JANET SANTELICES / McClatchy-Tribune

What's Inside Let's up the challenge a bit: See if you can hit a moon shot So Many Books ... 'Salt River's' thin current of words is more than enough Bookstore pick Best sellers Upcoming releases Signings, etc. More Books

Munching on a crisp, organic carrot dipped in tangy, tahini-based salad dressing in the wake of reading Paul Freedman's elegantly edited “Food: The History of Taste,” I can't help but mull over the confluence of culture, geography and technology that has gone into my apparently simple snack.

This collection's oddest story is told from the perspective of a tapeworm. Granted, it's a philosophical tapeworm: “Once I'd been ingested I knew what to do where I found myself, I gained consciousness; nature is a miracle in the know-how it has provided, ready in all its millions of varieties of eggs.”