In Culinary Pilgrimage: 100 Days Around America, culinary journalists and cookbook authors Nick Nigro and Bay Ewald move out of their apartment in downtown Portland, Oregon, and set out on a passionate quest to fully understand the soul of food and beverage in America. 

 

Partnered with Volkswagen and using the James Beard semi-finalist list as their road map, they drive 15,000 miles and complete 139 features over the course of 100 days.

 

From pressing ancient heirloom apple varieties at a small 1800s homestead farm with Andy Brennan, a renowned cider maker in rural New York — to eating pulpo with Hugo Ortega, the lovable once homeless immigrant turned seven-time James Beard award finalist in Houston — to being taken under the mother-like wing in San Francisco of Dominique Crenn, the first woman in America to receive three Michelin stars — Culinary Pilgrimage is many stories within one story, all with their own unique rhythm. 

 

It’s through a large and colorful cast of chefs, farmers, innkeepers, sommeliers, product makers, and mixologists, that readers learn to celebrate the details of life; like the poetry of bitter-sweet amaro, the perfect ripeness of cheese in calibrated vaults, and the beauty of half-a-century old sourdough starters. 

 

Above all, the book is an uplifting and humorous reminder of the binding power of America's food, drink, and dreams and the soul of the extraordinary people behind it.