"This fun encyclopedia, organized alphabetically, describes and offers cultural context for foodstuffs people eat today that might be described as 'weird'--at least to the American palate. Coverage also includes American regional standards, such as scrapple and chitterlings, that other regions might find distatesful, as well as a few mainstream American foods, like honey, that are equally odd when one considers their derivation"--Provided by publisher.

A whimsical–yet factual–series of questions and answers about the things we eat... and don't eat! Blue Hen (MD) Young Reader Award Honor Food critic Joshua David Stein whets the appetite of young readers with a wondrous and informative approach to talking about food. This humorous, stylized and entirely unexpected set of food facts will engage both good eaters and resisters alike. With questions both practical ("Can you eat a sea urchin?") and playful ("Do eggs grow on eggplants?"), this read-aloud text offers young children facts to share and the subtle encouragement to taste something new! Food and textile illustrator Julia Rothman brings an authenticity to the text that Stein has written from the heart, for his own three year-old and for pre-schoolers everywhere. Created for ages 3-5 years

Named one of the Ten Best Books About Food of 2018 by Smithsonian magazine MAD Dispatches: Furthering Our Ideas About Food Good food is the common ground shared by all of us, and immigration is fundamental to good food. In eighteen thoughtful and engaging essays and stories, You and I Eat the Same explores the ways in which cooking and eating connect us across cultural and political borders, making the case that we should think about cuisine as a collective human effort in which we all benefit from the movement of people, ingredients, and ideas. An awful lot of attention is paid to the differences and distinctions between us, especially when it comes to food. But the truth is that food is that rare thing that connects all people, slipping past real and imaginary barriers to unify humanity through deliciousness. Don’t believe it? Read on to discover more about the subtle (and not so subtle) bonds created by the ways we eat. Everybody Wraps Meat in Flatbread: From tacos to dosas to pancakes, bundling meat in an edible wrapper is a global practice. Much Depends on How You Hold Your Fork: A visit with cultural historian Margaret Visser reveals that there are more similarities between cannibalism and haute cuisine than you might think. Fried Chicken Is Common Ground: We all share the pleasure of eating crunchy fried birds. Shouldn’t we share the implications as well? If It Does Well Here, It Belongs Here: Chef René Redzepi champions the culinary value of leaving your comfort zone. There Is No Such Thing as a Nonethnic Restaurant: Exploring the American fascination with “ethnic” restaurants (and whether a nonethnic cuisine even exists). Coffee Saves Lives: Arthur Karuletwa recounts the remarkable path he took from Rwanda to Seattle and back again.

Is the five-second rule legitimate? Are electric hand dryers really bacteria blowers? Am I spraying germs everywhere when I blow on my birthday cake? How gross is backwash? When it comes to food safety and germs, there are as many common questions as there are misconceptions. And yet there has never been a book that clearly examines the science behind these important issues—until now. In Did You Just Eat That? food scientists Paul Dawson and Brian Sheldon take readers into the lab to show, for example, how they determine the amount of bacteria that gets transferred by sharing utensils or how many microbes live on restaurant menus. The authors list their materials and methods (in case you want to replicate the experiments), guide us through their results, and offer in-depth explanations of good hygiene and microbiology. Written with candid humor and richly illustrated, this fascinating book will reveal surprising answers to the most frequently debated—and also the weirdest—questions about food and germs, sure to satisfy anyone who has ever wondered: should I really eat that?

An award-winning food writer takes us on a global tour of what the world eats--and shows us how we can change it for the better Food is one of life's great joys. So why has eating become such a source of anxiety and confusion? Bee Wilson shows that in two generations the world has undergone a massive shift from traditional, limited diets to more globalized ways of eating, from bubble tea to quinoa, from Soylent to meal kits. Paradoxically, our diets are getting healthier and less healthy at the same time. For some, there has never been a happier food era than today: a time of unusual herbs, farmers' markets, and internet recipe swaps. Yet modern food also kills--diabetes and heart disease are on the rise everywhere on earth. This is a book about the good, the terrible, and the avocado toast. A riveting exploration of the hidden forces behind what we eat, The Way We Eat Now explains how this food revolution has transformed our bodies, our social lives, and the world we live in.

