It Must've Been Something I Ate : The Return of the Man Who Ate Everything

Thirty-eight outrageous, deliciously provocative pieces from Vogue's indomitable food critic-the man who eats everything, dreams perpetually of the ultimate food experience, and compulsively searches out the truth about how, why, and what we eat.

Each section of his new book is a savory course of a splendid feast: For starters, in "Who Is Having All the Fun?," join Steingarten as he dons costly fishing gear and sets out on an epic hunt for bluefin tuna (whose raw belly meat is one of the most delicious things on earth), or read about how he was assaulted by toxic airline food (and be glad you didn't taste that little green leaf).

Then, in "A Deep and Blinding Insight," partake of his investigative pursuits as he takes on salt chic (salt is salt, after all-isn't it?), assaults the FDA for banning succulent whole-milk cheeses in the name of hygienic sterility, and starts cooking dinners of braised short ribs for his dog when he can no longer withstand the baleful looks from his golden retriever confronted with desiccated dog-food pellets while his master sizzles sausages for himself. "There Is a God in Heaven," you'll find, be it in "Chocolate Dreams," "Caviar Emptor," or in the luscious taste of a superb boysenberry from the Chinos' farm.

But for every reward, there is first "An Intense Hunt for the Facts": knowing the lobster includes understanding its sex life, the secret to supergoose is brining, and you have to aim a Raynger ST-8 at your baking stone in order to determine the heat for the perfect pizza.

This is only a sampling of the gloriously entertaining menus that The Man Who Ate Everything dishes up this time around. You'll even find tucked under the plate some special recipes that he has climbed every mountain to obtain.

Lucky for his audience that Jeffrey Steingarten is insatiable.

Jeffrey Steingarten is Vogue's food critic and the author of The Man Who Ate Everything. He trained to be a food writer at Harvard Law School and on the Harvard Lampoon. On Bastille Day, 1994, the French Republic made Mr. Steingarten a Chevalier in the Order of Merit for his writings on French gastronomy. Chevalier Steingarten discloses that his preferred eating destinations are Memphis, Paris, Bangkok, Alba, and Chengdu--and his loft in New York City, where he has recently created well over a firkin of cultured butter.

Essays in this collection have won a National Magazine Award and several prizes from the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. The Man Who Ate Everything was a New York Times best-seller and the winner of the Julia Child Cookbook Award and the Guild of British Food Writers Prize for the year's best book about food.