Eating with the Pilgrims and Other Pieces (Calvin Trillin)

Acclaimed "New Yorker" journalist, novelist and poet, Calvin Trillin is also America's funniest and best-loved writer about food. This selection of some of his wittiest articles sees him stalking a peripatetic Chinese chef, campaigning to have the national Thanksgiving dish changed to Spaghetti Carbonara and sampling the legendary Louisiana boudin sausage - to be consumed preferably 'while leaning against a pickup'.

 Eschewing fancy restaurants in favour of street food and neighbourhood joints, Trillin's writing is a hymn of praise to the Buffalo chicken wing, the deep-fried wonton, the New York bagel and the brilliant, inimitable melting-pot that is US cuisine.