Just when you thought the last thing the world needed was another book on weeknight cooking, along comes an entirely fresh take on the subject. As they do on their weekly show, host Lynne Rossetto Kasper and producer Sally Swift approach their topic with attitude and originality, making The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper one of the most engaging cookbooks of this or any other year.

As loyal listeners know, Lynne and Sally share an unrelenting curiosity about everything to do with food. Their show, The Splendid Table, looks at the role food plays in our lives — inspiring us, making us laugh, nourishing us, and opening us up to the world around us. Now they have compiled all the most trenchant tips, never-fail recipes, and everyday culinary know-how from the program in How to Eat Supper, a kitchen companion unlike any other.

This is no mere cookbook. Like the show, this book goes far beyond the recipe, introducing the people and stories that are shaping America's changing sense of food. We don't eat, shop, or cook as we used to. Our relationship with food has intensified, become more controversial, richer, more pleasurable, and sometimes more puzzling. How to Eat Supper gives voice to rarely heard perspectives on food — from the quirky to the political, from the grassroots to the scholarly, from the highbrow to the humble — and shows the essential role breaking bread together plays in our world.

How to Eat Supper takes you through a plethora of inviting recipes simple enough to ensure success even if you've never cooked before. And if you are experienced in the kitchen, you'll find challenging new concepts and dishes to spark your imagination.

"A joint effort between Kasper, public radio host of The Splendid Table, and her producer and fellow foodie, Swift, this superb book should grace the shelves of even the most infrequent of cooks. Full of tantalizing, fast and easy-to-assemble meals, this collection also focuses on the ideas behind the techniques: what to look for as the food cooks, what kind of pot ensures success, and where substitutions will work. Helpful information such as why buying imported Italian pasta and why salting pasta water are important help the less experienced extract flavor from basic ingredients. Recipes center on quick and nutritious dinner options, including Dressing-in-a-Bowl Supper Salad, North Shore Shrimp Scampi, and Lamb Chops with Crossover Spice Crust. The authors also provide valuable references such as a tasting guide to salad greens, advice for imparting flavor to frozen shrimp and suggestions for using pasta water in sauces. Given the show's popularity, the accessibility of the recipes and the authors' practical and useful advice, this excellent book is sure to become a kitchen staple." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

In this diverse, insightful, and easy-to-use cookbook, Kasper and Swift put their vast knowledge to use, sharing how to break down recipes into their simplest forms and create quick, savory dinners full of international flavors.

For more than twenty years, James Beard Award winner Lynne Rossetto Kasper has been recognized as one of America's leading food authorities, commentators, and cultural historians. The national radio show she co-created and hosts, The Splendid Table, is a staple of American Public Media, and her column, "Ask the Splendid Table," is distributed to more than four hundred newspapers across the nation. Her first cookbook, The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food, was named Book of the Year by both the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. This is her third cookbook.

Sally Swift is a twenty-year veteran of television and radio, and is co-creator and managing producer of The Splendid Table. This is her first cookbook.