How to be a Better Foodie: Sudi Pigott

By JULIETTE ROSSANT If you are a real, dedicated, knowledgeable Foodie, do you want to take a quiz to make sure? Perhaps, just to find the line between fanaticism and passion – and for the fun of finding out if there is anything you don't know that you should. That is where Sudi Pigott's How To Be a Better Foodie: A Bulging Little Book For the Truly Epicurious (Viking Studio 2008) comes in. This fat chocolate brown and langoustine pink (the brown paper is a bit tough on the eyes) contains fun lists, facts and guides to living life as a foodie. It's like a game of trivia in a more convenient, gift-able form. Fun and engrossing because there is so much to learn in this bulging little book. Check out sections like The Better Foodie movie guide to the ultimate TV-dinner (p. 114-119) which starts out with Babette's Feast and ends with Like Water for Chocolate (she doesn't list Ratatouille or La Raccolta, but it's fun to make your own list, right?). There are pages of insider's tips for the epicurean traveler such as what to savor, eat and buy in the Orkney Islands (p. 171) to Georgia, Asia (p. 185) from a chapter called Out and About with the Better Foodie. Here is a selection of the quizzes that end each chapter: What is an omelet Arnold Bennett? An omelet with smoked haddock and cream? Who first gave the cranberry its name and why? Pilgrim Fathers thinking its blossom resembled the head of a crane. What is chili heat measured in? Scovilles. At the end of the book is a handy Foodie Almanac listing both festivals and ingredients each month. It will keep you well ahead of the crowd when it comes for looking for first-of-the-season ingredients. Better still, the Better Foodie revels in discovering and making pilgrimages to gastro-festivals, whether highly obscure – the Saffron Fair in Consuegra near Toledo in Spain the last week in October– or deeply gastronomical gatherings of top-echelon culinary heroes. (p. 276) If you haven't made summer holiday plans better check out the August festivals in Britain, Sweden, and France. Previous articles: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to Super Chef