Freerange Nonfiction Presented "A Night of Food Writing": Four Books You Should Check Out

This past Wednesday night I attended the Freerange Nonfiction Reading Series event at Pianos on the Lower East Side. Freerange Nonfiction is a group supporting and preserving the art of nonficition by nurturing writers and holding monthly readings. Recently they started doing more thematic readings and kicked off Wednesday with the theme of Food Writing. I heard about the event from Jonathan Dixon's Beaten Seared and Sauced Facebook page and decided to check it out. 

Four authors would be reading from their own books of food/drink-related nonfiction. Naturally, Jonathan Dixon was there to read from Beaten Seared and Sauced, Max Watman read from Chasing the White Dog, Lauren Shockey read from Four Kitchens, and Danyelle Freeman read from Try This. You know by now I loved Dixon's book but I have also been meaning to read Shockey's Four Kitchens. I had heard of Freeman's book but did not know much about it and I hadn't heard of Watman or his book before the event. I was looking forward to an evening of good readings and more titles to add to my constantly expanding list of books to read. That was just what I got. 


Being at Pianos I felt a bit out of place, not quite trendy or "hip" enough to be there in my all black ensemble. The crowd was small, mainly due to the never-ending rain we'd experienced all week, but they were happy to be there. Mira Ptacin got the evening going with an introduction to the evening and Freerange Nonfiction. Then Max Watman started the readings with an excerpt from Chasing the White Dog.

Watman's book is about his journey through the world of Moonshine. He read the chapter titled "Skillet's Place." From the moment he finished reading the first page of his selection, I could tell Watman was a great writer and that his book would be a joy to read. In this part of the book he's exploring the nip joints where moonshine is served and trying to see if he can go to one or at least acquire some moonshine that is sold in one. The descriptions he gives of how he imagines them, the realities he discovers, the people he meets (and the dialogue with them) and finally the moment he tastes some nip joint moonshine are vivid, entertaining and intriguing. You want to know more. Even though I had not heard of Watman before Wednesday night, he is on my radar now and I plan to read his book even though I'm not very interested in moonshine. 

A Discussion and Review of Jonathan Dixon's memoir Beaten, Seared and Sauced: On Becoming a Chef at The Culinary Institute of America

Thanks to Kitchen Arts & Letters I found out about a great event on May 19th at the Museum of the City of New York to promote their current exhibit Movable Feast: Fresh Produce and the NYC Green Cart Program. Jonathan Dixon discussed his first book Beaten, Seared, and Sauced with food writer Andrew Friedman. I'd heard a little bit about the book, mostly in the same breath as Michael Ruhlman's The Making of a Chef; this comparison seems to be drawn mostly from the idea that both have written about attending the Culinary Institute of America, not based on style (I have yet to read Ruhlman's book). The day of the discussion I read the first few pages of the book online. When I hit the words "Grateful Dead" on the very first page and "Bob Weir" on the second, I had an inkling I'd really enjoy both the book and hearing Dixon speak later that evening (I was destined to be a Deadhead before I was even conceived). 

The Museum of the City of New York is an impressive building sitting across from Central Park on upper 5th Avenue (my brief walk through SpaHa from the subway stop over 3 city blocks was only slightly intimidating). The event was held in a small auditorium just within the side entrance. Friedman and Dixon spoke to the audience from a small raised platform in grandfather's-study style arm chairs.