Four Travel and Food Books: Paul Richardson’s Picks
Travel Blog • Emily Stone • 08.28.07 | 1:17 PM ET
Today we published our review of Paul Richardson’s new book, “A Late Dinner: Discovering the Food of Spain.” We asked Richardson to recommend a few books that inspired him. Here are his picks:
Food in History by Reay Tannahill
Richardson says: “This book is permanently interesting and superbly written with enormous wit and erudition—a classic that is never far from my writing desk.”
Handbook for Travellers in Spain (1845) by Richard Ford
Richardson says: “The original three-volume tome—I have it in a leather-bound edition which is one of my treasured possessions. It’s one of the earliest, finest and most opinionated of all travel guides. The “Handbook” is wise, compendious, infuriating, magnificent—and still unequalled.”
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee
Richardson says: “A kind of bible for cooks and lovers of food, ‘On Food and Cooking’ is one of those books you can never get tired of. Its scope and ambition are immense. It continues to bewitch all those who come across it.”
Preserving by Oded Schwartz
Richardson says: “This is probably my favourite as well as most-used cookbook—it teaches the fine arts of conserving food by drying, smoking, candying, pickling, curing and bottling. Running a small farm in the Spanish countryside, as I do, I am hugely indebted to this wonderful book.”