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The book no serious cook or gourmet can afford to pass by is Food by Waverley Root (Simon & Schuster; $24.95). This is, quite simply, the long-needed English-language equivalent of the classic Larousse Gastronomique, written with vast erudition and tingling humor for the English-speaking reader. Root, a Paris-based American writer (The Food of Italy, The Food of France), has produced an encyclopedic, beautifully illustrated 602-page dictionary and history of the world's foods. It travels from aardvark, which is eaten in tropical Africa, all the way to zucca, the extravagant orange Italian squash. En Root, the armchair gourmet is served tidbits and morsels and banquets of information.
Root writes of radishes (known in China in 1100 B.C.) and raccoons ("Try stuffing them with sweet potatoes"), of oranges (first imported to the New World by Christopher Columbus), olives (the mainstay of the Mediterranean economy) and onions, which French Gourmet Robert Courtine called the "truffle of the poor." Or as Dean Swift put it:
There is in every cook 's opinion No savoury dish without an onion; But lest your kissing should be spoiled The onion must be thoroughly boiled.
Bon appétit!
&151;By Michael Demarest