Cooked

Michael Pollan is a wonderful, engaging writer and this is the best of his work I've read. It's all about the transformation of food, organized around the four traditional elements, which he assigns to four basic cooking techniques: fire (barbecue), water (braising, slow cooking), air (baking), and earth (fermentation, including pickling, cheese-making, and brewing). Along the way, he meets with and works alongside experts in each of the techniques, which makes it all the more fascinating. Highly recommended for foodies and anyone who wants to understand the way we cook/eat.