Mouth Wide Open A Cook and His Appetite

Ever since his first book,Simple Cooking, and its acclaimed successors,Outlaw Cook,Serious Pig,andPot on the Fire, John Thorne has been hailed as one of the most provocative, passionate, and accessible food writers at work today. InMouth WideOpen,his fifth collection, he has prepared a feast for the senses and intellect, charting a cook's journey from ingredient to dish in illuminating essays that delve into the intimate pleasures of pistachios, the Scottish burr of real marmalade, how the Greeks made a Greek salad, the (hidden) allure of salt anchovies, and exploring the uncharted territory of improvised breakfasts and resolutely idiosyncratic midnight snacks. Most of all, his inimitable warmth, humor, and generosity of spirit inspire us to begin our own journey of discovery in the kitchen and in the age-old comfort and delight of preparing food.

John Thorne and Matt Lewis Thorne live in Northampton, Massachusetts, where they publish the food letter Simple Cooking. Their most recent book, Pot on the Fire, won a James Beard Foundation Book Award.

Praise for Pot on the Fire: “Those new to [Thorne's work] will experience the joy of prose that welcomes you to the hearth and invites you to stay . . . Each nuance and thought provides a doorway into the contemplation of a life well-savored.” —Kyla Wazana, San Francisco Chronicle "The Thornes will bring out the culinary adventurer in you, whether or not you ever leave home . . . Everthing John Thorne writes, in prose rubbed shiny like river stones, is . . . rich in substance and texture." —Sylvia Carter, Newsday "With every collection, [Thorne's] accounts . . . make richer reading." —Corby Kummer, The New York Times Book Review