What’s the Difference?: Recreational Culinary Reference for the Curious and Confused

Warshaw, founder of the What’s the Difference? newsletter (which explains the difference between things that are “often confused for one another”), debuts with a superbly fun collection of ingenious elucidations on various types of food and drink. She writes that broth and stock, often used interchangeably, are actually different—stock is made primarily from bones, while broth is meat-based. She also demystifies the often-perplexing egg labels that plague supermarket fridges, including cage-free, free-range, hormone-free, and pasture-raised (spoiler: cage-free doesn’t always mean happy chickens). Many will be surprised to discover that green tea and matcha are not the same—though matcha is a type of green tea—and that broccoli rabe isn’t broccoli at all but “is instead more closely related to the turnip.” Lest anyone feel secure in their food knowledge, Warshaw throws in a few curveballs—scallions, for instance, are indistinguishable, taste-wise, from young spring onions. Those interested in learning the differences between coriander and cilantro (which come from the same plant), clementines and tangerines, and prawns and shrimp need not look any further. Concise, informative, and a pleasure to dip into, this is an endlessly entertaining way to brush up on one’s food groups. Agent: Kim Witherspoon, InkWell Management. (June)