Food & Cooking

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.

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.

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.

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.