On Food and Cooking

For its twentieth anniversary, Harold McGee has prepared a completely revised and updated new edition of On Food and Cooking. He rewrote the text almost entirely, enlarged it by two-thirds, and commissioned more than 100 new illustrations. As fascinating and readable as ever, the new edition of Food and Cooking offers countless insights into food, its preparation and enjoyment.

On Food and Cooking pioneered the translation of technical food science into user-friendly culinary science and helped give birth to the creative culinary movement known as "molecular gastronomy." Although other books have been written on the science of cooking, On Food and Cooking remains unrivaled in the precision, clarity and thoroughness of its explanations, and in the intriguing way in which it combines science with historical developments and cooking techniques.

Among the main topics covered in the new edition are:

· Traditional and modern food production methods and their impact on food quality

· The great variety of methods by which people of different places and times have prepared the same ingredients

· Tips to select the best ingredients and prepare them successfully

· The special substances that give food its flavor and give us pleasure

· Our evolving understanding of the health benefits and risks of foods

On Food and Cooking is an invaluable and monumental compendium of basic information about ingredients, cooking methods and the pleasures of eating. It will delight and fascinate everyone who has cooked, tasted or asked about food.