Page Hungry, Books for All Kinds of Foodies

All Four Stars
by Tara Dairman

Perfect For: Food Critics Aged 8-12

Meet Gladys Gatsby, 11- year old gourmand and daughter of fast-food loving parents. After a crème brulee accident (it happens to the best of us), she’s banned from making messes in the kitchen. But what happens when a big-time newspaper gets their wires crossed and contacts Gladys for a bigtime restaurant review? This fun middle grade series (the second book is called The Stars of Summer) reminds us of a foodie Harriet the Spy.

Pairs Well With: A journal for top-secret dinnertime notes

The Art of Eating
by MFK Fisher

Perfect For: Passionate Readers, Passionate Eaters

MFK Fisher was the first person in this country to write about her own life through the lens of food. Smart, sexy, driven by her appetites both inside and outside the kitchen— she first came to the page in a time when women wrote cookbooks or housekeeping manuals. Simply speaking, she changed everything. (And she’s the reason magazines like this exist today.) This compilation includes five of Fisher’s classic food memoirs: Serve It Forth, How To Cook A Wolf, Consider The Oyster, The Gastronomical Me and An Alphabet for Gourmets.

Pairs Well With: The Arrangement, a novel about Fisher’s early career and tumultuous love life, forthcoming in February 2016, by edible Upcountry’s Ashley Warlick.

International Night: A Father and Daughter Cook Their Way Around The World
by Mark Kurlansky and Talia Kurlansky

Perfect For: Kids and Parents or Grandparents

Mark Kurlansky is the author of Salt, Cod, The Big Oyster, and many other magnificent food books. But he’s also a dad. Once a week, he and his daughter Talia would spin the globe, and Friday night’s kitchen would be inspired from the place they landed. This cookbook is organized in meals, by nights (Brazil Night includes Hearts of Palm Salad and Fejuada) and each recipe has some kid-friendly tasks. There are also wonderful notes from Talia’s perspective on her learning curve.

Pairs Well With: Kid-sized aprons and stepstools

Pickles, Pigs and Whiskey: Recipes From My Three Favorite Food Groups (And Then Some)
by John Currence

Perfect For: People Who Eat, People Who Drink, People Who Like To Laugh

This is arguably THE Southern cookbook of the last decade from James Beard Award-winning Currence and his magnifi- cent kitchen at the City Grocery in Oxford, Mississippi. With recipes from Pickled Duck Legs to Pork Fat Beignets, Currence offers a full picture of what’s so great about our part of the food world. And the book is a complete experience in itself: gorgeous photos, a downloadable playlist of songs for every dish, carefully explained techniques, and funny, funny stories.

Pairs Well With: Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon

The World Snacks Board Books, by Amy Wilson Sanger

Perfect For: New Eaters and their Food-Savvy Parents

This collection of board books, including Hola! Jalapeno, Let’s Nosh, First Book of Sushi and Yum Yum Dim Sum, introduces the youngest book lovers to the world’s great cuisines. Super-cute illustrations and read-along rhymes, as well as a glossary of terms in the back to get us all on the same page.

Pairs Well With: Booster seats

A Kids Guide to Keeping Chickens: Best Breeds, Creating a Home, Care and Handling, Outdoor Fun, Crafts and Treats
by Melissa Caughey

We love our backyard chickens even more when the whole family pitches in. This great guide is chock-full of plans, graphics and checklists, quick facts and simple-to-make treats for your feathered friends, from botanical bug spray to chicken birthday cake.

Pairs Well With: Chicks of your own

Soby’s New South Cuisine, Second Edition
by Carl Sobocinski, David Williams, Rodney Freidank and Richard Peck

Perfect For: Greenville Natives and Newcomers

This brand new edition of the popular cookbook from the very popular Greenville standard-bearer for fine dining offers a dozen new recipes, simple enough for the home chef. It also tells the story, in beautiful photos, of just how this restaurant came to be.

Pairs Well With: Reservations

The World On A Plate: 40 Cuisines, 100 Recipes and The Stories Behind Them
by Mina Holland.

Perfect For: Armchair Travelers, Foodies on the Go

From the first line—“when we eat, we travel”— this book captures your imagination as well as your belly. And it digs beneath recipes to answer questions about culture. What’s a good regional picture of Indian curries? Why do we think of Argentina when we think of steak? What’s the difference between Catalonian Fish Stew and Bouillabaisse from Marseilles? It’s all in here.

Pairs Well With: Plane tickets