The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2026

A collection of the year's best food and travel writing, selected by renowned chef and humanitarian José Andrés.

"Good food and travel writing takes us somewhere far, far away without leaving our living rooms," writes José Andrés. "Open a magazine or a newspaper, and boom: you are going beyond the horizon, discovering a new world." The essays in The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2026 bring us to worlds far and wide. In Gaza, Palestinians break their Ramadan fast with wartime iterations of malfouf and sumagiyya. In France, an Algerian hazelnut spread causes a culture war. In Blue Ridge, Georgia, a mother of eight works as a lunch lady, sneaking food to the students who can't afford it. Despite their range, the throughline is how food and travel connects us all and inspires us to do better. As Andres observes, "In these pages you have a how-to manual of opportunities to make the world a better place."

The Best American Food and Travel 2026 includes - Priya Krishna - Ligaya Mishan - Dan Kois - Jordan Kisner - Lauren Collins - Lauren Oyler

José Andrés is a Michelin-starred chef, an Emmy Award-winning TV host and producer, and a New York Times bestselling author of Change the Recipe, Zaytinya, Vegetables Unleashed, and The World Central Kitchen Cookbook. A pioneer of Spanish tapas in America and a celebrated ambassador of Spanish cooking, his renowned José Andrés Group operates more than forty restaurants across the United States and beyond. Andrés is the founder of the nonprofit World Central Kitchen and has been honored as Outstanding Chef and Humanitarian of the Year by the James Beard Foundation. He has twice been named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People, and has been awarded both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and one of Spain's highest honors, the Princesa de Asturias Foundation's Concordia Prize, for his humanitarian work.

Jaya Saxena is the co-author of Basic Witches (Quirk, 2017) and a staff writer at Eater. Her work has appeared in many outlets, including the New York Times, Buzzfeed, GQ, ELLE, Electric Literature, Catapult, the Daily Dot, The Toast, and more. She lives in New York City with her partner.