The Best American Food Writing 2023

"Excellent....Taken as a whole, the volume moves beyond food’s sensory pleasures to investigate it as a cultural vessel, a symbol of inequality, and more. It’s a standout addition to the series." —Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

A collection of the year’s top food writing, selected by prolific food writer and author of How to Cook Everything Mark Bittman.

"In almost any culture, at any time, you can find food writing,” writes guest editor Mark Bittman in his introduction. “Food means growing and hardship, and health and medicine, and work and holiday. In its abundance it is a gift and a joy, and in its absence a curse and a tragedy. If a culture has writing, that culture has food writing.” The stories in this year’s Best American Food Writing are brilliant, eye-opening windows into the heart of our country’s culture. From the link between salt and sex, to Syrian refugees transforming ancient Turkish food traditions, to the FDA’s crusade on alternative non-dairy milk options, to Black farmers in Arkansas seeking justice, the scope of these essays spans nearly every aspect of our society. This anthology offers an entertaining and poignant look at how food shapes our lives and how food writing shapes our culture. 

THE BEST AMERICAN FOOD WRITING 2023 INCLUDES JAYA SAXENA • LIGAYA MISHAN • MARION NESTLE TOM PHILPOTT • WESLEY BROWN • ALICIA KENNEDY CAROLINE HATCHETT • AMY LOEFFLER and others  

This year’s collection explores the complex, surprising, and vital stories behind what we eat:

• Food History: Uncover the surprising origins of rosin potatoes and the double life of New York’s 19th-century Black Oyster King.
• Social Justice: Follow Black farmers in Arkansas still seeking justice a century after the Elaine Massacre and explore how an eating disorder diagnosis is shaped by body size.
• Culinary Traditions: Journey to the Turkish border to see how Syrian refugees are reshaping ancient foodways, and to Alaska where Iñupiaq whalers pair maktak with kimchi.
• Food Politics: Investigate the FDA’s war on almond milk and hear a stirring call to regulate the ultra-processed food industry for the sake of public health.