Baked Alaska, melba toast, hush puppies, and coconuts. You'd be surprised at how these food names came to be. And have you ever wondered why we use the expression "selling like hotcakes"? Or how about "spill the beans"? There are many fascinating and funny stories about the language of food--and the food hidden in our language! Charlotte Foltz Jones has compiled a feast of her favorite anecdotes, and John O'Brien's delightfully pun-filled drawings provide the dessert. Bon appetit!

More than two thousand entries define a variety of words and terms related to eating and foods, describing exotic dishes, cooking techniques, ingredients, and foods.

“Food writing spans centuries and philosophies. . . . At long last there’s a Norton Anthology with all the most important works.”—Eater Edited by influential literary critic Sandra M. Gilbert and award-winning restaurant critic and professor of English Roger Porter, Eating Words gathers food writing of literary distinction and vast historical sweep into one groundbreaking volume. Beginning with the taboos of the Old Testament and the tastes of ancient Rome, and including travel essays, polemics, memoirs, and poems, the book is divided into sections such as “Food Writing Through History,” “At the Family Hearth,” “Hunger Games: The Delight and Dread of Eating,” “Kitchen Practices,” and “Food Politics.” Selections from writings by Julia Child, Anthony Bourdain, Bill Buford, Michael Pollan, Molly O’Neill, Calvin Trillin, and Adam Gopnik, along with works by authors not usually associated with gastronomy—Maxine Hong Kingston, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Hemingway, Chekhov, and David Foster Wallace—enliven and enrich this comprehensive anthology. “We are living in the golden age of food writing,” proclaims Ruth Reichl in her preface to this savory banquet of literature, a must-have for any food lover. Eating Words shows how right she is.

Examines the figure of the cannibal as it relates to cultural identity in a wide range of literary and cultural texts.

The Comprehensive Etymology of Eating Eat Your Words is a gloriously gluttonous glossary of all things grub and gastronomy: It's a true treat for anyone who loves language as much as they love food. With witty and fun definitions of everything from aeroponics to zoosaprophagy, this compilation offers definitions of 6,000 unusual and unfamiliar terms across twenty-one fact-packed courses. For bon viveurs and verbivores alike: Are you a gourmet who knows the difference between Maldon and Morton salt? Maybe you're an expert on the properties of heat in cooking. Or you're a cocktail connoisseur with a taste for tequila. Eat Your Words is a surprising treat for anyone who loves learning about food and cooking. If you're looking for cooking gifts for a friend who devoured Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, this culinary dictionary is the perfect fit. A delight for word nerds: For Scrabble stars and anyone who excels at Words with Friends, Eat Your Words is a clever guide to little-known culinary terms that will give you that special edge. In Eat Your Words: The Definitive Dictionary for Discerning Diners, you'll find terms about: A cornucopia of culinary treats from around the world The cultivation, selling, and serving of every food you can imagine The appetites of diners and their dinners across all species This new dictionary from the author of Drinktionary: The Definitive Dictionary for the Discerning Drinker and Inkhorn's Erotonomicon: An Advanced Sexual Vocabulary for Verbivores and Vulgarians is the fun reference book you didn't know you wanted. Fans of Tequila Mockingbird and On Food and Cooking will enjoy this fascinating journey into the language of food and eating.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “brilliant [and] entrancing” (The Guardian) journey into the hidden lives of fungi—the great connectors of the living world—and their astonishing and intimate roles in human life, with the power to heal our bodies, expand our minds, and help us address our most urgent environmental problems. “Grand and dizzying in how thoroughly it recalibrates our understanding of the natural world.”—Ed Yong, author of An Immense World ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—Time, BBC Science Focus, The Daily Mail, Geographical, The Times, The Telegraph, New Statesman, London Evening Standard, Science Friday When we think of fungi, we likely think of mushrooms. But mushrooms are only fruiting bodies, analogous to apples on a tree. Most fungi live out of sight, yet make up a massively diverse kingdom of organisms that supports and sustains nearly all living systems. Fungi provide a key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel, and behave. In the first edition of this mind-bending book, Sheldrake introduced us to this mysterious but massively diverse kingdom of life. This exquisitely designed volume, abridged from the original, features more than one hundred full-color images that bring the spectacular variety, strangeness, and beauty of fungi to life as never before. Fungi throw our concepts of individuality and even intelligence into question. They are metabolic masters, earth makers, and key players in most of life’s processes. They can change our minds, heal our bodies, and even help us remediate environmental disaster. By examining fungi on their own terms, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms—and our relationships with them—are changing our understanding of how life works. Winner of the Wainwright Prize, the Royal Society Science Book Prize, and the Guild of Food Writers Award • Shortlisted for the British Book Award • Longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize

Teach kids about the power of words and the importance of kindness with this charming picture book that cleverly illustrates why we should think before we speak. Amera's having a bad day. Her best friend ruined her cupcake and they both said mean things. When Amera brings her bad mood home with her, her mom tells her to "taste her words." Amera's mean words taste like rotten eggs, spoiled milk, and lemons! As Amera realizes that her mean words make her feel bad and others feel worse, she starts saying the kindest, sweetest words she can find. This picture book is an excellent resource for parents who want to teach their kids to think before they speak. With humorous text and lively illustrations, Clark and Bright make it easy for even the youngest children to understand the power of their words.