A great little book that tells you everything you would want to know about what you eat and drink--and many things you may be better off not knowing.Glance at a few things in this book before you go out to eat and/or drinking and you'll be able to spout out a few things that will amaze everyone with your profound knowledge.
First of all,I gotta warn you,this book is very heavily weighted towards British food and drink,next comes European,then only a very small bit of American and as sparse as trees in the Arctic about anything Canadian.That aside,it is still filled with a lot of good morsels.
In this little tome you will get; Quotations as,"Once
a woman has forgiven her man,she should not reheat his sins for breakfast" Marlene Dietrich;dozens of slang words for drunkenness;recipes for cocktails such as Kamikazi,Sidecar,Long Island Ice Tea;Jimmy Carter's White House Grace;Edible flowers;all kinds of conversions,Heimlich Manoever and celebrities who owe their lves to it;Calorific values for various foods; English to American food terms such as Jacket potato-baked potato and french beans-string beans;rates for digestion of various foods;food and drink proverbs,like,"You dig your grave with your teeth.";final meal requests for some of those executed in Texas;Hangover Cures;poisonous mushrooms;Quotations on smoking like,"A good woman is only a woman,but a good cigar is a Smoke" Rudyard Kipling;etc.
I hope that is enough to whet your apetite for this book.I got a lot of laughs as well as solid information from it,you should too.

As in his _Original Miscellany_ (2003), the author has simply collected a large number of factoids, grouped under useful headings, but where the first published collection ranged far and wide, this one is thematic, restricting itself to comestibles and potables -- plus a number of pages on smokables -- which arguably makes it more interesting. There are quite a few items of interest, including a selection of "last meal" requests by those facing execution, a description of ullage levels, the items in Capt. Nemo's larder, a list of artists who have contributed label-art for Mouton Rothschild bottles, the characteristics of a number of popular restaurant curries, political quotations involving food, and the varieties of vegetarianism. And there are numerous sidebar quotes and comments, mostly droll. Some included items are highly idiosyncratic, like the favorite food and drink of the members of the "Bay City Rollers," or even questionable in this collection, like the details of an after-dinner dance card from 1926, as found in a printer's archive. And, as in the first volume, there is a tendency to present as canonical a bit of information that is simply one among many varieties, such as stating that Japan's "most notable" brand of beer is Sapporo (I would have said Asahi -- and the list doesn't even include Mexico), and his list of meanings for Mexican street food (the contents and preparation of chimichangas, enchiladas, tacos, nachos, etc) seems to assume a standardization that really doesn't exist. Also, why include, as "curious names" in a list of Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavors, Vanilla Caramel Fudge and Chocolate Fudge Brownie? But any shortcomings are made up for by his inclusion of the complete lyrics of the Chiquita Banana song. This is a good book for a couple of hours in the hammock and would also make a nice gift for foodies.