The pleasures of identifying unique flavours in food based on where it comes from is something that started in France with regional wine. The French call it terroir, meaning the taste of place adds something unique to certain foods. Even though the idea was conceived in France, it is spreading as a culinary concept as Rowan Jacobsen elaborates on in American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields, taking us through some of the North American regions that give unique terroir to foods around us. He writes: “If you want to tour the museum of old terroir masterpieces, go to France and Italy. If you want to visit the galleries where new artists are trying new things, look around America.” From the southernmost tip of the Central American country of Panama to the northern reaches of the Yukon River in Alaska, this book covers an entire continent. Maple syrup, coffee, apples, honey, potatoes, mushrooms, oysters, avocados, salmon, wine, cheese, and chocolate take on elevated stature as High-Mountain Maple Syrup of Vermont or Totten Inlet Oysters of Puget Sound becoming “great foods that are what they are because of where they come from.” Read more