Not a cookbook by any stretch of the imagination, It Must've Been Something I Ate, is a compilation of the monthly food essays Jeffrey Steingarten writes for Vogue magazine. Yes, there are a couple dozen recipes, some of which are delicious and well within the scope of an average cook, some of which would be daunting to all but the most adventurous cook.

But the essays, which cover such varied topics as monosodium glutamate, making dog food, caviar, sea salt, diets, blood sausage, the absolutely authentic pot au feu, Thai cuisine, and some 30 other topics, are interesting, informative, opinionated, well-researched, funny, far-reaching, self-deprecating, and exceptionally well written. A person barely interested in cooking could easily be captivated by this book. A person with a real interest in food and cooking absolutely should read it.