Books for the Foodie in Your Life

If life is a highway, food is the fuel. The restaurant cuisine of Arkansas was crafted by transportation--and by family heritage.

From century-old soda fountains to heritage candy makers, Arkansas wine country and the birthplace of fried pickles, discover the delicious nooks of the Ozarks and scrumptious crannies of the Arkansas River Valley through this tasty travelogue. Learn how fried chicken came to a tiny burg called Tontitown. Discover a restaurant atop a gristmill with a history predating the Civil War. Dine where Bill Clinton, Sam Walton and Elvis Presley caught a bite to eat. Join author Kat Robinson and photographer Grav Weldon on this exploration of over one hundred of the state's classic and iconic restaurants.

The Arkansas Delta is fertile ground for delicious food and iconic restaurants. It's a thickly layered culinary landscape built on generations of immigrants, farmers and cooks. Savor Delta tamales at Pasquale's Tamales, Rhoda's Famous Hot Tamales and Smokehouse BBQ. Meet the masters of barbecue like Harold Jones at the James Beard American classic Jones Barbecue Diner in Marianna. Dine where Elvis Presley ate, travel to Bill Clinton's favorite burger joint and cross the roads where Johnny Cash grew up. From legendary catfish havens such as Murry's Restaurant in Hazen to divine drive-ins like the Polar Freeze in Walnut Ridge, author Kat Robinson and photographer Grav Weldon explore more than one hundred classic joints, superb steakhouses, pie places and decadent doughnut palaces in this tasty travelogue.

From the early days of Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book" at Monticello to the hustle and bustle of the modern City Market on Water Street, Charlottesville has an illustrious culinary history. The city's cuisine is characterized by a delight in locally raised ingredients. The locavore mentality appears at all levels of Charlottesville's food industry, including the nationally acknowledged methods of Joel Salatin's Polyface Farms, the sourcing of local pork for Chipotle's Charlottesville location and the accessibility of regional ingredients everywhere from Whole Foods Market to online favorite Relay Foods. Author and food enthusiast Casey Ireland explores how Charlottesville's residents have created a food culture that is all their own.."

Thirty years ago, the mountain city of Asheville was known for little more than the Biltmore Estate. Since then, the sleepy town has become a nationally recognized food mecca, a hot spot for food celebrities and a bustling hub of microbreweries. Food historian and author Rick McDaniel traces the rise of the Asheville food scene from its early eateries to the pioneering chefs who put Asheville on the culinary map and the new generation of stars who command the kitchens at the city's hottest new restaurants. A founding city of the farm-to-table movement, Asheville is proud of its local food and drink, appearing on creative menus throughout the city and in the pages of the national food media. Join McDaniel as he embarks on a mouthwatering journey to explore the farmers, chefs, markets and history that have shaped Asheville's rich food heritage.

Up and down the Arkansas Delta, food tells a story. Whether the time Bill Clinton nearly died on the way to a coon dinner or the connections made over biscuits and gravy or the more common chicken and dumpling feuds, the area is no stranger to history. One of America's last frontiers, it was settled in the late nineteenth century by a rough-and-tumble collection of timber men, sharecroppers and entrepreneurs from all over the world who embraced the traditional foodways and added their own twists. Today, the Arkansas Delta is the nation's largest producer of rice and adds other crops like catfish and sweet potatoes. Join author Cindy Grisham for this delicious look into Delta cuisine.

Taste the history of South Carolina's Barbeque in this delectable history from the 1500s to the present day.

South Carolina has been home to good, old-fashioned barbeque for quite a long time. Hundreds of restaurants, stands and food trucks sell tons of the southern staple every day. But the history of Palmetto State barbeque goes deeper than many might believe--it predates the rest of America. Native Americans barbequed pork on makeshift grills as far back as the 1500s after the Spanish introduced the pig into the Americas. Since the early 1920s, South Carolinians have been perfecting the craft and producing some of the best-tastin' 'que in the country. Join author and president of the South Carolina Barbeque Association Lake E. High Jr. as he traces the delectable history from its pre-colonial roots to a thriving modern-day tradition that fuels an endless debate over where to find the best plate.

Long before the era of the foodie, the little coal-mining town of Krebs set the standard for celebrating food in Oklahoma. Its reputation as the Sooner State's Little Italy began in the mid-1870s when Italian immigrants chased the coal boom to Pittsburg County, deep in the heart of the Choctaw Nation. After 150 years, Italians and Choctaw neighbors are now bound by pasta, homemade cheeses and sausages and native beer once brewed illegally in basement bathtubs and delivered by children from door to door. Stop by for a steak at GiaComo's, a Choc at Pete's Place, lamb fries at the Isle of Capri, gnocchi at Roseanna's or a gourd of caciocavallo at Lovera's--venues that have proven impervious to time and hardship. Join Food Dude Dave Cathey on a tour through this colorful and delicious history.

The culinary history of Myrtle Beach reflects a unique merging of Native American, European, African and Caribbean cuisines.

Learn the techniques used by enslaved Africans created vast wealth for rice plantation owners; what George Washington likely ate when visiting South Carolina in 1791; how the turpentine industry gave rise to a sticky sweet potato cooking method; and why locals eagerly anticipate one special time of year when boiled peanuts are at their best. Author Becky Billingsley, a longtime Myrtle Beach-area restaurant journalist, digs deep into historic records and serves up both tantalizing personal interviews and dishes on the best local restaurants, where many delicious farm-to-table heritage foods can still be enjoyed.