ART: EXPLAINED

Nearly 70 renowned New England writers gather round the table to talk food and how it sustains us`mind, body, and soulA collection of essays by top literary talents and food writers, Breaking Bread celebrates local foods, family, and community, while exploring how what`s on our plates engages with what`s off: grief, pleasure, love, ethics, race, and class.Here, you`ll find Lily King on chocolate chip cookies, Richard Russo on beans, Jennifer Finney Boylan on homemade pizza, Susan Minot on the non-food food of her youth, and Richard Ford on why food doesn`t much interest him. Nancy Harmon Jenkins talks scallops, and Sandy Oliver the pleasures of being a locavore. Other essays address a beloved childhood food from Iran, the horror of starving in a prison camp, the urge to bake pot brownies for an ill friend, and the pleasure of buying a prized chocolate egg for a child.Profits from this collection will benefit Blue Angel, a nonprofit combating food insecurity by delivering healthy food from local farmers to those in need.