Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Strandal

THIS IS MY BOOK OF THE YEAR! It's that simple.

Eva Thorvald is a once-a-lifetime palate destined to greatness, born to a foodie father and an oenophile mother. In this series of short stories, we learn about Eva's life, but we don't hear about it from Eva herself; these stories each star someone else - random characters with whom Eva has varying degrees of involvement. Yet through their eyes we get a reflected-light look at Eva's life and a truly multi-faceted story.

This book is funny, sad, and even heartbreaking. But right from the start you're drawn into the characters, their struggles, and this all-encompassing story of Eva. I wanted to know more, I couldn't get enough, and if Eva didn't show up right away in each new chapter I started peering into the shadows and around the edges to find her. How does she relate, this time? But even without Eva these are fantastic stories of common people and regular Midwestern lives.

The audiobook was narrated by Amy Ryan and Michael Stuhlbarg. The pair delivers an amazing performance of characters from snotty teenagers to harried moms, from redneck drunks to wealthy businessmen.

I have been evangelizing to everyone I meet about how SPECTACULAR this book is - it's a must-read. Don't delay in finding a copy for yourself!

Sweetness #9 by Stephan Eirik Clark

Flavorist David Leveraux is a guy who makes the medicine go down, makes microwave popcorn taste so good, and makes diet soda sweet. And while that's a noble, necessary chemical trade ... he's also having moral pangs about the consequences of putting all these chemicals in our food.

No, this isn't the latest nonfiction food expose; it's a comic novel set in a slightly fictionalized modern day!

This is really a fun story with captivating characters. In his first job out of college, David was involved with product testing - and he's spent the rest of his career trying hard to forget about it. But when his daughter starts researching Sweetness #9 for a high school newspaper article and his red dye addicted son stops using verbs, David is forced to again consider that something's wrong with the way America eats.

There's plenty here to get you thinking, but it's put forth in a way that's funny and light with no black-and-white answers and lots of gray space. Even when David believes the junk is bad, it only takes a day or two for him to backslide into eating garbage again. His former-Nazi boss and mentor provides lots of history and a good many laughs, too. You'll learn about how food is produced, and also ponder a return to the fresh market.

The Savages by Matt Whyman

The whole Savage family is obsessed with food: the perfect preparations, the ideal side dishes, a communal feast that brings them all together. But the secret's in the protein - it's from a very different source.

You'd think your teenage daughter dating an environmentally conscious hybrid-driving vegetarian would be the least of a parent's worries - but then, you don't have secrets like the Savage family. Sasha Savage has got her plate full of trouble with Jack, and it turns out being a flesh-eater is just the tip of the iceberg (lettuce).

We know from the start something bad happens to reveal the family's secrets; it's just a matter of getting there. How does it all unravel? Is younger brother Ivan really that inept?

It's a light book and hardly even gory, given its subject matter. The gross absurdity of the situation makes it comical, and the author did a wonderful job on simple philosophy and history to explain how it could even be possible to rationalize something like cannibalism. Or veganism. Or whatever culinary belief system you'd like to buy into. ;)

Christmas wombat

by Jackie French

French has found a way to take a very simple concept and make it very funny.  All of her wombat stories are best for audiences of at least preschool age.  Toddlers might not get it if there are no wombats in the neighborhood. 
This time, little wombat is ready to do battle for carrots.  The strange creatures who also want them turn up repeatedly on his voyage to find even more tasty nibbles around the world.  Eventually, wombat discovers that reindeer are rather helpful. 

The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food by Judith Jones

If you're a food channel and cookbook addict, this book is for you!

I'd never heard of Jones, but she's a big-wig in the publishing industry, along the way working with and becoming friends with many of the biggest names to publish cookbooks: Julia, Jacques, Lidia ... She's also co-written a couple cookbooks, too.

Here, Jones talks about her own growth as a "foodie" and the things she learned from each of her famous authors: how she discovered Asian cooking as she published with notable Asian chefs, how she explored game meats as she helped with the L.L. Bean cookbook, etc. One of her favorite tricks was to bring these chefs home to cook in her kitchen - forcing them to adapt to non-commercial equipment and thereby learning how we may all reproduce their culinary magic later.

You'll be hungry almost the whole time you read this book, and thankfully Jones includes a section of recipes at the end. Although I'm not sure I'll try the calf's brains anytime soon, there are others I'm definitely interested in reproducing!

Dirty Sugar Cookies by Ayun Halliday

Halliday explains her culinary adventures, from a picky kid who didn't eat anything to an college earthmother, then into an adventurous epicurian ... with her own kid who won't eat anything.

The book mixes anecdotes and observations with a few recipes to try. Unlike many food-memoirs, this one doesn't go into lengthy, orgiastic descriptions of meals eaten and pleasures discovered. Rather, it's a series of personal stories that illustrate how Halliday grew and expanded her food horizons one step at a time.

I enjoyed this book - Halliday is really very funny - and some of the tales reminded me of my own experiences. What kid didn't have birthday cake envy at some point?