Food & Cooking

Throughout his life he struggled with a weight problem. Last year he underwent gastric bypass surgery, an operation that reduces the size of the stomach and helps the patient lose weight. Roker lost 100 pounds. He talks about his operation and his new cookbook Al Roker's Hassle-Free Holiday Cookbook.

Chef Jeremiah Tower. He is considered one of the forces behind modern California cuisine –- which emphasized the use of locally grown ingredients to elevate simple dishes to fine delicacies. That in turn launched a revolution in American regional cookery. Tower began his career as chef and co-owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. He went on to run restaurants in San Francisco, Hong Kong, Singapore and Seattle. Recently he hosted the PBS series America's Best Chefs and has written a new memoir, California Dish: What I Saw (and Cooked) at the American Culinary Revolution.

He's a longtime correspondent on health and science policy for The New York Times. In his new book, Protecting America's Health: the FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation, he chronicles the history of the Food and Drug Administration from its start during the administration of Teddy Roosevelt. Hilts also broke the now-famous story of the Brown and Williamson tobacco industry papers, and is the author of Smoke Screen: The Truth Behind the Tobacco Industry Cover-Up.

Celebrity chef Mario Batali is the co-proprietor of three Manhattan restaurants — Babbo, Lupa and Esca — and Italian Wine Merchants, devoted to the wines of Italy. Batali is also the host of [two shows on TV's Food Network: Molto Mario and Mario Eats Italy. His books are The Babbo Cookbook, Simple Italian Food and Holiday Food.

Columnist Robert Wolke writes Food 101 for The Washington Post, a syndicated column that won the James Beard Foundation Award for best newspaper column. He's the author of the new book What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained. Wolke is also professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh.

Writer Michael Pollan's new book, The Botany of Desire: A Plants-Eye View of the World (Random House) takes a look at four plants cultivated by humans: the apple, the tulip, potatoes and marijuana. Pollan demonstrates that plants and humans have developed a reciprocal, co-evolutionary relationship: do we plant potatoes, or do potatoes seduce us into planting them? Pollan questions the assumption that we are in charge of our agriculture.

Food Editor for the Los Angeles Times, Russ Parsons. He examines the science of cooking in his new book, How to Read a French Fry: and other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science.

Cookbook author and food writer Jack Bishop. His latest book is called Vegetables Everyday (Harper Collins). BISHOP writes about food for the New York Times, and Cooks Illustrated and Natural Health Magazines. His other cookbooks include Pasta e Verdura, The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook, and Lasagna.

Marie Simmons, author of The Good Egg.

Novelist Jay McInerney (“MAC-in-UR-knee”). He broke onto the literary scene with his bestselling novel “Bright Lights, Big City,” about the excesses of the a Manhattan yuppie in the 1980s. His new book is a collection of essays about the pleasure of wine. It’s called “Bacchus & Me: Adventures in The Wine Cellar” (The Lyons Press).

Writer Clifford Wright. His new book is “A Mediterranean Feast: The Story of the Birth of the Celebrated Cuisines of the Mediterranean, from the Merchants of Venice to the Barbary Corsairs, with more than 500 Recipes.” (Morrow) As you can tell from the title, it’s a comprehensive look at Mediterranean foodstuffs, cooking and culture, at over 800 pages. It won the James Beard Cookbook of the Year award, and it is being developed into a 13-part series for PBS called “A Cook’s Tour: Mediterranean Journeys with Clifford Wright.”

Writer Andrew Smith has written a new book about the food that is a staple at movie theatres - popcorn. It's called "Popped Culture: A Social History of Popcorn in America" (University of South Carolina Press).

Carolyn Wyman is author of "Spam, A Biography: The Amazing True Story of America's "Miracle Meat."" (Harvest) She also wrote "I'm a SPAM Fan," and "The Kitchen Sink Cookbook." her syndicated weekly column, "Supermarket Sampler," present reviews of new food products in more than 100 newspapers around the country. She is a staff writer at the New Haven Register in Connecticut.

Chris Fehlinger is the co-founder of the on-line food magazine "Pheast" and is a contributing writer for the print magazine "Wine X. Recently he was the subject of the column "Table Talk" in The New Yorker 4/5/99. In that article, he confesses that he suggest bizarre food dishes, i.e. goat's head, on unsuspecting diners, just for the sport of it. In our interview, he gives us an insider's view of the restaurant business...how maitre d's get better tips, and how to get customers to order what you want them too.

From "Junior's" Restaurant in Brooklyn, Marvin and Alan Rosen. Marvin has collaborated on a new book about his family's Brooklyn restaurant renowned for its rich and creamy cheesecake. Marvin inherited the restaurant from his father who opened it in 1950. Alan is Marvin's nephew. The book is called "Welcome to Junior's: Remembering Brooklyn with Recipes and Memories from Its Favorite Restaurant" (William Morrow).

Cookbook author Bruce Aidells. He's co-authored (along with Denis Kelly) the new book, "The Complete Meat Cookbook" (Houghton Mifflin). It's the first comprehensive reexamination of meat cooking to come along in 20 years. Recipes include: The Classic Hamburger, Not-Like-Mom's Meat Loaf, and Beef Stew with Mushrooms, Onions, and Dark Beer. Aidells is also the founder of Aidells Sausage Company. The teams previous cookbook "Hot Links & Country Flavors" won a Julia Child Award.

An expert on fungi, George Hudler is a professor of Plant Pathology at Cornell University. He's written a new book about the existence of fungi in all its forms, "Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds: The remarkable story of the fungus kingdom and its impact on human affairs." (Princeton University Press).

Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio are the authors of "Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects" (A Material World Book/Ten Speed Press). The book is a pictorial guide to how insects are made delectable throughout the world.

The television cook discusses her book and her new PBS series. "Jewish Cooking in America." The book and show are a patchwork of reminiscences and recipes from around the country. The 26-part series premieres this month.

Schiavelli just written a memoir about growing up in Brooklyn, New York. It's called "Bruculinu, America: Remembrances of Sicilian-American Brooklyn, Told in Stories and Recipes." (Houghton Mifflin) Schiavelli is a character actor who's been in the films "Ghost," "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "The People Vs. Larry Flynt."