Omni Daily Crush: "100 Words for Foodies"
Those with a curiosity for all-things culinary should set a place at the table for 100 Words for Foodies, the latest installment in the popular paperback series, 100 Words..., from the editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. True food fans might take pause at the title. Over the past couple of years the phrase "foodie" has made many, including food lovers, cringe. Personally, I prefer food geek, but I'm holding out for gastronaut to catch on. While not as cheeky as David Kamp's The Food Snob's Dictionary or as practical a reference tool as The New Food Lover's Companion, 100 Words for Foodies would make a terrific stocking stuffer for the Top Chef fan on your holiday shopping list, or even a great host or hostess gift to bring to a dinner party along with a bottle of wine. Maybe people still require definitions for cilantro or ceviche, but there were a few surprises inside when I flipped around. Did you know that a "waterzooi" is a "thick stew of Belgian origin"? I didn't. If you don't know your mezze from your mezzaluna, then this book will be good to have on hand when you're watching cooking shows or flipping through cookbooks. And there's even a number of actual recipes sprinkled throughout the definitions.
Recommended for fans of The Food Snob's Dictionary and The New Food Lover's Companion.
--BTP
xmas gifts on November 20, 2009 at 08:00 PM
There are no obvious criteria for the words chosen. There are the common (hominy a.k.a. posole, garlic, madeleine), the faddish (umami, ponzu, meze), the foreign (lavash,fufu, pho). Sprinkled among the words with a definition and etymology are occasional recipes and word histories. A fun book to carry for reading in small, random snatches. Fun - nothing less, nothing more...