A compilation of some of great food writing from across the world this year, as picked by Goya writers.

It’s been the end of another food-filled year. At Goya, we hosted some successful events for the community, including the second edition of the Food Nerd Festival, in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

On Goya, we’ve published a series of excellent food stories throughout the year, including topical stories that delved on caste, community and religion. Next year, we will be sharing many more stories from kitchens across the country, under our #1000Kitchens series. Look out for more diverse recipes and heartwarming stories from Indian kitchens.

To end the year with some delectable reading, we asked our writers to share some of their favourite stories around food. Think of it as food for thought.

The first thing you learn as a restaurant critic is that nobody wants to hear you complain. The work of going out to eat every night with hand-chosen groups of friends and family sounds suspiciously like what other people do on vacation. One thing we almost never bring up, though, is our health. We avoid mentioning weight the way actors avoid saying “Macbeth.” Partly, we do this out of politeness. Mostly, though, we all know that we’re standing on the rim of an endlessly deep hole and that if we look down we might fall in.

‘After 12 Years of Reviewing Restaurants, I’m Leaving the Table’ by Pete Wells is a strange choice, considering most food articles glorify food, but to me, he wrote everything I’ve always thought of. Being in the food space is balancing both envy and the hidden challenges esp regarding health, for me personally, I really identified with his swan song. Hopefully, it helps people understand that the food space isn’t always as rosy as it seems. — Saina Jaypal

What did the people outside the elite sphere eat every day? What do they eat today? What are their nourishments, delicacies, snacks and desserts? What festivals do they celebrate? What are the special meals prepared for festivals? What do they serve their guests? Why don’t the writers, bloggers, columnists, filmmakers, etc., ever ask such simple questions?

“As Indians, we often say proudly that the food changes every 100km. But what happens when you look deeper, not wider, into the backyard, not down the highway? An inkling of the answer lies in this powerful book, Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada. Focused on just two Dalit communities of Maharashtra, the book offers a glimpse of the many, many food cultures — and their stories — that have gone unheard, unseen and unacknowledged because of India’s caste structures. The recipes are rudimentary — there are no measures, and only the most generic methods — but this is, to my mind, the first true nose-to-tail cookbook to emerge from India. But it is something larger than that as well: It is an assertion of identity, a reclamation of space. Underpinned by generational memory, humour, anger and ownership, and lucidly translated, this is essential — if not easy — reading for anyone interested in India.” — Sumana Mukherjee