The Art of Simple Food

Diana,

If you're looking for a good cookbook to cover the basics and explain everything from what to stock in your pantry to the best kitchen tools to have and lots and lots of really good (and mostly good for you) recipes, check out The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. It's probably similar to Bittman's book. Waters is one of the most significant American foodies, Chez Panisse is her restaurant and she basically started the localvore movement in the 80s in the bay area. Tessa and Deo gave Stu the book for graduation and he has been using it to cook the most amazing things ever since. But don't tell him I told you that, he wants to uphold the image that all he does at home is drink beer, watch sports and shave sweet moustaches.

--Acadia