Overview

Food and drink do a lot more than address physical need. They play a central role in our emotional and social existence. They serve as currency for hospitality, love, and affection, as a security blanket and plug for psychic wounds, and as a touchstone for times that have slipped into memory. They provide an excuse for people to sit together and share a meal, a round or two, and, often, the experience of connection. Cognoscenti have long laid claim to this turf. They got a lot of company - and competition - in the late 20th century, when food and drink escalated into the stuff of entertainment, foodie and cocktail cultures, multiple TV networks, and intellectual superiority. Writer and critic Kathy Biehl wandered through this terrain as it morphed, downed a lot of meals and drinks both appalling and delighting, and reported her findings to all manner of publications, in print and online. The joys, quirks, and questionable behavior that she observed fill this kaleidoscopic collection of her award-winning commentary and diaristic reports From Houston's burgeoning culinary landscape to late-night revelry in Britain and Barcelona to a Hell's Kitchen TV studio, it captures a way of life we take for granted no longer, when people freely gathered at tables and counters, shared food, raised glasses, and partook of drama and laughter and magic.

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9781736432112

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Reviews

"An inherently fascinating, impressively informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking collection of observation and experience based commentaries, ""Eat, Drink & Be Wary: Cautionary Tales"" is an extraordinary, unique, and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Culinary & Gastronomy collections. -- Midwest Book Review She proves that writing about food doesn't have to be so darn serious. I wish it could all be this fun. -- Sue Reddel, Food Travelist Like going on a tasting tour -- with a menu that encompasses not just food but the deeply felt culture that surrounds it. -- Trav S.D., Travalanche"

She proves that writing about food doesn't have to be so darn serious. I wish it could all be this fun. -- Sue Reddel, Food Travelist Like going on a tasting tour -- with a menu that encompasses not just food but the deeply felt culture that surrounds it. -- Trav S.D., author Like going to a coffee house for an hour with a good friend. -- John-Michael Albert, 8th Poet Laureate, Portsmouth, NH

Author Information

Kathy Biehl spent some 30 years covering food, drink, and the behaviors they inspire. For more than a decade she reviewed restaurants for The Houston Business Journal, Houston Press, Time Out New York (including its first dining guide), and a slew of online directories and guides. She contributed cover stories to Houston's dining magazine My Table and wrote the food news column for the doctor's travel and leisure magazine Diversion and the legal research journal LLRX.com. She is the editrix and primary writer of the zine Ladies' Fetish & Taboo Society Compendium of Urban Anthropology and its companion blogs. Her food writing has won awards from the Association of Food Journalists and Houston Press Club, as well as the title Pseudo-Food X Pert, from a review subject she'd caught impersonating a competitor.

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