Which food writers do you take to bed? [closed]

Jeffrey Steingarten - The Man Who Ate Everything and It Must Be Something I Ate

The New Yorker Anthology of Food Writing

Herve This - Molecular Gastronomy

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

In Defense of Food and Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Those are the ones I've been working on recently.

Ruhlman, Bourdain, and Steingarten, as others have mentioned. Alan Richman's Fork It Over is also really good, especially the chapters on BBQ, and the decline of the Jewish delicatessen.

Currently, Michael Ruhlman. I loved The Making of a Chef, and I'm working on The Soul of a Chef. Ruhlman can be a bit of a snob when it comes to cooking, but he loves the craft and that passion really comes through in his writing.

Also, I can highly recommend Cod and Salt by Mark Kurlansky. More history than food writing, but both are absolutely fascinating.

I truly love the Old Foodie Blog: http://www.theoldfoodie.com/ I read it on my kindle at bedtime. And Bourdain. And Ruhlman.

While it's pretty dense (and can help put you to sleep), Marion Nestle's Food Politics does a fantastic job in looking at the relation between the US Government's regulating nutrition and food supply and the big commercial food industry.

While not a "foodie" book talking about dishes and ingredients, it helps expose the root of where most of the education and communication about nutrition comes from in the United States. This shapes food culture and cooking for more of us than we sometimes realize.

Nutrition has become a culture itself and like all cultures has a heavy influence on cooking style and inspiration.

Heat, by Bill Buford is a fantastic read.

These might count as either recipie books or travel books, but the two In serach of perfection books by Heston Blumenthal are both fascinating readings. Not sure I'll ever make the Chilli that needs a whole bottle of Jack Daniels but the effort that you can put into creating great food is truly fascinating.

• Nigel Slater - Toast

  Strange, moving and somehow makes the reader feel nostalgia for the food crimes of the 1970s.

• Jeffrey Steingarten - The Man Who Ate Everything

  All of it but especially the first chapter on his attempts to perfect the art of baking bread.

• Julie Powell - Julie & Julia

  Makes you feel a little bit braver about tackling something ambitious.