Kitchen Angst: Have You Got Problems?: Cook 'em Out

Sullivan, who teaches at Columbia College in Chicago, suggests snacks and meals on a common--yet unusual--theme: despair and disaster. So, we get ``Rude-Awakening Nectarine Pudding,'' ``Irrevocable Dusted Ricotta,'' ``Hummus with Garnish to Conquer Ennui'' and ``Pepper Steaks with Pain.'' The author, as self-styled Professor Angst, prefaces recipes with appeals for advice--and motley comments--from her public, and with other amusing bits of correspondence: ``Dear Professor Angst,'' reads one, ``Your proposal for funding a symposium on `Kitchens of the Inner Child' has been rejected.'' Her cooking directions can be sketchy, and the food seems rhetorical, meant to make a point more than to fill a plate. But that's all right--Sullivan's mordant approach is likely to refresh the reader's palate. It's a good idea for a book, and the low-budget black-and-white design looks appropriately, jaggedly down-and-out. (Sept.)