Why Did the Chicken Cross the World? by Andrew Lawler

The chicken’s footprint might be tiny but its impression on humanity remains large. Science reporter Andrew Lawler expertly traces its movement from early domestication and the jungles of south Asia, to today’s production of billions of pounds of broiler meat for world consumption. Even if at times it seems as if Lawler packs way too much information into its pages, this is an engaging look at man’s big bird and its impact on almost every aspect of our lives: religious, cultural, medicinal and more. Think the dog is man’s best friend? Well, the chicken really makes a more compelling case.

Anything That Moves: Renegade Chefs, Fearless Eaters, and the Making of a New American Food Culture

The empty plate on the cover of Anything Moves is fitting for the blank canvas possibilities today’s world of food presents. As New Yorker writer, Dana Goodyear shows us, there are many who are pushing the boundaries of what to present on a plate and how. Atomized lavender anyone? 

The book is mostly Goodyear’s reporting pieces from The New Yorker cobbled together and the lack of a cohesiveness to the entire volume, sometimes peeks through. Nevertheless this is an infinitely engaging and delicious look at avante-garde cuisine in the United States and the players and foodies who make it happen. 

A longer review of this book is at BookBrowse.com.