Gatherings & Celebrations: History, Folklore, Rituals and Recipes for the Occasions that Bring People Together

x, 353 pp. TV tie-in to Burt Wolf's Public Television Series "Burt Wolf's Table." "One of America's most respected food journalists, travels the world to seek out the history and traditions surrounding those occasions that bring people together to eat and drink. This companion volume brings all the festivities to life in more than one hundred full-color photographs and a lively, informative text. Burt has chosen twenty occasions for celebration in various locations throughout the world, from Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, to Taipei, Taiwan. Some are major public holidays, such as Easter in Florence, Christmas in Germany, or Mardi Gra in New Orleans, while others are more personal and private--a Sunday meal with a farm family in Italy, a romantic supper for two in Verona, the birthplace of Romeo and Juliet, or a barbecue in Puerto Rico."