not really on theme, but fascinating nonetheless.
“Unsafe Passage”: The author escaping Gaza during the war.
“Numinous Strangers”: Modern-day pilgrims on the holy trails in Europe.
“How Things Disappear”: How travel writing can make places become overcrowded, or else make them disappear.
“Eating Badly”: Reflections on the Chinese food of the author’s grandmother.

So, very little in this collection that wasn’t depressing in some form or another, but that seems to be the common theme in today’s world. But still worth reading.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Mariner Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

I find myself conflicted about this book. It presents a collection of essays, some of which delve deeply into angst. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy reading most of them

This essay collection is a rich, thoughtful exploration of food, travel, culture, and the human experience. With pieces from lesser-known publications, it offers fresh perspectives and engaging stories from across the world that feel both personal and universal. Themes of grief and the healing power of food recur throughout, while essays also tackle deeper issues like food politics, racism, and colonialism with insight and care. I appreciated the attention to what's happening in Palestine. This is a must-read for anyone who loves evocative writing and the profound connections food can create.

A robust and delightful compendium of featured travel and food articles for 2024. This was the first year both topics have been covered a single volume...but I personally prefer reading the separate collections.

And of course, hats off to Padma Lakshmi, the brilliant guest editor of this volume, whose captivating food and travel writing skills are always worth a read!

As someone who loves both food and travel writing, this was a dream to read. I particularly enjoyed the essays: The Science of Savoring, In the West Bank, Palestinians Preserve Grapes and Tradition, and The Titan Submersible Was "An Accident Waiting to Happen". Now I'm hungry for food and travel. I hope you are too. Thank you to the authors and the publisher for this early review copy.

"The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2024" is a sumptuous anthology that brings together an eclectic array of voices and perspectives on the intertwined worlds of food and travel. Guest editors Padma Lakshmi and Jaya Saxena have selected an outstanding collection of essays that celebrate the rich experiences and insights that emerge when we explore the culinary traditions and journeys that shape our lives.

The essays in this anthology transport readers to diverse locations around the globe, from Dakar in Senegal to Michoacán in Mexico and the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Each piece offers a unique perspective on the ways in which food and travel can illuminate our shared humanity and deepen our understanding of the world.

What sets this anthology apart is its focus on the interconnectedness of food and travel and the potential for these experiences to transform our perceptions and create meaningful connections. Whether delving into the nostalgia of a childhood favorite or the exploration of a new culture's cuisine, the stories in this collection invite readers to savor the richness and complexity of the human experience.

"The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2024" is a feast for the senses and a testament to the power of storytelling to connect us across cultures and borders. This exceptional anthology is a must-read for food and travel enthusiasts, as well as anyone who appreciates thought-provoking and beautifully crafted narratives.

I thought this was an excellent collection of essays that engaged with a number of topics, both difficult and lighthearted, through the lens of food and travel. A standout for me was Forbidden Fruit about some of the contention surrounding the farming of avocados in Mexico.

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.