Notable Cookbooks and Culinary Reads of 2012
American cuisine is as varied as our terrain, growing seasons, immigrant influences and artisan trends. Our choices continue to delight ever-impatient palates. The ever-greater choice, however, requires a balancing act and more sensitivity about how to eat well and feed our family and friends, while adhering not just to their culinary expectations but also to their dietary restrictions. Whether gluten-free, sugar-avoiding, vegetarian, vegan or carnivorous, there must be room at the table for all.
Until recently, there’s been the perception that there are two camps: Eaters who indulge every culinary whim for rich and exquisite cuisine, and those who obsessively focus on health, where ingredients come from, and even the extent of food’s healing properties.
But must we eat only for pleasure or for health? The heightened taste of local ingredients and the greater role of fruits and vegetables in the diet, as well as more experimentation and empowerment among home cooks mean that healthy cuisine can be luscious and indulgent. It’s the new norm.
These 10 notable cookbooks (well, 11 actually, and a subsidiary reading list), focus on dazzling the palate and feeling pretty tickled about our choices the morning after the meal.
Notable Cookbooks of 2012:
1.
