I love to cook. Always have. And, I am a huge geek. Combine the two and you get food science.

I have always wanted to know the "why" as well as the "how" while cooking. Simply following recipes was never enough for me. Why am I supposed to seperate the eggs if I'm just going to mix them back together? Why do we cook at such a low heat? Why do you use buttermilk instead of regular milk? And for years, the answer was "Because, that's what the recipe says."

No longer. This encyclopedia of food has not yet failed to answer a question. Even ones not directly relating to food. The other day, I explained why pepper spray burns so badly to a friend (who had recently been sprayed with it) using the information in the peppers section of this book.

It's certainly easy enough to search for any subject using the index or the table of contents, but I found myself reading through it as though it were a novel. The author presents the information in an interesting, logical, and occasionally humorous manner, which actually makes it an enjoyable read in addition to one of the most complete volumes on food science I've ever found.

It actually makes going to the supermarket more fun. I can't go down an aisle now without stopping to explain to my fiancee how something was made, or why something's name is really something of a misnomer, or how the fat content varies from one thing to another, and which is made better because of it. And she eats the information up. She's reading through it now, and enjoying it every bit as much as I did.

If you enjoy food, and you are not content simply knowing how it is made, and you want to delve into the world of "why", this is THE book to do it with.

As the culinary historian and author of www.CookingUpHistory.com I wouldn't be without this book. It is an industry bible for food lore and trivia, from the basic to the bizarre, every crumb of food knowledge you could ever hunger for is within the covers of this book. Buy it, keep it and don't loan it out, 'cause if you do, say "Bye Bye." IT IS THAT GOOD!

Wow, this book really has a ton of information about food and cooking and the how's and why's of it all. Fascinating tidbits and very good explanations. This is a great book to read, and also a good reference book to just pick up and browse through from time to time, I think I could flip it open to any page and find something interesting (admittedly, I love to read about food and the cooking).

I bought this book as a birthday present for my husband, a former chemist and sometimes gourmet cook. He had enjoyed the original version of this book and also liked the Curious Cook. I heard that the revised edition was significantly updated, so I got it for him right away. I figured that he would periodically read chapters on his own. Here is what surprised me: It has become the bedtime story book for our almost 10 year old son. I knew that my husband would like it, so I excitedly showed it to my youngest son. He perusing it himself. Of course he did not understand much of it without lengthy explanations. So my husband started to read it to him, explaining the obscure parts. I thought that my son would get bored after a couple of nights of this, but they have been at it for quite a while and my son has not asked to switch books.

The author covers a wide variety of types of foods and food issues. It starts with seections based on food types. Milk and milk products are the first. Once you read about the chemical, physical and aesthetic properties of a food, you want to go out and try the foods or food combinations yourself.

The revised edition is significantly different from the original. If you are the type of person who likes the science behind food, you will probably also be the type who cares whether your information is up to date. If you are more of a chemistry dilettante like me, you will appreciate the interesting writing style and the relevance to current cooking and nutrition issues. If you are a science-oriented 10 year old, you will enjoy telling your classmates and teachers lurid details about what they are currently chewing. Since you can cloak these lurid details in legitimate basic science, the teachers generally have to let you keep talking.

This book explains the "why" of the way ingredients mix together to make a tasty or unpalatable food. While this is not a recipe cookbook, the author does provide valuable information on how to choose and store foods to ensure the best quality. Understanding the basic principles of food chemistry enables a cook to improvise and sometimes sustitute ingredients. It explains how the different constitutents of milk influence the milk's properties. This in turn helps explain how we arrive at different properties of cheeses. the author takes you from the overall look of the food down to the molecular level.

The book helps one understand food safety and spoilage. Advances in our understanding of food safety are reflected in this book.

In sum, I recommend this book for erudite cooks and chemists, as well as diletanttes (like me) who want to know more about selected foods. I would not recommend this as bedtime reading for most 10 year olds, but for a certain subset--the type of kid who is always asking "why" it might be a good source of answers.

(And yes, I read him regular books when it is my turn to do bedtime stories.)

I won't waste time by heaping even more of the well deserved praise and adoration upon this book as so many other already have. I will just say that if you have been hesitating about plucking down the money for it if you already have the old edition, I say hesitate no more. According to the intro, they've added 2/3 more content to the last one, and it shows. This is not a quick cash grab, but a well thought out effort with lots of brand new content, revisits with old topics, and focus on many of the areas (more international ingredients for example), that many of us were pining for in the last edition.