The Great Food Almanac: A Feast of Facts from A to Z

Plentifully illustrated and artfully arranged, this large-format compendium from Chalmers (The Food Professional's Guide) offers a banquet of delights just right for a reader's grazing. More than 260 entries, on such topics as airline food, cheeses, minerals, restaurants and tofu, are presented in info-bits that include recipes, quotes, mail order sources, lists of associations and, for nearly every entry, specific bibiliographies. Chalmers avoids taking a position on sensitive, possibly controversial issues: A box in the article on aquaculture notes that salmon raised in pens have white flesh; in order to achieve the pink color of salmon that feed in nature, ``synthetic pigment'' is added to the domesticated fish's diet. At the same time, Chalmers meets food concerns head on: her entry on beef discusses animal fats and health, and the use of hormones in cattle ranching. In ``Bread'' we read that Marie Antoinette's actual words were, ``Qu'ils mangent de la brioche.'' Chock full of information both useful and not, this entertaining oversize trade paperback will satisfy the food lovers on anyone's holiday gift list. 50,000 first printing. (Oct.)