50 FOODS: THE ESSENTIALS OF GOOD TASTE WITH NOTES ON WINE. by Behr, Edward - 2013

New York: Penguin, 2013. 416 pp, 9 1/2" H. "(P)resents simple, practical information about buying, using, preparing, and enjoying (50 foods). Behr focuses on aroma, appearance, flavor, and texture to determine what 'the best' means for each of the fifty foods, including a guide to selecting top quality - signs of freshness and ripeness, best season, top varieties, proper aging. Each entry includes tips on how best to prepare, serve, or eat each food (how to open an oyster, why the best way to cook green beans is boiling, how to clean a whole salted anchovy, when to eat and when to discard the rind of a cheese). Behr also names the most complementary foods and wines for each of these marvelous foods. Most of the fifty foods are raw materials, but some have been fermented or otherwise transformed - into bread, ham, cheese. Six of the fifty are cheeses. As Behr explains, cheese is probably the best food, as wine is the best drink. He argues that food tastes more delicious when it is closer to nature. Skilled low technology - more traditional methods - is almost always superior to high technology. But with scientific insight, the old methods can be refined to achieve more consistent high quality. We can't always have the best, but with the information in this book we can eat better every day. Knowing good food is part of a complete understanding of the world - part of a full enjoyment of nature, a full experience of the senses, and a full life." Very light wrinkling at bottom of spine, very slight lean to spine. Dust jacket has some very light edge wrinkling, plain white label over barcode.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good+/Very Good+. Illus. by Mikel Jaso..