View of a Particular Sliver Grains

BOOKS THAT COOK

The Reading List New must-buys for food lovers. BY KIMBERLY Y. MASIBAY

American Cheeses from top American chefs. Taken Food Matters of people, planet, and pocketbook. together and illustrated with It’s simple: Cut out the junk. Eat The Best Regional, Artisan, A Guide to Conscious Eating, lovely black-and-white photo- fewer animals. Feast on lots of and Farmhouse Cheeses; with More Than 75 Recipes graphs, it’s a fascinating real whole foods—fruits, veggies, Who Makes Them, and by Mark Bittman overview of a particular sliver grains. But Bittman’s not about Where to Find Them (Simon & Schuster, $24) of our national food culture. to deprive anyone of good food. by Clark Wolf Food lovers have plenty to Rather, in a direct, appealing (Simon & Schuster, $25) ponder these days. A trip to the style, he unravels a tangle of Clark Wolf had been meaning Frank Stitt’s supermarket can stir up a stew information about diet, health, to write about his adventures Bottega Favorita of questions about where our agriculture, government, and sleuthing out this country’s most food comes from; how animals climate change, illustrating the A Southern Chef’s Love amazing cheeses for almost and crops are raised; how our links between our eating habits Affair with Italian Food 30 years. It’s good news for all of choices a ect our health and our and the environment. Bittman (Artisan Books, $40) us that he has fi nally gotten to it. planet; and, increasingly, why foresees a brighter future as he In this delightful book, Wolf Back in 1988, Frank Stitt, a third- food costs so darn much. o ers solutions in the form of travels from West to East, stopping generation Alabamian, opened In his new book, award-winning meal plans, menus, and more often along the way to introduce Bottega Italian Restaurant in cookbook author Mark Bittman than 75 well-crafted recipes. us to his favorite cheeses and the Birmingham. Blending southern e ciently investigates these Kimberly Y. Masibay is a Fine artisans who make them. It’s ingredients with Italian culinary tough questions and proposes an Cooking contributing editor. hard to imagine a better guide. techniques, Stitt’s Bottega was eating plan to improve the health Wolf, who has run multiple a delicious success, as is his cheese shops and served as the inspiring new book. It’s fi lled executive director of the with evocative photos that what we’re reading now American Cheese Society, is capture the restaurant’s spirit A recent stroll though a sidewalk book sale turned up a 1949 edition of generous, knowledgeable, charm- and energy, plus 150 tantalizing James Beard’s The Fireside Cookbook. And while I’ve ing, and chatty. He starts by recipes—you’ll fi nd Venetian been a fan of Beard’s since the first time I walking us through cheese basics risottos, Tuscan grilled and made his pot roast from American Cookery in depth: how it’s made, how to roasted meats, Piedmontese (despite the salt typo!), this was a first store and serve it, what to eat braises, Neapolitan grilled and experience with this charming book. I won’t and drink with it, where to buy stewed seafood, hearty Roman be trying Duchess Soup (an odd mix of tapi- it, and a whole lot more. Next pastas and wood-fi red pizzas, oca, milk, and grated American cheese), but come intimate profi les of and spicy Sicilian couscous. the Whitebait Pancakes sound like a good cheese makers, organized by Bottega’s fare is straightforward bet. Beard’s unique voice is a big part of this region (the Northeast and New —fresh, humble ingredients, book’s appeal, but it’s the vintage illustrations England, the South, the Middle harmoniously combined and that take the cake. —Laurie Buckle West, and the Wild West), along simply presented—so you really with an eclectic mix of recipes can cook Stitt’s recipes at home.