Companion is an indispensable resource for everyone from home cooks to culinary professionals. This widely praised and highly esteemed reference guide has been updated with new information to reflect the way we eat in today's world, considering our healthier lifestyles and more diverse palates, including:

• Over 500 new cultural listings, including Korean, Persian, and South American additions
• Definitions and explanations for cooking tools and techniques
• A microwave oven conversion chart
• An extensive breakdown of food labels and nutritional facts
• Suggestions for substituting recipe ingredients

Among the myriads of foods and culinary subjects defined and explained are meat cuts, breads, pastas, and literally everything else related to good food and enjoyable dining--a veritable food bible for the novice home-cook, culinary student, or the self-proclaimed foodie.

The New Food Lover's Companion is a reference guide--not a cookbook--but it includes hundreds of cooking tips plus an extensive bibliography of recommended cookbooks. More than 7,200 entries plus line art are included in this seminal work.

It would make the perfect gift for chefs, food lovers, and anyone who is interested in cooking!

"As thick and satisfying as a well-stuffed sandwich." --The New York Times

"Essential for anyone who talks, eats, or thinks about food." --Bev Bennett, Chicago Sun-Times