1956 "First Edition" stated on copyright page; Alfred A. Knopf publishers, New York; hardbound in lime and black boards; very good condition with unmarked pages; dust jacket good with minor edge wear.
 
KIRKUS REVIEW
A culinary cook's tour which leads one from Mundt's childhood in Germany (and a mother who had absolutely no interest in food) to Turkey, to New York, to San Francisco. We are treated to a humorous bouillabaisse of his views, ideas and recipes; his hates (American supermarkets, steam tables, mechanical kitchens, luxury hotels, packaged foods, and other people's cooking). We stop to sample a three foot mound of salmon salad prepared by a frustrated Russian culinary artist on the grand scale.
 
We linger while he woos a retired concert pianist with longing salads, imploring ones, demanding ones, aggressive ones, tired ones. He airs his ideas on the merits of alcohol in whetting the appetite and aiding the digestive process. The dish set before us is a skillful blend concocted by an Epicurean humorist who manages to fascinate the gourmet by adding a liberal dash of piquant sauce to the dish.