Nancy Pearl describes magical realism as “a style of writing that allows authors to look at our own world through the lens of another world, an imagined yet very familiar one in which past, present, and future are often intertwined.”

Some of the best-known writers of magical realism are Isabel Allende, Jorge Luis Borges, and Gabriel García Márquez. 

A few of my all-time favorites include Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits, Aphrodite, and My Invented Country, as well as Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.

The Lady, the Chef, and the Courtesan by Marisol and Hot House Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire by Margot Berwin are a few you may have missed.

And, of course, Pedro Almodóvar movies are a wonderful accompaniment to these books, especially Volver.

Kara

So where was this wondrous concoction invented? There are several claims to the creation of the hamburger. One is made by the restaurant Louis’ Lunch of New Haven, Conn., which happens to be one of 100 burger joints covered in George Motz’s excellent book Hamburger America.

Louis’ Lunch is the oldest continuously operating hamburger restaurant in the United States. It has been owned and operated by the Lassen family since 1885. According to the Lassen family, the hamburger sandwich was invented by Louis Lassen in 1900 by placing a hamburger patty between two pieces of white bread. The specially made hamburger bun didn’t come around for another 25 years.

None of the big chains are covered in Hamburger America, just locally owned restaurants serving good burgers. One of the examples is Seattle’s own Dick’s Drive In. An approximation of the recipe for the secret sauce on Dick’s burgers is included as well.

If you like your food to go, definitely check our Roadfood by Jane and Michael Stern, which covers 700 eateries. All types of food establishments are covered including barbecue, seafood, ice cream parlors, roadside diners, and more.

One of the notable restaurants is Wiles-Smith Drugs in Memphis, Tenn., where you can sit at a boomerang-pattern counter, order a sandwich or a big helping of chili and know you are only steps away from Sun Records where Elvis Presley recorded many of his songs.

Continuing on the road, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives by Guy Fieri covers 60 eateries from coast to coast. Highlights include The Virginia Diner of Wakefield, Va., which is just down the street from the site where the first peanut crop in the U.S. was planted. More than a half-million pounds of peanuts are cooked and packed at the diner each year. A specialty of Virginia Diner is Peanut Pie. It is described as “a cross between a peanut cookie, peanut brittle, and pie.” The recipe is printed in the book.

David

Three cookbooks that I have read recently, and which I whole-heartedly recommend, include The Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal, Get Cooking by Mollie Katzen, and Cooking with My Sisters by Adriana Trigiani. 

Fat Duck is a visual delight, almost more of an art book than a cookbook. Whether for art or recipes, foodies will adore the gastronomic wonders in this book.

Get Cooking is by Mollie Katzen, author of the perennially popular Moosewood Cookbook. Touted as a book for beginners who want to ‘eat really well all the time,’ this concise and creative cookbook is for novice and seasoned chefs alike. Chock full of everyday recipes, it includes several photographs of the end result, such as the beautiful (and very easy!) roast chicken.

The popular novelist, Adriana Trigiani, who is mostly known for her delightful stories of shoe designers, Italian Americans, and chick-lit romance, also wrote a memoir-cum-cookbook about her family in the kitchen. As Trigiani describes in Cooking with My Sisters, cooking was the centerpiece of their lives — for food, conversation, laughter, stories, and the weaving together of generations. With tips from her sisters, letters, irresistible photographs, and the sweetest recipes, such as “Grandmom’s Buttermilk Cake,” you cannot go wrong with this book either in the kitchen or on the couch.

Readers of M.F.K. Fisher, Ruth Reichl, anyone who loves stories about food and life, and those curious to try a new recipe, are sure to enjoy these tasty books!

Kara