Honey from a Weed: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades, and Apulia

This singular volume is a pastiche of personalities, customs, landscapes, mythology, recipes and history drawn from veteran food writer Gray's 20 years in the Mediterranean. In prose that demands a leisurely reading (""Pungent the mint trodden underfoot on the way to the orchard''), she discusses societies in which food is ``grown for its own sake, not for profit.'' The recipes are a varied lot. ``Widowed'' potatoes (with tomatoes, grilled almonds, pine kernels and onion), spinach with raisins and pine kernels, and fried chicken in walnut sauce invite a visit to the stove. But date-shell soup, tomato concentrate and a recipe for fox are unlikely to be reproduced in the kitchen. A section entitled ``Some Products of the Pig'' yields such diverse entries as a discussion of how pigs are used on the island of Naxos, an incident from the Odyssey and a recipe for pigs' tongues with pomegranate sauce. A chapter on anarchism whimsically diverges from the main food-centered themes. Simple pen-and-ink sketches offer decorative views of foods and settings. (October)