A collection of the year’s top food and travel writing, selected by the trailblazing New York Times bestselling author and Emmy-nominated host of Taste the Nation and Top Chef Padma Lakshmi.
“Food and travel are natural companions,” writes guest editor Padma Lakshmi. From this pairing comes “the possibility of seeing anew, of examining how we make and assign meaning.” The essays in this year’s Best American Food and Travel Writing circle the world—from Dakar in Senegal, to Michoacán in south-central Mexico, to the Camino de Santiago in Spain—and deepen our understanding of our place in it. An ode to the American grilled cheese spurs the desire to find beauty in the smallest daily activities. An obsessive odyssey for the perfect Chinese food blossoms into a heart-wrenching search for a lost childhood. Bold and insightful, joyful and moving, this collection celebrates the experiences that connect us all.
The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2024 includes C PAM ZHANG • LIGAYA MISHAN • KIESE LAYMON • MARIAN BULL • MAYUKH SEN • BEN TAUB • AND OTHERS
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“Food and travel writing mingle in this fine collection…Soneela Nankani shines in her sensitive and captivating performance of Lakshmi’s very personal story…The excellent Eunice Wong reads Marion Bull’s ‘Orange Is the New Yolk’ with wit and a seductive tone. And Cary Hite is simply splendid in his rendition of Kiese Laymon’s ‘My Favorite Restaurant Served Gas’…[and] Ali Nasser’s tour-de-force narration of the sad, horrific, but outstanding ‘Unsafe Passage’…A compelling audiobook. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
“Sumptuous…Readers will devour this.”
— Publishers WeeklyBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Kiese Laymon is the author of Heavy: An American Memoir, the novel Long Division, and the essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. He was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, and is Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing and English at the University of Mississippi.
C Pam Zhang is the author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold, longlisted for for the Booker Prize, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and one of Barack Obama's favorite books of the year. Her writing appears in Best American Short Stories, The Cut, McSweeney's Quarterly, the New Yorker, and the New York Times. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree. She was born in Beijing but is mostly an artifact of the United States.
Mayukh Sen is a writer and winner of a James Beard Foundation Award and the IACP Award. His work has been anthologized in two editions of The Best American Food Writing. He teaches food journalism at New York University.
Colleen Delany has been a sparkling jewel in the crown of Washington’s vastly talented acting community for thirty-seven days now and will confidently challenge to a fierce best out of three in “paper-rock-scissors” anyone wishing to topple her from that lofty perch. Primarily a stage actress,—having played roles at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Signature Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Library, Studio Theatre, Olney Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Theater J, Washington Stage Guild, Theater of the First Amendment, and Source Theatre, among others—Ms. Delany does a you-name-it of various acting jobs, including audiobook narration.
Padma Lakshmi is an award-winning cookbook author, an internationally renowned actress and model, and the host of Bravo TV’s highly acclaimed Top Chef. She lives in New York.
Amy McFadden has narrated more than two hundred titles in many different genres. She is an AudioFile Earphones Award winner and has been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She has acted on stage throughout Michigan for more than twenty years and in commercials and film for ten years. She is a founding member of Dog Story Theater in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Eunice Wong is a classically trained actor who works extensively in professional theaters across the United States and in New York City, as well as having appeared on HBO, NBC, ABC, Comedy Central, and in various independent films. Eunice is a graduate of the Juilliard School Drama Division Actor Training Program and has also studied piano and singing at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto. A first-generation Chinese Canadian, born in Toronto to Eric and Eleanor Wong, who immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong, Eunice grew up with her brother Eugene in Toronto and thanks her family for their constant love and support.
Soneela Nankani is an award-winning narrator with over three hundred titles in many different genres including Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, and Nonfiction. She has garnered sixteen Earphones Awards, nominations for Audie and SOVAS awards, and was recently awarded AudioFile magazine’s Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Honor. Her audiobooks have been featured in Best Audiobooks lists by AudioFile magazine and the Washington Post, among others. In her spare time, she loves to read (yes, really), learn languages, try new recipes, and travel. She lives in the DC area with her husband and two mischievous daughters.
Cary Hite has performed in several theaters across the country as a cast member in the longest-running African American play in history, The Diary of Black Men. He also appeared in Edward II, Fences, Macbeth, Good Boys, Side Effects May Vary, and the indie feature The City Is Mine. He has voiced several projects for AudibleKids, including Souls Look Back in Wonder, From Slave Ship to Freedom Road, and Papa, Do You Love Me?
Shaun Taylor-Corbett is an actor, singer, and writer. A graduate of the University of Delaware, he has television and Broadway credits, including the role of Sonny on Broadway in In the Heights. He also has off-Broadway credits including In the Heights and Altar Boyz.