Showing titles in Gastronomy

Brought to you by Penguin. All for wine and wine for all! You don’t need to be rich or have expert knowledge – just feel confident in choosing wines that will bring you joy. Drinks writer and broadcaster Olly Smith is here to walk you through the wonderful world of wine, teaching you how to...

Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Food Rules, and How to Change Your Mind, explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen in Cooked. Cooked is now a Netflix docuseries based on the book that focuses on the four kinds of "transformations" that occur...

When first published in 1989, The Story of Wine won every wine award in the UK, and the USA. It is widely regarded as Hugh Johnson’s most ambitious and enthralling book. It is not just one story but a collection of many, scanning the wine world from Noah to Napa, from Pompeii to Pomerol, as illuminating to our understanding of civilization as it is to our appreciation of wine. Chronicling the making, merchandising, and drinking of wine through millennia, this new edition is fully updated to include Johnson’s view of the evolution of wine over the past 30 years.

This is a revised and updated edition of an award-winning book, recognized as the authoritative work on the subject of British food. It is a breathtaking attempt to trace the changes to and influences on food in Britain from the Black Death through the Enclosures, the Reformation, the Industrial Revolution, and the rise of Capitalism to the present day.

No matter where you are in the world, the morning after a night of celebration feels remarkably the same. The heavy head, the dry mouth, the uneasy stomach, and that vague sense of regret — together they make up one of the oldest and most relatable human experiences: the hangover. But how different cultures respond to this shared misery tells us more about humanity than any scientific explanation ever could.

Winner of the prestigious André Simon Drink Book Award The first definitive reference book to describe, region-by-region, how the great wines of Europe should taste. This will be the go-to guide for aspiring sommeliers, wine aficionados who want to improve their blind tasting skills, and...

Keith Floyd’s exuberant personality, as much as his cooking skills, has made him a favourite both as bestselling author and as television presenter. But here, for the first time, he tells his own story – and it is full of surprises. An idiosyncratic, splendid autobiography of a well known...

'A glorious freewheel through the culinary quirks and delights of the USA – an unmissable treat!' – Tim Spector When the nation’s ‘taster-in-chief’ Felicity Cloake announced her dream to cycle across America, the reactions were… mixed: “You’ll get squashed,” warned a...

Steven Spurrier is one of the wine trade’s most important figures. Over the years, he took the role of wine merchant, buyer, wine educator, and lecturer; he wrote books, wine courses, and over 300 columns for Decanter magazine. He set up the breakthrough "Judgement of Paris" in 1976—a tasting in which outsider wines from California were pitched blind against Bordeaux’ finest, and won—which still sends reverberations through the wine trade today.

Here is the no-holds-barred autobiography, read by the author, of one of the nation's best-loved cooks. Her life has led her from wealth and privilege to alcoholism, bankruptcy, and eventually fame in Two Fat Ladies. With the stark honesty and the brilliant wit we love her for, Clarissa recounts the tale of a life lived to extremes.

From Queen of Tarts to the nation's heart, Mary Berry shares her Recipe for Life. 'In the words of my father, my birth caused no end of trouble...' From the moment she came into the world - two weeks early, throwing her parents' lives into disarray - Mary has gracefully but firmly done things...

The author of Cod and The Basque History of the World takes an extraordinary look at an ordinary substance — salt, the only rock humans eat — and how it has shaped civilization from the very beginning. Mark Kurlansky has produced a kaleidoscope of history, a multi-layered masterpiece that blends economic, scientific, political, religious, and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale.

Every cheese tells a story. Whether it's a fresh young goat's cheese or a big, beefy 18-month-old Cheddar, each variety holds the history of the people who first made it, from the builders of Stonehenge to medieval monks, from the Stilton-makers of the 18th century to the factory cheesemakers of the Second World War. Cheesemonger Ned Palmer takes us on a delicious journey across Britain and Ireland and through time to uncover the histories of beloved old favourites like Cheddar and Wensleydale and fresh innovations like the Irish Cashel Blue or the rambunctious Renegade Monk.

A welcoming refuge with its tempting pantry, shelves of books and inquisitive dog, Caroline Eden finds comfort away from the road in her basement Edinburgh kitchen. Join her as she cooks recipes from her travels, reflects on past adventures and contemplates the kitchen’s unique ability to tell human stories. This is a hauntingly honest, and at times heartbreaking, memoir with the smell, taste and preparation of food at its heart.

“Not since Michael Pollan has such a powerful storyteller emerged to reform American food.” —The Washington Post “Dan Barber's tales are engaging, funny and delicious . . . The Third Plate serves as a brilliant culinary manifesto with a message as obvious as it is overlooked. . . . It's...

Buon appetito! Everyone loves Italian food. But how did the Italians come to eat so well? The answer lies amid the vibrant beauty of Italy's historic cities. For a thousand years, they have been magnets for everything that makes for great eating: ingredients, talent, money, and power. Italian food is city food. Delizia! is much more than a history of Italian food. It is a history of Italy told through the flavors and character of its cities.

This is a tale of pursuit through the kitchens of New York City at the turn of the century. By the late nineteenth century, it seemed that New York City had put an end to the outbreaks of typhoid fever that had so frequently decimated the city's population. That is until 1904, when the disease broke out in a household in Oyster Bay, Long Island. Authorities suspected the family cook, Mary Mallon, of being a carrier. But before she could be tested, the woman, soon to be known as Typhoid Mary, had disappeared.

The Apple: A Delicious History tells the engrossing and richly informative story of a fruit with a unique attachment to the human story. The 10,000-year tale of the round and pleasantly crunchy products of the trees of the genus Malus embraces not only culinary, horticultural, social and commercial history but also age-old traditions in mythology, folklore and religion.

Why are gravy stains on your shirt at the dinner table to be admired? Does bacon improve everything? And is gin really the devil's work? In this rollicking collection of his hilarious columns, the award-winning writer and Observer restaurant critic Jay Rayner answers these vital questions and many, many more. They are glorious dispatches, seasoned in equal measure with both enthusiasm and bile, from decades at the very frontline of eating.

In his second in-depth foray into the world of professional cooking, Michael Ruhlman journeys into the heart of the profession. Observing the rigorous Certified Master Chef exam at the Culinary Institute of America, the most influential cooking school in the country, Ruhlman enters the lives and kitchens of rising star Michael Symon and the renowned Thomas Keller of the French Laundry. This fascinating audiobook will satisfy any listener's hunger for knowledge about cooking and food, the secrets of successful chefs, at what point cooking becomes an art form, and more.