Review:
This is basically a heavily illustrated food miscellany. I came across it while trying to find food-focused artbooks. It covers lots of random information, touching on foods from all over the world (although you'll probably find yourself thinking of a particular food that could have been mentioned that isn't - one of the drawbacks of a work that tries to cover as much ground as this one).
There are illustrations for everything from place settings (formal American, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Indian/Nepalese) to different kinds of spoons and forks (but not, for some reason, knives, except as butchery tools later in the meat chapter), and more. I enjoyed some parts more than others. For example, the "parents of produce" section, in which the author looked at the fruits and vegetables that were selectively bred in order to make the edible varieties we see today, was interesting. The sandwiches section made my mouth water, even when I had no idea what the sandwich fillings might taste like.
There were some really random things, like the section on short order egg lingo, the anatomy of a food truck, and brief info about fortune cookies. It was interesting stuff, although I have no idea how the author decided which things to include and which not.
There are only a few recipes: noodle pudding (which might be better called a casserole), buttermilk pancakes, maple mocha pudding (which intrigues me just enough that I might actually try to make it), a drink called shikanjvi, and homemade butterscotch sauce. There are also instructions on how to make various things like tofu, butter, and vinegar.
I enjoyed this, but it was pretty much inevitable that it would end up skimming over things I'd have liked to read more about.
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