Saveur: The Way We Cook

Saveur magazine has been documenting the culinary scene since 1994, producing some of the most mouth-watering food photography ever published. Editor-in-chief Oseland and his crew culled through 275,000 such photos, including some outtakes that never appeared in print, and settled upon a collection of a couple hundred or so, taken by 15 photographers. Added to the mix are a handful of short essays from past issues and an end chapter with 50 succinct recipes. The work shows off the global diversity of cooking, and many photos jump off of the page, such as the closeup of a pair of soiled hands grasping a bunch of green, unripe walnuts, and one of a child hypnotized by a display of pastries in Vienna The recipe choices reflect the book's international scope with a broad diversity of main dishes, sides, and desserts. One could easily design a meal, for example, featuring stuffed eggplant from Greece, avocado-mango salad from Senegal, and ricotta and coffee mousse from Calabria. (Nov.)