The wickedly entertaining, hunger-inducing, behind-the-scenesstory of the revolution in American food that has made exoticingredients, celebrity chefs, rarefied cooking tools, anddestination restaurants familiar aspects of our everydaylives. Amazingly enough, just twenty years ago eating sushi was a daringnovelty and many Americans had never even heard of salsa. Today, wedon't bat an eye at a construction worker dipping a croissant intorobust specialty coffee, city dwellers buying just-picked farmstandproduce, or suburbanites stocking up on artisanal cheeses and extravirgin oils at supermarkets. The United States of Arugula is arollicking, revealing stew of culinary innovation, food politics,and kitchen confidences chronicling how gourmet eating in Americawent from obscure to pervasive—and became the cultural successstory of our era.

From the legendary editor who helped shape modern cookbookpublishing-one of the food world's most admired figures-comes thisevocative and inspiring memoir. Living in Paris after World War II, Jones broke free of blandAmerican food and reveled in everyday French culinary delights. Onreturning to the States she published Julia Child's Mastering theArt of French Cooking. The rest is publishing and gastronomichistory. A new world now opened up to Jones as she discovered, withher husband Evan, the delights of American food, publishing some ofthe premier culinary luminaries of the twentieth century: fromJulia Child, James Beard, and M.F.K. Fisher to Claudia Roden, EdnaLewis, and Lidia Bastianich. Here also are fifty of Jones'sfavorite recipes collected over a lifetime of cooking-each with itsown story and special tips. The Tenth Muse is an absolutelycharming memoir by a woman who was present at the creation of theAmerican food revolution and played a pivotal role in shapingit.

America's favorite baker, Nancy Baggett, has been on a roadtrip around the country. Now she's back, with something for everydessert lover: the best pies, cakes, puddings, crisps, cookies, icecreams, and candies in the land. Many of her discoveries werelocally famous family secretsuntil now. They include a memorablysimple blueberry buckle from a Vermont bed-and-breakfast; a coconutchiffon cake from an island off the coast of Virginia that hasbecome a "destination dessert"; a never-before-revealed recipe forchocolate-dipped caramel candies, the fund-raising specialty of thewomen of an Episcopal church in New Mexico; and a sublime peachcobbler from a cook in the Ozarks. Baggett has tested and retestedevery recipe in her home kitchen to ensure that all cooks get thesame results. She has even included a chapter on easy gifts to makewith children, from "bars in a jar" (a homemade brownie mix) tofancifully decorated graham-cracker holiday cottages. Every recipein this lavishly photographed book comes with an

Now in paperback–the debut cookbook from the beloved Italiancook, restaurateur, and public television personality. Lidia Bastianich is famous for her Italian-American cooking, butthis cookbook–her first–captures the distinctive cuisine of hernative Istria, located on Italy’s northeastern Adriatic coast nearthe border of the former Yugoslavia. This book is also her mostpersonal; in addition to the recipes, she has included numerouspersonal stories, memories, and photographs from herchildhood. With La Cucina di Lidia, you can savor antipasti such as Polentawith Fontina and Mushrooms or Shrimp and Mixed Bean Salad. Rice andpastas include Plum Gnocchi, Risotto with Squash Blossoms, andZucchini and Tagliatelle with Leek Sauce. Entrées feature fish(Swordfish in Sweet and Sour Sauce), fowl (Roast Chicken withRosemary and Orange), meat (Stuffed Breast of Veal), and game (DuckRoasted with Sauerkraut). Desserts range from Chocolate ZabaglioneCake to Apple-Custard Tart. Here is an Itali

For this collection, unmatched in the field of dessertcookbooks, Richard Sax devoted more than a decade to searching outand perfecting 350 of the world's best and most beloved homedesserts. Everything the cook longs for is here: cobblers andcrisps, cakes and cookies, puddings and souffls, pies and pastries,ice creams and sauces. Extensive sidebars - profiles of cooks,engaging recollections of favorite desserts, quotations fromhundreds of literary works, and excerpts from fascinating oldrecipes - make this an indispensable, lively volume. Winner of aJames Beard Award and a Julia Child Award.

When restaurateur Keith McNally and co-chefs Riad Nasr and LeeHanson opened Balthazar in 1997, it immediately became one of thehottest restaurants in the country. Famous for its star-studdedclientele, a beautiful room in the chic SoHo neighborhood, andsuperbly executed food, Balthazar has been embraced by New Yorkersand visitors alike for its perfect evocation of a Frenchbrasserie. The Balthazar Cookbook captures that energy, that style, and thatcuisine, with recipes for the most-loved and most-accessible Frenchdishes: seafood ranging from the ultra-simple Moules à la Marinièreto more ambitious Bouillabaisse; chicken and game favorites thatinclude Coq au Vin and Cassoulet; red-meat classics such as BraisedShort Ribs and Blanquette de Veau; sides like the perfect FrenchFries or sublime Macaroni Gratin; and finales that include CrèmeBr?lée and Chocolate Pot de Crème. This is the best of Frenchcooking, from one of the best-loved French restaurants in thecountry.

This groundbreaking collection encompasses both sweet and savoryfavorites: yeast breads and quick breads, layer cakes and loafcakes, doughnuts and fruit desserts, pies and simple pastries.Taking as his starting point 1796, the year the first Americancookbook was published, Greg Patent, an accomplished baker, hasmined sources from across the country for exemplary baking recipesby and for home cooks. Perusing old cookbooks, journals, andhandwritten diaries from libraries and private archives, he hasskillfully recreated treasured recipes or used them as inspirationfor his own thoroughly up-to-date creations. Included arehistorical finds like the original Parker House Rolls; Lindy'sCheesecake, from the world-famous New York restaurant; and asensationally easy butterscotch cake that won a national bakingcontest in 1954. Here as well are hundreds of contemporarystandouts, such as Malted Milk Chocolate Layer Cake,Blueberry-Lemon Curd Streusel Muffins, Peaches and Cream Cobbler,and Raised Potato Doughnuts.

The extremes of American eating--our equal urges to stuff and tostarve ourselves--are easy to blame on the excesses of modernliving. But Frederick Kaufman followed the winding road of theAmerican intestine back to that cold morning when the firstfamished Pilgrim clambered off the Mayflower, and he discovered thealarming truth: We've been this way all along. With outraged witand an incredible range of sources that includes everything fromCotton Mather's diary to interviews with Amish black-marketraw-milk dealers, Kaufman offers a highly selective,take-no-prisoners tour of American history by way of the Americanstomach. Travel with him as he tracks down our earliest foodies;discovers the secret history of Puritan purges; introduces dietgurus of the nineteenth century such as William Alcott, whobelieved that "Nothing ought to be mashed before it is eaten";traces extreme feeders from Paul Bunyan to eating-contest champDale Boone (descended from Daniel, of course); and investigates ourblithe efforts to re-create