Book Review

The Appetizer Atlas: A World of Small Bites

by Arthur L. Meyer and Jon M. Vann

John Wiley & Sons, $45

Appetizers have become the stars on restaurant menus. Actually, they've always been. They're where chefs try out their most inventive and boldly flavored creations, knowing that diners feel more adventuresome about tasting something new when it's just a few bites. Savvy and flavor-intrepid diners have long ordered only from the left side of the menu. The idea has caught on, and appetizers now herald the trendiest way of dining -- leisurely nibbling, drinking, and chatting one's way through an evening, sharing stimulating bites of this and that. Dining is today's entertainment and fun. We've become a nation of grazers, making meals of little plates of exotic fare.

You could argue that America is just catching up with the rest of the world. Grazing's known as mezedes in Greece, meze in Turkey, mazzeh in Arabia, kemia in Morocco, and tapas in Spain. Just as meze in attitude is Japanese sushi, East Indian samosas, Chinese dim sums, Venetian ciccetti, Italian antipasti, and Mexican bocaditos. Today's appetizers encompass this entire edible global village, and chefs know that to create buzz and excitement and keep diners coming back, their appetizers must dazzle modern culinary explorers.

Being a foodie capital -- home to some of the country's finest chefs and a populace of avid adventure eaters -- it's not surprising that Austin also hosts the talents of chef-authors Meyer and Vann. The story of their long-anticipated cookbook is well-known to most Chronicle readers, some of whom participated in the Appetizer Atlas Dinner Club in recent years just for the chance to preview the recipes. It was an ingenious solution to the problem of financing the enormous amount of testing required to make 400 recipes ready for print, and offers just a clue to the inventiveness of these chefs.

The Appetizer Atlas is a textbook for restaurant kitchens and professional chefs that will provide them with years of inspiration and information to create showstopping appetizers from the cuisines of the world. It's destined for the shelves of some ambitious and accomplished homecooks looking to awe dinner guests, too. This is a tome. From a restaurant chef's vantage point, the authors followed explorers, tracking spices, religions, crops, and cooking styles around the globe. While recognizing the ebb and flow of culinary traditions and the fluidity of edibles, they organized the book into 28 regions. Asian cuisines, increasingly popular among contemporary diners, are especially well-represented. Since foods vary from region to region and cook to cook, some might find areas of contention inevitable in any book whose scope is this vast. But the authors did a monstrous amount of textbook research, garnished with decades of experience, to make the foods and cooking traditions of our global world accessible and tantalizing for student and seasoned chefs.

This will no doubt become a resource for many future chefs. It will certainly help them avoid the tragic fusion confusion that befalls less-enlightened professionals. Besides the prolific academic text, a "Chef's Pantry" explains exotic ingredients used by trendy chefs, more so than more dated sources. It's filled with intriguing little-known tidbits to help prevent chefs and their staff from making cultural faux pas. For example, did you know that kaffir lime leaves should be called by alternate names because the word kaffir is a racial slur to South Africans? The index, although extensive, may foil those looking for subrecipes scattered throughout the book, such as spice blends. But, they'll no doubt quickly dog-ear the pages for their favorite Tabil or Baharat spices.

Now, a note about the recipes. Readers will need to rethink their definition of appetizers. They include, but are much more than, those tiny simple finger morsels called "hors d'oeuvres" served at stand-about parties. The authors took the lead of Auguste Escoffier, the father of French cuisine and guru of all classically trained chefs, who believed appetizers could be made of any entrée or "savories proper" recipe by altering portion size. So, they adapted traditional main dishes -- most protein-lush, special-occasion fare -- they felt best represented the cooking styles and most striking flavors of each region. Many diners will find these exhilarating plates more than amply portioned to suffice as meals. The authenticity of ingredients was carefully honored by the authors, knowing the difficult-to-find ones wouldn't be an impediment for motivated restaurant kitchens. Far from the simple rustic fare made in homes, the appetizers in The Appetizer Atlas are intricate restaurant creations, geared to help chefs impress and create dining memories.

No review of this book would be complete without noting its single major detraction: the editing. Good editing is invisible and enables an author's work to shine. Every author wishes for an editor who grasps their book's soul and puts his or her heart into their project. In this instance, it appears wanting. The best example is seen in the "About This Book" section inserted before the authors' own acknowledgements. In what can only be described as a detached condescending tone, it appears to be a critique of the book and professionalism of the recipes that all pertain to problems under the purview of the editor to fix before publication. It's mystifying why the editor didn't do that and provide the expert guidance to help shape this book into what it had every potential of becoming.

To capture imaginations, kids have Disney. Chefs have this book. It's bound to make our dining all the more appetizing.

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Sandy Szwarc, a certified culinary professional, is a food editor and writer of national and regional media. In addition to editing and writing cookbooks, she works with chefs and authors in developing marketable cookbooks and perfecting their manuscripts and proposals. She's also a regular judge of international cookbook and food-writing awards.