“In this factual feast, neuroscientist Rachel Herz probes humanity’s fiendishly complex relationship with food.” —Nature How is personality correlated with preference for sweet or bitter foods? What genres of music best enhance the taste of red wine? With clear and compelling explanations of the latest research, Rachel Herz explores these questions and more in this lively book. Why You Eat What You Eat untangles the sensory, psychological, and physiological factors behind our eating habits, pointing us to a happier and healthier way of engaging with our meals.

An “eye-opening” (Kirkus Reviews) and timely exploration of how our food—from where it’s grown to how we buy it—is in the midst of a transformation, showing how this is our chance to do better, for us, for our children, and for our planet, from a global expert on consumer behavior and bestselling author of Why We Buy. Our food system is undergoing a total transformation that impacts how we produce, get, and consume our food. Market researcher and bestselling author Paco Underhill—hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a Sherlock Holmes for retailers”—reveals where our eating and drinking lives are heading in his “delectable” (Michael Gross, New York Times bestselling author of 740 Park) book, How We Eat. In this upbeat, hopeful, and witty approach, How We Eat reveals the future of food in surprising ways. Go to the heart of New York City where a popular farmer’s market signifies how the city is getting country-fied, or to cool Brooklyn neighborhoods with rooftop farms. Explore the dreaded supermarket parking lot as the hub of innovation for grocery stores’ futures, where they can grow their own food and host community events. Learn how marijuana farmers, who have been using artificial light to grow a crop for years, have developed a playbook so mainstream merchants like Walmart and farmers across the world can grow food in an uncertain future. Paco Underhill is the expert behind the most prominent brands, consumer habits, and market trends and the author of multiple highly acclaimed books, including Why We Buy. In How We Eat, he shows how food intersects with every major battle we face today, from political and environmental to economic and racial, and invites you to the market to discover more.

"When Christopher Columbus stumbled upon America in 1492, the Italians had no pasta with tomato sauce, the Chinese had no spicy Szechuan cuisine, and the Aztecs in Mexico were eating tacos filled with live insects instead of beef. In this lively, always surprising history of the world through a gourmet's eyes, Raymond Sokolov explains how all of us -- Europeans, Americans, Africans, and Asians -- came to eat what we eat today. He journeys with the reader to far-flung ports of the former Spanish empire in search of the points where the menus of two hemispheres merged. In the process he shows that our idea of "traditional" cuisine in contrast to today's inventive new dishes ignores the food revolution that has been going on for the last 500 years. Why We Eat What We Eat is an exploration of the astonishing changes in the world's tastes that let us partake in a delightful, and edifying, feast for the mind."--Publisher's description.

In You Are WHY You Eat, food becomes a digestible metaphor. If you are gorging and numbing yourself with food, are you doing the same thing in life? Instead of trying to please others all the time, what would happen if you listened to your inner voice? What if you could find a way to stop eating, stop working at a bad job, stop a bad relationship before you walk down the aisle—stop anything when you are full? Understanding WHY you eat can lead to real and lasting change--both in your weight loss and all other areas of your life. You Are WHY You Eat teaches readers to take back control in their lives. Dr. Ramani takes an iconoclastic, brave, edgy, and witty approach to self-help. She teaches you to unearth that inner voice, and let it be heard. She turns all of your childhood teachings upside down and forces you to take responsibility for your choices in life. Through real-life anecdotes and exercises, she gives you the tools you need to live on your terms, not those of the stakeholders that surround you. It will help you trust yourself and act from the gut, while making that gut smaller at the same time. And in so doing, it will help people live lives that are braver, more authentic, and less riddled with regret. You can change your food attitude and change your life!

Explains how to read food labels to make quick, healthy decisions about grocery purchases.