The title -- surely some editor's ghastly idea -- belies the heavily researched, stylishly written body of knowledge that supports Kamp's premise: In little less than half a century, food in the United States has been revolutionized by an increasing array of products, cookware, magazines, restaurants, chefs and TV shows, changing the way we shop, cook and eat, and creating a much more sophisticated audience. (Review: More Proof That We Are What We Eat, Post, Nov. 19).

David Kamp, author of "The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation," will be online to field questions and comments about the state of eating in this country.

David Kamp is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and GQ.

Join Book World Live each Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET for a discussion based on a story or review in each Sunday's Book World section.

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Washington, DC: I'm in the middle of your book and enjoying it. Thanks for

filling in the gaps that Gael Greene left out in her memoir,

"Insatiable." Were there any interesting surprises uncovered

about the characters you profiled and researched?

David Kamp: Yes, there were interesting surprises. I guess the lesson I learned is, Never go with your preconceived notions. Because I had two preconceived notions that were way off.

One was that Wolfgang Puck would be a vulgar, aloof guy more interested in celebrity and making money than in culinary integrity; I also suspected he must be a tyrant who upbraids and alienates his staff. The other was that Alice Waters would be an almost universally beloved figure, a benevolent Earth Mama of gastronomy. (I knew she and Jeremiah Tower, the chef who first made Chez Panisse famous, had their disagreements, but I thought that was just between them.)

But Puck turned out to be a thoughtful, gentle guy behind all the aggressive marketing and franchising, and I think he really wants to democratize good eating. Also, the cooking at his flagship, Spago in Beverly Hills, is excellent and not on autopilot, and it turns out that he is warmly regarded by his staff and his colleagues. As for Waters, it's not as if I discovered that she is a bad person--she isn't--but I learned that a lot of the people who worked with her in the early days of Chez Panisse in Berkeley have issues with her. Unbidden, people sought me out (as they learned I was writing this book) to express their frustration that they didn't get enough credit for this or that at Chez Panisse, that they think Waters has hoarded the credit. I am still getting e-mails via my web site, www.davidkamp.com, from disgruntled ex-Panissers who are mad at me for not finding them and airing their anti-Alice grievances in the book. I suppose that's an indication of how culturally important Chez Panisse is to food people, but sheesh, it would make for some grim reading to run everyone's complaints.

In Waters's defense, she IS the one who's stayed on board the whole time while others have left, and her grand vision of fresh, local, and seasonal food is noble. The more legit criticism of Waters, aired in the book by some big-name chefs who have worked with her or interacted with her, people like Mark Miller, Rick Bayless, and Tom Colicchio, is that she's too unyielding a food-politics person: too scolding, too dogmatic, too inflexible.

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Arlington, Va: What inspired you to write this book? Had you ever written

about food before this project?

David Kamp: I am not a food writer, more of a generalist writer on culture (music, literature, film, etc.), chiefly for Vanity Fair. So, to answer your question, I'd never written about food before. But food is my off-duty passion; in my downtime, I love to eat, cook, go to restaurants, and read magazines like Cook's Illustrated and books about food by the likes of A.J. Liebling and M.F.K. Fisher. I kept casting about for a book that would explain the hyper-accelerated evolution of American eating habits and how we went from the iceberg lettuce and processed cheese of my youth (it was a big deal when my parents put out the Wispride wine cheddar in a crock--for company) to our current era of ubiquitous baby greens and goat cheese and so on. But I couldn't find this book to read. And I realized what a fun, character-driven story it could be if only someone endeavored to write it. So I thought, well, why not me?

Also, I'd long been fascinated by food people; one of the most entertaining hours of TV I'd ever watched, over a decade ago, was a PBS tribute to Julia Child, aired on the occasion of her 80th birthday, I think. A lot of it was simply old clips from "The French Chef," and they were mesmerising, touching, and hilarious; I remember watching the show with my wife and saying to her, "I don't think I've ever been more entertained."

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Curious: So what's next for food in this country? Is it still an

adolescent or is it closer to adulthood?

David Kamp: We're still very much in our culinary adolescence. We're a young country compared with Italy, France, China, or Japan. In all those places, food is a cornerstone of cultural identity, as much a part of your makeup as the music you listen to, the team you root for, etc. In America we're just getting into that idea, and we're doing it in a very American way, with status foods and celebrity chefs. It can get a little ridiculous, but it's generally a positive thing.

