Food For Thought And Your Appetite

From the common sense cook to the food lover's food lover, there's a cookbook out there for every foodie on your holiday gift list! Alex Vallis of New York magazine shared some book recommendations.

COOKBOOK DETAILS AND VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP...

1. Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages, $29.95
For the Cream-on-Top Crowd Whole versus skim. Raw versus pasteurized. Anne Mendelson's scholarly Milk weighs in on those conflicts as it thoroughly explores the myriad forms the "First Food" has taken throughout the world (with recipes). Even the lactose-intolerant will find it fascinating-especially the section on yogurt, Mendelson's primary passion.)

2. The Food Life: Inside the World of Food with the Grocer Extraordinaire at Fairway , $29.95
For the Food Lover's food lover and is written by Fairway Market's master buyer Steven Jenkins.

3. Olives & Oranges: Recipes & Flavor Secrets from Italy, Spain, Cyprus & Beyond, $35
It advocates improvisational cooking with a rustic, seasonal slant. The author shows how the understanding the mediterranean "language of flavor" can help you follow your instincts and make your own great meals with what you have on hand.

4. Urban Italian: Simple Recipes and True Stories from a Life in Food, $35
Urban Italian is a collection of recipes from acclaimed chef Andrew Carmellini which he made up in his tiny Manhattan apartment kitchen. Using the same resources as the rest of us.)

5. Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin, $24.95
This book is for the slutty-cake aficionado. In it, the fry cook reveals all, including why cooking is like sex (you should approach it each time as if it were the last, he says) and why perhaps he might want to reconsider that last statement ("… my cooking philosophy is to get the job done with as few ingredients, as little effort, and in as short a time as possible").

For more details on the cookbooks, pick up the latest copy of New York magazine on newsstands now.