Ruth Reichl Signs on for New Best Food Writing Book Series

• Former Times critic Ruth Reichl has signed on to guest edit the inaugural edition of The Best American Food Writing — an anthology that will be a part of The Best American Series collection by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Other themes in the collection include The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Science and Nature Writing, each an annual showcase of works of short fiction and nonfiction. As guest editor, Reichl will decide which pieces to publish for the October 2018 edition. The series will be edited by Silvia Killingsworth, editor of the Awl and the Hairpin and former managing editor of the New Yorker. The new collection is not related to Holly Hughes’ 18-year-old book series collecting food writing from both online and print.
• Fans of escaping to the perpetually sunny summertime life of Margaritaville will soon (sort of) be able to recreate the island life with Margaritaville The Cookbook: Relaxed Recipes for a Taste of Paradise. The book — recently announced by St. Martin’s Press and Margaritaville Holdings — is a first for the brand that was originally founded in 1977 by musician Jimmy Buffett. It’s co-authored by Margaritaville’s concept chef Carlo Sernaglia and Julia Turshen (Feed the Resistance, The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook), and slated for May 1, 2018 in hardcover and e-book versions.
• The world’s great philosophers were the original foodies, or so Martin Cohen, Ph.D. is putting forth in his new book titled I Think Therefore I Eat: The World’s Greatest Minds Tackle the Food Question. Cohen, a professor, journalist, and author of 101 Philosophy Problems, is putting food alongside social science and food philosophy, in turn answering the question “What to eat?” The book has been sold to Turner Publishing, with plans for a fall 2018 publication by Trident Media Group.
• Actress Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond, The Middle) has sold her cookbook Patricia Heaton’s Food for Family and Friends: 100 Recipes for a Busy, Happy Life to publishing company William Morrow. No date has been set.
• Chef and James Beard Award-winning author Amy Thielen has just struck a book deal with Norton for her latest cookbook, Radical Casual. This is Thielen’s third book, following up The New Midwestern Table and Give a Girl a Knife, and will feature 200 recipes from her home in Minnesota.

• All Cookbook Coverage [E]