Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women

“This book is a dinner party, and you are invited,” writes critic Wilkinson (How to Survive the Apocalypse) in this spirited culinary survey. In the spirit of “the great” Judy Chicago’s 1979 installation The Dinner Party, the author imagines her own meal with nine women artists—with each getting a chapter-length biography that’s loaded with insights into their eating and creative habits. Alice B. Toklas proved “culinary pursuits are an art form like any other” (and devoted “an entire chapter of her book to cold vegetable soups”); Maya Angelou “didn’t see much difference between writing and cooking”; and Agnès Varda “love[d] potatoes.” Then there’s Elizabeth David, a writer who strove to infuse post-WWII English cooking with more global and daring flavors, from whom one could expect “nothing fancy; probably an omelette and a glass of wine” for lunch. Each chapter is followed by a recipe that characterizes its subject: for Octavia Butler, it’s a Dawn-inspired vegetarian chili with winter squash, while Angelou gets “her favorite” of pears poached in port wine. There’s much to savor, and Wilkinson’s essays are vivid, evocative, and convivial: as she notes, quoting Colwin, “Without fellowship life is not worth living.” This literary feast will make readers feel like they’re pulling up a seat at the table. (June)