David Rosengarten Entertains: Fabulous Parties for Food Lovers

David Rosengarten, creator of the Rosengarten Report, a newsletter reporting on all the latest food goodies to be found online, has combined the need to shop and the need to entertain and called it David Rosengarten Entertains. It's a party cookbook chock-a-block with where to buy it information and how to make it directions for the entertaining with food challenged.

There are 16 theme parties and they encircle the world: Spanish tapas, Italian pizza, Japanese tempura, Tunisian couscous, Texas BBQ, French bouillabaisse, Mexican tacos, American hot dogs, Indian tandoor chicken, Argentinian steak, Italian bollito miisto, Cajun gumbo, French cassoulet, Greek kebabs and lamb, Cuban roast pig, and English cucumber sandwiches. In each and every chapter (they all have clever titles such as "Love Me Tandoor," and "A Totally Frank Party") there's some central must-have item-- whether the Spanish jamon, the Texas barbecued brisket, the fresh Indian spices, the best steak, etc., and Rosengarten tells you where to shop. This section of the chapter is called The Ingredient. It is preceded by an introduction to the chapter concept called The Plan, followed by potables suggestions under the heading Beverage Time, and finally into the nuts and bolts with The Recipes.

Basically, Rosengarten removes any and all strain from entertaining with food (including the strain of reading--the size of the type makes this book readable from across the kitchen). He declares we are in the Third Epoch of entertaining where it's all about What is Good (if in doubt, he'll tell you). In the First Epoch (1950-1975) it was all about What Sounded Good regardless of truth in tasting. In the Second (1975-2000), What Looked Good was based on trendy restaurant presentation. One is left to wonder about a world of food and entertaining prior to 1950. --Schuyler Ingle