If you’re wondering what to get your foodie friends for the holidays, you may want to consider making Sudi Pigott’s “How to Be a Better Foodie” your stocking stuffer of choice. This chic little brown & pink book is choc full of entertaining food related tidbits: from a rundown of the “better foodie” cupboard essentials (Jordanian Zatar made the list, which I appreciated), to food quotations, to an index of flavors to enjoy when traveling and an almanac of seasonal produce. There’s also a list of “better foodie stocking stuffers,” which includes items like candied chestnuts and a hand-tied bunch of Madagascan vanilla pods. Altogether this is a light-hearted, enjoyable book that doesn’t take itself too seriously and even seems to poke playful fun at the idea that serious foodies are snobs. Hence the references to the “linguine literati” and advice sections on the best better foodie pet. “Bee keeping has an endearing, albeit competitive buzz,” the author muses, and on the topic of entertaining she recommends cultivating an air of “studied nonchalance” by flaunting your relationship with the local fishmonger. Foodies will appreciate the mixture of humor and real food-related content. I’ve added several obscure handcrafted cheeses to my “must try” list since reading this book, along with a generous helping of better foodie knowledge - who knew that chili heat is measured in scovilles, the official scale measure of hotness? Or that watercress was called “poor man’s bread” in the nineteenth century? “How to Be a Better Foodie” won’t become your go-to reference book, but it will become a much enjoyed conversation starter.