Rachel Wharton is a James Beard Foundation award-winning journalist based in Brooklyn, New York, and is the co-author of several books on food, including Food Anatomy. She holds an MA in food studies from New York University and has 20 years of experience as a writer, reporter, and editor for print, TV, and radio.

Introduction
1 Food for Thought
A Brief History of Food - A Few Tasty Words to Know - Place Settings - Kinds of Forks - Kinds of Spoons - In the (International) Cupboard - Traditional Ovens - A Century of Stoves - The Ice Age of Refrigeration - Fermentation
2 Eat Your Fruits and Veggies
Dining on the Plant Family - Fruit Facts - How a Flower Becomes a Fruit - The Parents of Produce - All in the Family - Sundry Celeries - Obscure Beauties - Tropical Fruits - Berry Basics - Little Known Terms for Common Tree Fruit -
Go Bananas - Citrus - Surprising Salad Greens - Famous Fungi - The Truffle Hunter - Yam vs. Sweet Potato - Beans - Shell Games - Feeling Nutty - Peanut Powered - Cracking Up - How to Make Tofu
3 A Grain of Truth
Good Grains - Corn - Kinds of Rice - Growing Rice - Bread - Rolling the Dough - Baking - Traditional Finnish Rye Bread - Sumptuous Sandwiches - Some Pasta Shapes - Making Pasta - Making Noodles - Asian Noodle Dishes -
Jane's Noodle Pudding - Delectable Dumplings - Pancakes
4 The Meat of the Matter
Prime Cuts - How Meat Cooks - On the Charcuterie Plate - Sausage Blends - Butchery Tools - Meaty Dishes - Five Fabulous Food Fish - How to Fillet a Fish - Regal Roe - Other Edible Sea Creatures - The Fishmonger's Lexicon -
Seafood Cookery Tools - Fresh Fish - Commonly Eaten Clams - Kinds of Sushi - On the Sushi Menu - Eating the Whole Chicken - The Incredible Egg - Short Order Egg Lingo
5 Dairy Queens
Milk Maid Math - Terms of the Trade - Delicious Dairy - How to Make Butter - Real Deal Buttermilk Pancakes - Cut the Cheese - Cheese Anatomy - The Basic Steps in Making Cheese - Types of Cheese - American Cheese - Curd Nerdisms
6 Street Food
Serious Snacks with Funny Names - With Your Fries - Hot Dawg - Five Styles of Meat on a Stick - Anatomy of a Food Truck - On the Streets - Pizza, Pizza - Taqueria Terminology
7 Season to Taste
Six Superb Spice Blends - That's Hot - A Little Something Sweet - In the Sugar House - Creamy Maple Mocha Pudding - Olive Oil Argot - Mustard - How to Make Vinegar - Salt - Pepper
8 Drink Up!
Coffee - Espresso Guide - A Spot of Tea - What's Brewing? - Tea Time - When Life Gives You Lemons - Shikanjvi for Two - Fizzy Sips - The Equations of Fermented Beverages - The Basic Steps in Making Wine - Wine Tasting - Distillation -
Glassware - The Cocktail Maker's Toolkit
9 Sweet Tooth
Common Cakes - Cake-Making Terms - We All Scream for Ice Cream - Sundae Anatomy - Cookies - How Chocolate Is Made - Wordly Treats - A Spoonful of Sugar - Homemade Butterscotch Sauce - Candy - In an Old-Fashioned Candy
Shop - Pastries - Pastry Tools - Soft Sweets - American Pie - Donuts - The Fortune Cookie