good reads

Alton Brown has been a hero to smart foodies for years. We learned to cook by watching Good Eats and from his corresponding cookbooks. We learned more about international cuisine by listening to his commentating on Iron Chef America. And those of us who have been fortunate to see him in person, especially on his tours that are filled with stories and songs and humor, we learned about the feeling of community that gathering around food brings us. Now he brings us a book filled with his observations, stories about his food history, and very strong ideas about how to make the perfect martini.

Brown was originally a man who made commercials when he decided to disrupt his life and learn to cook. He went to cooking school and spent some time in professional restaurant kitchens. He went from there to take what he learned about food and teach it to others, through Good Eats at first and then other shows. He talks about his early days cooking in kitchens and how he got started creating a show that had no home. Eventually, a fledgling cooking network took it on, and he stayed with the Food Network through several other series.

These essays include stories from his childhood, including learning to make biscuits from his grandmother. He opens up and shares how he barely made it through high school and the hacks he figured out for making Iron Chef America work. There are some surprises, a handful of recipes, several pop culture references, and some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. And Brown is not holding back. He calls out Martha Stewart for making so many home cooks feel insecure because they weren’t perfect. He calls out that food network he used to be on for being so competition-forward. And he calls out those who put vodka in their martinis, despite the fact that his wife is a fan. He is just as smart and subversive as ever. And I am here for all of it.

I am a longtime fan, and honestly I prefer those competition food shows over the ones where a cook stands in their kitchen and makes food every week. But I also love Brown and his work. He doesn’t know everything about the science of cooking, but he is willing to put in the time to find out. He will dig through old recipes, he will talk to those who know the things, he will experiment over and over until he gets the thing as close to his ideal as he can. And then he’ll celebrate with a drink.

As soon as I heard that Alton Brown was coming out with a book of essays, I had two thoughts. I wanted it immediately. And I hoped it was the first of several books like this. I loved Food for Thought. It’s exactly the book I was hoping it would be, filled with insider stories about his journey through life, about his curiosity, about his determination, about his favorite foods. It’s all in there, along with a story that almost had me laughing so hard that I cried. I knew the s’mores story—he told that one on one of his tours. But Son of Blob was completely new and completely unexpected, and in my opinion that alone is worth the price of the book. If you are a fan of Brown and his shows, his tours, his Quarantine Quitchen YouTube series, or even just a fan of good food writing, then you should order this immediately and enjoy with your favorite snacks and cocktails at the ready.

Egalleys for Food for Thought were provided by Gallery Books through Edelweiss, with many thanks.