In 2009, New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni (who has since become an Op-Ed columnist) challenged fellow food writers
Julia Moskin and Kim Severson to a cooking challenge that turned into a series of monthly challenges and is now a cookbook. “Cookfight” chronicles Moskin’s and Severson’s responses to themes such as working with a budget, making comfort food, and creating a farmers’ market menu. The authors’ personalities, both energetic and lively, shine through. On Nov. 1 at noon, Moskin and Severson will be at Northeastern University’s Xhibition Kitchen, Stetson Hall West, 11 Speare Place, Boston, e-mail
debra.fantasia@compass-usa.com; at 7 p.m. at the Harvard Bookstore, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-661-1515. MATT BARBER