Reading Nook: 'Lonely Planet’s Food Lover’s Guide to the World'

Lonely Planet’s Food Lover’s Guide to the World ($39.99) is not the sort of book you toss in a carry-on or backpack along with a toothbrush and passport. It measures roughly 9 inches by 11 inches and weighs more than 3 pounds.

Yet it’s a must-have for anyone who pesters locals for restaurant ideas, pokes around food markets or buys dumpling ladles as souvenirs. A terrific resource before you travel, it also has enough recipes - from Spain’s simple egg-potato tortilla to India’s complex Hyderabadi biryani and Denmark’s sweet flodeboller - to keep cooks happy.

Its food credentials are golden: James Oseland (Saveur magazine’s editor-in-chief) and Mark Bittman (The New York Times columnist and cookbookauthor) were involved, as were chefs Fergus Henderson, Eric Ripert and Atul Kochhar. Also in the mix: Lonely Planet’s “food-passionate travel writers,” said Ben Handicott, the book’s publisher.

“The book presents food as travel experiences and isfor anyone who loves either traveling or great food experiences,” Handicott said.

Cooking classes. Food or wine tours. Sections dubbed “Learnings” suggest truffle hunts in France and Sweden, trips to a souk before cooking lunch in Morocco and more.

The Bite-Size Diversions section offers food-related insights, from explaining nori-wrapped rice packets (onigiri) found in Japanese convenience stores and Turkish ice cream (dondurma).

Food-related festivals, markets and shout-outs to restaurants are included. So is an array of valuable cultural tips, from how to order noodles to why you shouldn’t stick chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice.

Among the best parts are pages devoted to topics such as cheese, breakfast and coffee that take an understanding of the subject beyond a Facebook photo and “it tastes good.” The cheese section, for example, explains why France’s Muenster is related to England’s Stinking Bishop and Italy’s taleggio.

Food, Pages 31 on 05/15/2013

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