The Best American Food Writing 2022

The guest editor for the 2022 edition of this annual collection is Sohla El-Waylly, who notes in the introduction, “I have a one-track mind—it’s occupied by food,” which to our way of thinking is a very fine opening qualification for the job.

The 27 entries on this volume come from a variety of sources, some of them familiar, such as The New Yorker, Eater, and The Bitter Southerner. And of course we nod in approval at seeing names like Shane Mitchell or Ligaya Mishan because, after all, when one thinks of great food writing, it seems only right to think of such writers.

But there are interesting pieces from unusual places as well, demonstrating that El-Waylly and her co-editor Silvia KIllingsworth have looked beyond the obvious. Julia Sonenshein, writing for Catapult, explores the intersection of diet culture and judgmental religion. Tom Finger’s piece, drawn from Pipe Wrench, begins with a gun fight over land rights in California that presages decades of conflict and the erasure of local environments and people. And Liz Cook’s contribution from her newsletter Haterade, describes her fascination with something which she is definitely not supposed to eat, more weird than gross.

So if you feel as if you’re never really caught up with the good stuff, here’s one way to gain some ground.

Paperback.