With holidays upon us, it's time to cosy in for a good read (or listen, in the case of audiobooks), and we want to explore the ever-expanding world of book-length food writing.  The appetite for cookbooks, food history, culinary anthropology, and related forms seems insatiable, but what makes for the most interesting and enduring reads?

We’ll start our holiday conversation with cookbook authors and food writers, booksellers, food historians and then invite participants to share their holiday book lists to celebrate the season. Leading off will be...

Elisabeth Luard, an author, journalist and broadcaster who writes (mostly) about food and recipes in their historical, geographical and social context. Elisabeth’s work as a cookery writer includes about fifteen cookbooks and  four memoirs with recipes. As a botanical artist she  continues to illustrate her own work and record her  travels with sketchbook and watercolours.

Eric Treuille has been passionate about food since he worked as a mitron (baby baker) in his uncle’s boulangerie in France. He has cooked professionally in Paris, London, and New York, and is now director of Books for Cooks, an internationally famous bookstore and cooking school in London. He is the author of Bread (with Ursula Ferrigno), Barbecue (with Birgit Erath), and Canapes (with Victoria Blashford-Snell).

Matt Sartwell is the Managing Partner of Kitchen Arts & Letters, an NYC bookstore specialized in food and drink which opened in 1983.  A former editor at Penguin USA, he joined the bookstore in 1991. He has served as the chair of the James Beard Book Awards and as a member of the IACP's Culinary Classics committee, and advises authors on works in progress and under contemplation.

Ken Albala is the Tully Knowles Endowed Professor of History at the University of the Pacific and is a well-known voice in the field of food history. He has written or edited 27 books in the field of food studies and has been series editor of over 100 food books.