Sunday, July 8, 2007

Eat This!

"Eat This! 1,001 Things To Eat Before You Diet" by Ian Jackman (Harper 2007-Trade paperback $14.95) is a fascinating new book that details the author's culinary adventures across the U.S. It is a smorgasbord of foodie info and trivia. Basically it contains selected information on special, unique and interesting foods all across the country, many being local favorites. It includes food markets, farms, restaurants, gourmet stores and much more. Not only does it describe these places, but also provides contact information, including those which mail their products.

The book is divided into two main sections: Eating In and Eating Out. Eating In basically describes food products that you can buy and make at home. Eating Out basically deals with restaurants.

The author is selective in what items he describes. For example, in the Fruits chapter, he only deals with a handful of fruits rather than touching on all fruits. He ranges from common fruits like apples and peaches to more unique ones like durian and cherimoya. The same applies to all the different chapters. They survey the field rather than try to cover everything. He tries to center on local specialities.

I certainly learned much in this book, about different foods all across our country. It is also a fascinating read, chockful of unique items. It is a great reference book as well where you can find ways to order many types of different food that you might not be able to find locally. The end of the book contains a section compiling all of the contact info from the rest of the book for ease of us.

Check it out!

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