Add These Food-Related Books to Your Summer Reading List
The winners of this year's Readable Feast awards are in.
“Homegrown” by Matt Jennings, included in our fall cookbooks roundup, took home top honors. / Photo by Toan Trinh
Sure, juicy novels are de rigueur on beach blankets, but to me, so are cookbooks. Figuring out the next recipe you want to tackle with your feet the sand, followed by a stop at the roadside produce stand on the way home? Yeah, that’s heaven.
If you’re currently putting together your own list of summer reads, I’d definitely check out the winners and nominees of last night’s Readable Feast Awards. Organized by veteran local food writers Louisa Kasdon and Annie Copps, the awards focus on culinary books by New England authors.
Matt Jennings took home the Book of the Year award for his excellent cookbook, “Homegrown: Cooking from My New England Roots,” while Boston-based Chocolate for Basil blogger Jerrelle Guy won in the Single Subject Category for her “Black Girl Baking: Wholesome Recipes Inspired by a Soulful Upbringing.” Writer and recipe developer Leigh Belanger won in the General Cooking category for her “My Kitchen Chalkboard: Seasonal Menus for Modern New England Families.”
The winner in the Memoir & Food Writing category: Anne Fadiman’s “The Wine Lover’s Daughter,” about her relationship with her father, renowned literary and radio personality, Clifton Fadiman, told through his passion for wine.
Other honorees included “Kristen Kish Cooking” for Aesthetic Achievement and Susan Futrell’s “Good Apples: Behind Every Bite” in the Socially Conscious category. The People’s Choice award went to “The Volante Farms Cookbook.”
“The Lost Kitchen” by Erin French; “Drink Progressively,” a wine guide by The Urban Grape owners Hadley and TJ Douglas; and “Myers + Chang at Home” ,by Joanne Chang and Karen Akunowicz, were also among the finalists.
The third annual incarnation of the event was held at the new TriMark Innovation Center in the Seaport’s Innovation and Design Building.
