Book excerpt: A culinary genius who helped change the way America eats, Sheila Lukins is the cook behind the phenomenal success of The Silver Palate Cookbooks and The New Basics Cookbook, with over 5 million copies in print. Now Sheila embarks on her first solo journey, visiting 33 countries on a cooks tour of cuisines, ingredients, and tastes. The result is pure alchemy--a new kind of American cookbook that reinterprets the best of the worlds food in 450 dazzling, original recipes. In addition, there are new wines to discover, menus to experiment with, ingredients to learn, spice cabinets to raid--and travelogues to savor. Main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club's HomeStyle Books and Better Homes & Gardens Family Book Service; and selection of the Quality Paperback Book Club.