An illustrated tour of the food markets of the world. The author shares recipes, market lore and regional culinary traditions.

A Guide for Food Buying in Japan takes the mystery out of shopping for Japanese food as well as household necessities while staying in Japan. Part 1: Before You Shop outlines what the shopper will encounter when shopping in Japan including the different kinds of local markets, and the methods of pricing and labeling products, and Japanese Kanji and Kana with Romanization and pronunciation of the Japanese ingredients and common necessities found in Japan. Part 2: Food and Household Needs describes different types of products, when and where they may be found, and how they can be incorporated into daily menus and recipes. A Guide for Food Buying in Japan includes comprehensive lists in Japanese and English of popular ingredients as well a household items. Basics from milk, eggs, salt, pepper, soba, tempura to laundry detergents, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene products--all indexed for easy reference. This book helps guide the shopper through each process in shopping for food or personal household products in Japan. The items are listed out clearly along with pictures to help identify the products.

The definitive guide to buying, storing, and enjoying whole foods, in full color for the first time and revised and updated throughout. An inspiring and indispensable one-stop resource, The Essential Good Food Guide is your key to understanding how to buy, store, and enjoy whole foods. Margaret M. Wittenberg shares her insider’s knowledge of products available at national retailers and natural foods markets, providing at-a-glance buying guides. Her ingredient profiles include detailed preparation advice, such as dried bean cooking times, cooking ratios of whole grains to water, culinary oil smoke points, and much more. She also clarifies confusing food labels, misleading marketing claims, and common misperceptions about everyday items, allowing you to maximize the benefits of whole foods cooking. With full-color photography, this new edition of The Essential Good Food Guide is fully revised with the most up-to-date advice on organics, heirloom grains and legumes, gluten-free cooking options, and the new varieties of fruits and vegetables popping up at farmers’ markets across the country to help you make the most of your time in the grocery aisle and the kitchen.

A cookbook and market guide from the nation’s premier neighborhood grocery store, featuring expert advice on how to identify the top ingredients in any supermarket and 90 vibrant recipes that make optimal use of the goods. San Francisco’s Bi-Rite Market has a following akin to a hot restaurant—its grocery goods and prepared foods have made it a destination for lovers of great food. In Eat Good Food, former chef turned market owner Sam Mogannam explains how to source and use the finest farm-fresh ingredients and artisanal food products, decipher labels and terms, and build a great pantry. Eat Good Food gives you a new way to look at food, not only the ingredients you buy but also how to prepare them. Featuring ninety recipes for the dishes that have made Bi-Rite Market’s in-house kitchen a destination for food lovers, combined with Sam’s favorite recipes, you’ll discover exactly how to get the best flavor from each ingredient. Dishes such as Summer Corn and Tomato Salad, Spicy String Beans with Sesame Seeds, Roasted Beet Salad with Pickled Onions and Feta, Ginger-Lemongrass Chicken Skewers with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce, Apricot-Ginger Scones, and Chocolate Pots de Crème will delight throughout the year. No matter where you live or shop, Sam provides new insight on ingredients familiar as well unique, including: • Why spinach from open bins is better than prepackaged greens • What the material used to wrap cheese can tell you about the quality of the cheese itself • How to tell where an olive oil is really from—and why it matters • What “never ever” programs are, and why you should look for them when buying meat More engaging than a field guide and more informative than a standard cookbook, and with primers on cooking techniques and anecdotes that will entertain, enlighten, and inspire, Eat Good Food will revolutionize the way home cooks shop and eat.

Explores the voices and rhythms of this timeless phenomenon

Hungry for change? Put the power of food co-ops on your plate and grow your local food economy. Food has become ground-zero in our efforts to increase awareness of how our choices impact the world. Yet while we have begun to transform our communities and dinner plates, the most authoritative strand of the food web has received surprisingly little attention: the grocery store—the epicenter of our food-gathering ritual. Through penetrating analysis and inspiring stories and examples of American and Canadian food co-ops, Grocery Story makes a compelling case for the transformation of the grocery store aisles as the emerging frontier in the local and good food movements. Author Jon Steinman: Deconstructs the food retail sector and the shadows cast by corporate giants Makes the case for food co-ops as an alternative Shows how co-ops spur the creation of local food-based economies and enhance low-income food access. Grocery Story is for everyone who eats. Whether you strive to eat more local and sustainable food, or are in support of community economic development, Grocery Story will leave you hungry to join the food co-op movement in your own community.

One morning while reading Barron's, Kara Newman took note of a casual bit of advice offered by famed commodities trader Jim Rogers. "Buy breakfast," he told investors, referring to the increasing value of pork belly and frozen orange juice futures. The statement inspired Newman to take a closer look at agricultural commodities, from the iconic pork belly to the obscure peppercorn and nutmeg. The results of her investigation, recorded in this fascinating history, show how contracts listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange can read like a menu and how market behavior can dictate global economic and culinary practice. The Secret Financial Life of Food reveals the economic pathways that connect food to consumer, unlocking the mysteries behind culinary trends, grocery pricing, and restaurant dining. Newman travels back to the markets of ancient Rome and medieval Europe, where vendors first distinguished between "spot sales" and "sales for delivery." She retraces the storied spice routes of Asia and recounts the spice craze that prompted Christopher Columbus's journey to North America, linking these developments to modern-day India's bustling peppercorn market. Newman centers her history on the transformation of corn into a ubiquitous commodity and uses oats, wheat, and rye to recast America's westward expansion and the Industrial Revolution. She discusses the effects of such mega-corporations as Starbucks and McDonalds on futures markets and considers burgeoning markets, particularly "super soybeans," which could scramble the landscape of food finance. The ingredients of American power and culture, and the making of the modern world, can be found in the history of food commodities exchange, and Newman connects this unconventional story to the how and why of what we eat.

In the United States, people living in low-income neighborhoods frequently do not have access to affordable healthy food venues, such as supermarkets. Instead, those living in "food deserts" must rely on convenience stores and small neighborhood stores that offer few, if any, healthy food choices, such as fruits and vegetables. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) and National Research Council (NRC) convened a two-day workshop on January 26-27, 2009, to provide input into a Congressionally-mandated food deserts study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. The workshop, summarized in this volume, provided a forum in which to discuss the public health effects of food deserts.

The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings The ultimate guides to the food scene in their respective states or regions, these books provide the inside scoop on the best places to find, enjoy, and celebrate local culinary offerings. Engagingly written by local authorities, they are a one-stop for residents and visitors alike to find producers and purveyors of tasty local specialties, as well as a rich array of other, indispensable food-related information including: • Favorite restaurants and landmark eateries • Farmers markets and farm stands • Specialty food shops, markets and products • Food festivals and culinary events • Places to pick your own produce • Recipes from top local chefs • The best cafes, taverns, wineries, and brewpubs