cover image When Food Was Fun

When Food Was Fun

Linda Ferrer. Artisan Publishers, $9.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-1-57965-265-4

This photographic ode to youthful indulgence features archival shots of children, many with curly cues and play-tossled hair, delighting in culinary fun. Amidst a rainbow of candy-colored backdrops, kids scarf down ice cream and cake, licking the sticky sweetness from their grubby fingers. Goo-smeared pudgy faces gorge on watermelon or treat stuffed animals and family pets to tea and cookies. Irreverent bits of food wisdom from Oscar Wilde to Saint Francis of Assisi (""I am not a glutton--I am an explorer of food,"" quips Erma Bombeck) and fun facts (""In ancient Rome, chefs whose dishes proved unsatisfactory were publicly spanked!"") accompany this light-hearted romp through childhood's gastronomic delights.