As for the future, I think we're going to get more curious about the provenance of our food--meaning, where did this strip steak come from, which farm grew this tomato, etc. Less of the anonymous agribusiness suppliers. I was on the Today show and told Matt Lauer that we were going to go from celebrity chefs to celebrity farmers, and he laughed, but I was only semi-facetious. I think we'll be hearing more about farmers who are farming for taste, to put our a superior-tasting and chemical-free product, and we'll embrace that product. But please don't let this answer make you think I'm one of those super-virtuous, preachy people. I think a big problem with a lot of the modern food-politics movement is how deathly serious everyone is. That's why I love and respect Julia Child; she stood for food with integrity, but she was also silly and bawdy. Which I am, too, especially after I've had a cocktail.

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Washington, DC: Is gourmet eating really that widespread or just something that's caught the fancy of the media and Food Network? Don't most Americans still eat pretty simply, frequenting suburban chain restaurants, and, gasp, McDonalds?

David Kamp: Oy, the word "gourmet." A confession: I don't love the subtitle of my book, "How We Became a Gourmet Nation." (But I do love the main title, "The United States of Arugula," even though the Wash Post and NY Times reviewers both made fun of it. Nora Ephron comforted me by saying she'd caught even worse grief for calling her book "I Feel Bad About My Neck." Readers, rise up against these anti-silly-title Philistines at the big papers!)

Anyway, the "Gourmet Nation" phrase was a tidy phrase formulated by my editors and me to explain the book, and if I had to do it all over, I'd use a different phrase, because the book itself makes no claim that, as a nation, we are all now gourmets. But the book does claim that food in America is better in terms of quality and breadth of choice than it's ever been. If we care to, we can all eat better than any Americans before us. But not everyone cares to.

Nevertheless, don't fall into that trap that it's strictly a media-Food Network thing. All you have to do is walk into a Starbucks and see them selling mundane things--croissants, scones, sandwiches with arugula and brie in them--that were at the forefront of culinary exotica in 1978. Growing up in New Jersey, I never knew what salsa was until the 1980s, when I was in my teens. No, we're not a nation of gourmet eaters, but we're a nation that's more culinarily adventurous and open-minded and not pigeonholed by our own ethnic/cultural backgrounds. And that's great.

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Anonymous: I'm so glad you mention the idea of celebrity farmer! It's

about time we revere the stewards of our land! Thank you.

David Kamp: Thanks for your kind words. Yes, all hail the small farmers! That's one thing that always drives me crazy when things like artisanal goat cheese and field greens are considered "elitist." These products are being made or grown by farmers who are working their arses off night and day, year-round, to make a living and deliver a product they believe in, for a very modest profit margin.

The bogus notion that such food is just for precious, sanctimonious twits is enervating. Though I admit to having seen some precious, sanctimonious twits eat goat cheese.

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Logan Circle, Washington, DC: Haven't read the book yet, but from the review, I can completely relate. Growing up, my mom served standard midwestern fare - meat, potatoes, veg, and the occasional pie. In the last 10 years, since I moved away from home, I've been exposed to and enjoy foods I never had growing up: arugula, garlic, cheese that doesn't come in slices wrapped in plastic, truffle olive oil, etc. Looking at cookbooks from the 50s and 60s suggests that it's not just that my family ate simply, but that Americans in general did. What my mom cooked was fuel (though now and then I crave fried chicken and mashed potatoes) but what I cook or eat out just tastes so much better and more interesting. I'm glad we've progressed beyond jello molds!

David Kamp: Your experience sounds a lot like mine. The joy in your note is kind of what I wanted to capture in this book. Let me make it clear: This is a book motivated by the *pleasure* of eating, the pleasure of discovering new foods and the idea that we could have it better. And the amazing thing is, there are great characters and stories behind a lot of these advances and new ingredients. That's what was fun about interviewing someone like Giorgio DeLuca of Dean & DeLuca, who effectively introduced Americans to such Italian specialties as balsamic vinegar and sun-dried tomatoes (which weren't even nationally popular in Italy!). DeLuca is a great raconteur, as were a lot of the people I interviewed, from Chuck Williams of Williams-Sonoma to Judith Jones, the book editor who took a chance on Julia Child, to even someone like Bobby Flay, who reveals more depth, humor, and thoughtfulness in personal conversation (and in the book) than he does on TV.

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goat cheese twit: Please tell me I'm not a pretentious twit for loving goat cheese and wanting to eat it 24/7. I grew up in a family that ate Kraft slices and now, going to a really nice cheese section in a grocery store is like sightseeing in Italy - I want to consume it all.

