The Oxford Companion to Food

"Combining serious and meticulously researched fact with entertaining and witty commentary, it has been deemed unique by chefs and reviewers around the globe. It contains both a comprehensive catalogue of food stuffs--biscuits named after battles and divas; body parts from toe to cerebellum; breads from Asia to the Mediterranean--and a richly allusive account of the culture of food, whether expressed in literature and cookery books, or as dishes peculiar to a country or community ... There are entries on shifting concerns and attitudes such as convenience food, local food, and Mediterranean diet; new research on food and drugs, genetics, obesity, medicine; new trends such as foraging, fusion food, low temperature cooking; new cultural and sociological insights on topics such as etiquette, gastronomy, and food photography; and numerous entries on people of special significance within the world of food; among them Clarence Birdseye, Henri Nestle, and Louis Pasteur."--Jacket flap.