Food & Cooking

Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, the husband-and-wife team behind The Wall Street Journal's weekly wine column Tastings, join Terry Gross to talk grapes, glassware and more — all with an eye on the bottom line.

In an open letter to the next president, author Michael Pollan writes about the waning health of America's food systems — and warns that "the era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close."

That guilty feeling after a big meal? It might be about more than calories and cholesterol. New Yorker science writer Michael Specter explains how carbon emissions released during food production are having an impact on the environment.

Americans consume more bananas than apples and oranges combined. Dan Koeppel, author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World, gives us a primer on the expansive history — and the endangered future — of the seedless, sexless fruit.

New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman talks with David Bianculli about his new book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It's the most recent in Bittman's series of "How to Cook Everything" books.

The book On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen has become a reference tool for many cooks. Now author Harold McGee has revised and updated the book. It's an exposition of food and cooking techniques, delving into technology and history. McGee diagrams the stages of making mayonnaise under a microscope, explains why peppers are hot, and why seafood gets mushy if you cook it improperly. McGee is a world-renowned authority on the chemistry of cooking.

Snacking on water beetles in Laos, dining on dog in Korea: Tom Parker Bowles, food writer for Britain's The Mail on Sunday, Night and Day, and Tatler (and son of Prince Charles' wife, Camilla Parker Bowles), has written what he's described as "a travel book about weird food."

It's called The Year of Eating Dangerously: A Global Adventure in Search of Culinary Extremes.

The well-known beer expert Michael Jackson died Aug. 30 after a heart attack; he was 65 years old. Jackson wrote The Pocket Guide to Beer, The Great Beers of Belgium and The World Guide to Beer, and starred in the documentary series The Beer Hunter. He spoke to Terry Gross in 1991.

Food scientist Massimo Marcone travels the world's remotest corners to investigate bizarre food "delicacies" — cheese infested with squirming maggots, coffee brewed from coffee beans extracted from the feces of a cat-like creature, salad oil made from nuts excreted by goats, and so on.

Marcone teaches food science at the University of Guelph, in Ontario. His new book is In Bad Taste? The Adventures and Science Behind Food Delicacies

Food and wine columnist Russ Parsons wrote How to Pick a Peach. He searches for top-quality fruits and vegetables and lists the reasons why supermarket produce is not always the best.

Our film critic has a review of Edmond, a thriller directed by Stuart Gordon, with David Mamet adapting his own stage play.

Journalist Michael Pollan's new book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, follows industrial food, organic food, and food that consumers procure or hunt for themselves, from the source to the dinner plate.

Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson collect stories about America's hidden kitchens in a new book, Hidden Kitchens: Stories, Recipes and More from NPR's Kitchen Sisters.

Martha Stewart turned her lifestyle advice into a billion-dollar business: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. In addition to her magazines, Stewart has a new book, The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You Start, Grow, or Manage a Business. She also has new shows on television and radio this fall.

Pizza, one of the world's most popular foods, comes in many styles — from New York to Chicago to artichokes and free-range chicken. Food writer Ed Levine's new book, Pizza, a Slice of Heaven, gathers fact and opinion on an American staple.

Critic-at-large John Powers has some thoughts on wine, and globalization after watching the documentary Mondovino by Jonathan Nossiter.

We have the second part of an interview with renowned food writer Harold McGee (the first part was broadcast on Dec. 23). McGee's book, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, has been revised and updated. The book is an exposition of food and cooking techniques, technology and history.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger, by Nigel Slater, and Lilla's Feat: A Story of Food, Love and War in the Orient, by Frances Osbourne.

Reichl edited The Gourmet Cookbook, which includes more than 1,200 recipes culled from 60 years of the magazine's back issues. Reichl is the author of two best-selling memoirs, Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples. Before becoming editor of Gourmet, she was restaurant critic of The New York Times, and before that food editor of the Los Angeles Times.

World-renowned master chef Julia Child died Thursday at the age of 91. She spent three decades explaining the mysteries of classic French cuisine to modern American audiences. Child hosted several cooking shows on public television, earning Peabody and Emmy Awards in the process, and wrote nine cookbooks.