David Kamp: No, no, no, you're not a goat-cheese twit. You're a goat-cheese ENTHUSIAST. Nothing wrong with that. I mean, look at me: I am very excited, perhaps too excited, about the wedge of Humboldt Fog (from Cypress Grove dairy in California) and the wedge of Coach Farm Triple Cream (from upstate New York) that are sitting in a drawer in my fridge right now. I can't decide which I'm going to eat this evening.

That's not pretentious, is it? (Don't answer.)

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Germantown, Md: After living in Germany and travelling throughout Europe for a dozen years, I noticed a few things there that generally don't ring true here. There, some of the best restaurants (not necesssarily expensive) are in the country whereas here truly good restaurants are almost always only in larger cities and country restaurants are fried chicken and BBQ joints. Secondly, there I could go many months of eating out without a bad meal (or service) experience. Here the converse is true. I can eat many a restaurant meal before I find anything particularly memorable. I find that Europe is generally far ahead of us in terms of quality, but thankfully our best feature is the diversity of ethnic foods. Your comments?

David Kamp: I was just discussing this phenomenon with my wife while we were in Ireland. Over there, in the countryside of West Cork, there are wonderful little tea rooms everywhere that serve simple, good stuff: homemade soups and chowders, fresh-baked scones and pastries, simple toasted-cheese sandwiches in which both the bread and the cheese are local and fresh. And everything was so cheap! I wonder why we don't have more tea-room type places here.

But I think you're talking more about fine dining, or at least somewhat sophisticated dining. Sure, big cities are magnets for good chefs, but your generalization is... a generalization. The U.S. is such a big country that perhaps you haven't experienced some of the better restaurants in the suburbs and countryside. Maybe Europe is ahead of us in this regard, but they've had, what, a 1,000-year jump on us?

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Alexandria, Va: Great chat! As a professional chef there is a small, but growing trend of "simplicity cooking". People are slowly but surely being attracted to chefs who are making beautiful presentations out of easy recipes and basic ingredients. Don't get me wrong...incredibly masterful chefs like Michel Richard, who plays more with the science end of cooking with out-of-this-world results will have a following. But it's the middle class level of diners who are given culinary opportunities where smart chefs are starting to prove that less is more.

David Kamp: Yes, you're right. As a home cook, my favorite meals are simple, not epic two-day Julia Child-fests. I love nothing more than a late-summer meal of burgers, local corn, and those psychedelically colored heirloom tomatoes with sea salt on them. One little starter plate I do in springtime is something I ripped off from a little restaurant in NYC's Greenwich Village called Bellavitae. In May/June, when bright-green favas are in season, you peel and blanch them just enough to make them tender, then serve them on a plate with some crumbles of pecorino cheese, and on top you drizzle the best olive oil you can get ahold of. Three ingredients--cheese, favas, olive oil. That's also a good illustration of the evolution in ingredient availability: the cheese and oil are imports from Italy (a country whose foods were once thought to be irredeemably declasse) and the favas (in season) come from the farmer's market up the street that didn't exist when I was a kid.

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Gourmet eating on a budget: One of the challenges to eating well is to try to stay within a limited budget. I find that farmers' markets charge about the same as supermarkets for in-season foods, but that the local farmers have much higher quality produce, baked goods etc. Do you have some other helpful tips for those of us who can't afford to buy exorbitantly-priced ingredients?

David Kamp: Farmer's markets are good, and it's worth supporting them the best you can, because the farmers, too, are on a limited budget.

But the supermarkets are getting better as they try to retrofit themselves to catch up with Whole Foods. And don't be inordinately dazzled by the inordinately styled food in the "gourmet" food magazines. I buy cheap cuts like flank steak and marinate it all day in soy sauce and honey and garlic, and then grill it in a grill pan. So much so-called haute French cooking evolved from thrift--getting the most out of every cut of an animal by braising, slow-cooking, preserving, etc. There's something to be learned from that, and if you read Jacques Pepin's memoir, "The Apprentice," you can see how his family made the most of every last fruit, vegetable, and scrap of meat.

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David Kamp: Gang, I must sign off, alas; the goat cheese beckons. But I appreciate your thoughtful questions and hope you enjoy the book. I pointedly wrote it to be a fun read, and I think it'll be a good companion for your holiday travels between now and the end of the year. I have a Web site called www.davidkamp.com if you want to keep up with what's going on re: the book and my other writing.

Happy Thanksgiving, and next time, I'll bring some wine to make the conversation more interesting.

David

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