If you’re one of those people for whom a neighborhood shawarma stand is as necessary as a coffeeshop or a WiFi hotspot (or a bookstore!), you will be delighted to discover Annia Ciezadlo’s memoir of living, reporting, cooking, and eating in the Middle East. Like all great food writing, Day Of Honey (Free Press, $26) covers more than cuisine—it’s the story of Ciezadlo’s marriage into a fractious Lebanese family and her career as a war correspondent in Baghdad and Beirut. But food is the foundation: as Ciezadlo confesses, “I am always, always hungry.” Whether she is zig-zagging Baghdad’s ancient neighborhoods to dine with her sources or shopping with the founders of Lebanon’s slow-food movement, Ciezadlo’s culinary wanderings provide an intimate portrait of daily life in wartime. Her recipe collection is a mouthwatering bonus.