Payard’s ‘Chocolate Epiphany’

I had an epiphany this morning.
As I sat at the red light in light traffic in my car after dropping off the kids at school, I realized I’d forgotten to throw on a coat.
And in that exact moment, as the radio blasted Steppenwolf’s ‘Born to Be Wild’ loud enough to be heard by anyone close [...]

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Another damned, thick, food book! Always scribble, scribble

Edible – An Illustrated Guide to the World’s Food Plants by National Geographic Society 2008, Foreword by Deborah Madison

Edible, an Illustrated Guide to the World’s Food Plants is a gorgeous book. The collection of food plants included in this volume goes far beyond what one would expect – it is thorough and full of amazements, [...]

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The Fireside Cook Book by James Beard – 60th Anniversary Edition

It startled me to see The Fireside Cook Book peering out from the bookstore shelf. The biggest surprise was how very new the book looked. The editions I’ve seen have been battered and worn, food-speckled, and with the non-shiny essence of the year 1949 – the date when The Fireside Cook Book was published for [...]

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‘Near a Thousand Tables’ (my fancy was so strong)

(This is part 3 of 3 posts.)
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Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.
Here’s my favorite bit of the book – it comes from the chapter titled ‘The Edible Earth’ and the subject is wheat, which the author has nick-named ‘The World Conquerer’:
No relief of the Triumph of Progress, of the kind which often decorates the tympana [...]

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‘Near a Thousand Tables’ Dances (Does not Plod)

(This is part 2 of 3 posts.)
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Plod, plod, plod.
Plodding is a fact of life.
Everyone does it. There are those who embrace plodding as the most virtuous and acceptable way to live. Within this form of thinking, the idea of stepping out of the circle of plodding to do a little jig or a mad pirouette [...]

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On My Table: ‘Near a Thousand Tables’ by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

(This is part 1 of 3 posts.)
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‘Near a Thousand Tables’ is a very different book within the genre of food history than I’ve ever seen or read before. There may be books equal to (or similar to) it – my reading on food history is only a small part of the other sorts of reading [...]

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The Definitely Edible Roald Dahl

“Graaack graaaak gracccck!” The noise was right outside my bedroom window. “Griink griiiiiink!” It was insistent and loud and it was 5 in the morning, still dark out. I stumbled from bed and opened the window, and the storm window, and grabbed the tree branch and shook it as hard as I could then went [...]

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1001 Foods You Must Taste Before You Die

Several years ago a book came out titled “1000 Places You Must See Before You Die”. Then there was another book titled “100 Things You Must Do Before You Die”. And now there is a new book titled “1001 Foods You Must Taste Before You Die”.
I love the idea of these books. How wonderful to [...]

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Book Reviews: Hungry Girl, Essential Best Foods, The Food You Crave

Watch your Peas and Queues with Katerina la Vermintz

My dears. It has been a while. Today I have delved into three new tomes for your edification (and perhaps for mine also, we shall see we shall see): Hungry Girl – Recipes and Strategies for Eating in the Real World by Lisa Lillien; The Essential [...]

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Review: Cooking Light Complete Cookbook

Books and Media by Katerina la Vermintz
Cooking Light Complete Cookbook- A Fresh New Way to Cook
This is a large book, a colorful book, newly released this April. To my surprise it is also a ring-bound book, just like the old Betty Crocker bibles – which gives it an initial air of practicality without pretension. [...]

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