In the introduction to her book Home Cooking, Laurie Colwin says, “One of the delights of life is eating with friends; second to that is talking about eating.”

I would argue that reading about eating is right up there on the “delights of life” scale as well. Try some of these tasty titles, but be forewarned: just as with grocery shopping, they should not be attempted on an empty stomach.

Colwin’s Home Cooking, mentioned above, is part memoir, part cookbook. Whether she’s talking about her love of English food (really) or her distaste for turkey stuffing (shocking), Colwin’s humor and conversational style will leave you wanting more. Don’t miss the story of the ill-fated colcannon (a mixture of onions, cabbage and mashed potatoes) she served to the women at a homeless shelter.

Teresa Lust is a former restaurant chef turned writer and her book, Pass the Polenta, is a delightful collection of essays about food, family and tradition. The chapters about the sausage-spinach-raisin-nut dressing of her childhood (she actually likes stuffing), her grandmother’s pie crust, or the creamy, sweet polenta for which the book is named are heartwarming and mouthwatering. But the story about her afternoon with a neighborhood wine merchant is food writing at its best.

If you’ve read any of Peter Mayle’s books about his life in Provence, you know food plays an important role. In French Lessons, food is the star, and deliciously so. Mayle is a master of the dry, British humor. Whether he’s describing the blessing ceremony at the annual truffle harvest or a celebration of frog’s legs, he’ll have you chuckling out loud.

For a more scholarly look at food, try Felipe Fernandez-Armesto’s history, Near a Thousand Tables. The author introduces eight great revolutions in the world history of food including the origins of cooking, the ritualizing of eating and the rise of inequality in which food became an indicator of rank. Don’t let Fernandez-Armesto’s academic credentials fool you — he’s a storyteller of the first order.

Whether we’ll admit it or not, most of us have eaten our share of fast food. But what about slow food? Founded in Italy in 1980, the Slow Food movement celebrates traditional, flavorful food and the artisans who create it. It is food to be savored, not gobbled down while driving to work in your car. The Pleasures of Slow Food by Corby Kummer is a book to be savored as well. The photographs are stunning, the artisan profiles inspirational and the recipes divine.

In the end, food is about connections — between family and friends, chef and restaurant patron, farmer and consumer. In his book, Epitaph for a Peach, author David Mas Masumoto chronicles four seasons on his family farm and his struggle to save an heirloom peach variety. It’s a warm and inviting book, a loving tribute to the land and the lifestyle that sustains him, and, ultimately, all of us.

You can find these and many other delicious titles at your favorite Jefferson County Public Library location. Browse our catalog at www.jefferson.lib.co.us.

Joyce Deming is the Information Services Librarian for Jefferson County Library