Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-194).

I. Friends -- O taste and see / Denise Levertov -- Ode to the tomato / Pablo Neruda -- Sestina / Elizabeth Bishop -- After apple-picking / Robert Frost -- Selections from Tender buttons / Gertrude Stein -- To wine / Louise Bogan -- A Step away from them / Frank O'Hara -- A Supermarket in California / Allen Ginsberg -- Northern pike / James Wright -- This is just to say / William Carlos Williams -- II. Recipes -- Soup / Maggie Anderson -- Salt / Susan Kelly-DeWitt -- Kibbe / Susan Azar Porterfield -- Gift of flour / Susan Jelus -- Mustard greens / Karen Rigby -- Borscht / Karen Rigby -- Green chile / Jimmy Santiago Baca -- Fondue / Robert Flanagan -- Bread & sauce / Thom Tammaro -- Macaroni & cheese survey / Terry Kirts -- Where there's smoke, there's dinner / Edmund Conti -- Blueberrries / Edmund Conti -- Summer haiku / Edmund Conti -- Preserves / Gabriel Welsch -- My mother's pie crust / Barbara Crooker -- Recipe for apple pie / David Lee Garrison -- Tiramasù / Ingrid Wendt -- Acceptance speech / Lynn Powell -- Kitchen logistics / Lois Beebe Hayna -- Words, like rice and snow / Daryl Ngee Chinn.