Overview

Here is a feast of words that will whet the appetite of food and word lovers everywhere. William Grimes, former restaurant critic for The New York Times, covers everything from bird's nest soup to Trockenbeerenauslese in this wonderfully informative food lexicon. Eating Your Words is a veritable cornucopia--a thousand-and-one entries on candies and desserts, fruits and vegetables, meats, seafood, spices, herbs, wines, cheeses, liqueurs, cocktails, sauces, dressings, and pastas. The book includes terms from around the world (basmati, kimchi, haggis, callaloo) and from around the block (meatloaf, slim jims, Philly cheesesteak). Grimes describes utensils (from tandoor and wok to slotted spoon and zester), cooking styles (a bonne femme, over easy), cuts of meat (crown roast, prime rib), and much more. Each definition includes a pronunciation guide and many entries indicate the origin of the word. Thus we learn that olla podrida is Spanish for 'rotten pot' and mulligatawny comes from the Tamil words milaku-tanni, meaning 'pepper water.' Grimes includes helpful tips on usage, such as when to write whiskey and when to write whisky. In addition, there are more than a dozen special sidebars on food and food word topics--everything from diner slang to bad fad diets--plus a time line of food trends by decade and a list of the best regional snack foods. Even if you don't know a summer sausage from a spring chicken, you will find Eating Your Words a delectable treat. And for everyone who loves to cook, this superb volume is an essential resource--and the perfect gift.

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9780195174069

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Reviews

Will whet the appetites of word lovers. --Chicago Tribune<br> If you've ever floundered while decoding a sushi menu, puzzled over which sauce signifies what ingredients in classic French Cuisine or tried desperately to pronounce huitlacoche in a good Mexican restaurant, help is at hand.... Once fortified by this verbal batterie de cuisine you'll be able to roder huitlacoche, palacsinta, saganaki, and a salmagundi with confidence.... The culinary equivalent of a Berlitz phrase book, a handy reference of more than 2000 gastronomic terms and ingredients beginning with acorn squash and ending with zwieback. --Malachy Duffy, The New York Times Book Review<br> Just the lexicon to make you a smarter diner and cook. But 'Eating Your Words' is more than a culinary dictionary. Here and there, Grimes breaks up the sections with essays, timelines and lists on such topics as mock foods and fad diets (the first was William the Conqueror's alcohol diet in 1087, followed by the first low-carb diet in the 1860s, the tapeworm diet in the 1920s and the blood-type diet in 1996, among many others). --Sacramento Bee (Holiday Gift Book Roundup)<br>

<br> Will whet the appetites of word lovers. --Chicago Tribune<br> If you've ever floundered while decoding a sushi menu, puzzled over which sauce signifies what ingredients in classic French Cuisine or tried desperately to pronounce huitlacoche in a good Mexican restaurant, help is at hand.... Once fortified by this verbal batterie de cuisine you'll be able to roder huitlacoche, palacsinta, saganaki, and a salmagundi with confidence.... The culinary equivalent of a Berlitz phrase book, a handy reference of more than 2000 gastronomic terms and ingredients beginning with acorn squash and ending with zwieback. --Malachy Duffy, The New York Times Book Review<br> Just the lexicon to make you a smarter diner and cook. But 'Eating Your Words' is more than a culinary dictionary. Here and there, Grimes breaks up the sections with essays, timelines and lists on such topics as mock foods and fad diets (the first was William the Conqueror's alcohol diet in 1087, followed by the first low-carb die

Will whet the appetites of word lovers. --Chicago Tribune If you've ever floundered while decoding a sushi menu, puzzled over which sauce signifies what ingredients in classic French Cuisine or tried desperately to pronounce huitlacoche in a good Mexican restaurant, help is at hand.... Once fortified by this verbal batterie de cuisine you'll be able to roder huitlacoche, palacsinta, saganaki, and a salmagundi with confidence.... The culinary equivalent of a Berlitz phrase book, a handy reference of more than 2000 gastronomic terms and ingredients beginning with acorn squash and ending with zwieback. --Malachy Duffy, The New York Times Book Review Just the lexicon to make you a smarter diner and cook. But 'Eating Your Words' is more than a culinary dictionary. Here and there, Grimes breaks up the sections with essays, timelines and lists on such topics as mock foods and fad diets (the first was William the Conqueror's alcohol diet in 1087, followed by the first low-carb diet in the 1860s, the tapeworm diet in the 1920s and the blood-type diet in 1996, among many others). --Sacramento Bee (Holiday Gift Book Roundup) The culinary equivalent of a Berlitz phrase book, a handy reference of more than 2,000 gastronomic terms and ingredients beginning with acorn squash and ending with zwieback. Making for an even richer feast is Grimes's introduction, a cogent account of how we've gone from being a people who once carelessly categorized all pastas as 'macaroni' to a nation that knows its rigatoni from its rotelli...Once fortified by this verbal batterie de cuisine you'll be able to order huitlacoche, palacsinta, saganaki and salmagundi with confidence. --The New York Times Book Review Puzzled by the correct pronunciation and meaning of words like huitlacochi, chipotle and fraise while reading restaurant menus or cookbooks? Grimes, former restaurant critic of the New York Times, has assembled just the lexicon to make you a smarter diner and cook. But Eating Your Words is more than a culinary dictionary. Here and there, Grimes breaks up the sections with essays, timelines and lists on such topics as mock foods and fad diets (the first was William the Conqueror's alcohol diet in 1087, followed by the first low-carb diet in the 1860s, the tapeworm diet in the 1920s and the blood-type diet in 1996, among many others). --Sacramento Bee Will whet the appetites of word lovers. --Chicago Tribune If you've ever floundered while decoding a sushi menu, puzzled over which sauce signifies what ingredients in classic French Cuisine or tried desperately to pronounce huitlacoche in a good Mexican restaurant, help is at hand.... Once fortified by this verbal batterie de cuisine you'll be able to roder huitlacoche, palacsinta, saganaki, and a salmagundi with confidence.... The culinary equivalent of a Berlitz phrase book, a handy reference of more than 2000 gastronomic terms and ingredients beginning with acorn squash and ending with zwieback. --Malachy Duffy, The New York Times Book Review Just the lexicon to make you a smarter diner and cook. But 'Eating Your Words' is more than a culinary dictionary. Here and there, Grimes breaks up the sections with essays, timelines and lists on such topics as mock foods and fad diets (the first was William the Conqueror's alcohol diet in 1087, followed by the first low-carb diet in the 1860s, the tapeworm diet in the 1920s and the blood-type diet in 1996, among many others). --Sacramento Bee (Holiday Gift Book Roundup) An A-to-Z section takes readers from acorn squash and adobo to zuppa inglese and zwieback. These may sound familiar, but in between are the exotic regions of cherimoya and feijoada, nuoc cham and stifado, where a little help may be welcome in pinning down an exact definition. For absolute beginners, there are entries for chef, coffee and tea. Miscellaneous practical information includes cooking weights and measures, and food history is marshaled under sections for a food fads timeline and a fad diets timeline. --New York Daily Record

Author Information

William Grimes is a former restaurant reviewer for The New York Times and writes for the Time's Style and Arts sections. The author of My Fine Feathered Friend and Straight Up or On the Rocks: The Story of the American Cocktail, he lives in New York City.

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