Book excerpt: From birth until death, food and drink are the keystones of human existence as eating and drinking have always sustained our imaginations as well as our bodies, feeding our common need for art. In these volumes, the American Institute of Wine & Food gathers together the imaginative fare of writers, artists, chefs, food historians, and children to celebrate and illustrate gastronomy, the art and science of eating. Writings from Michael Jackson, Sharon Olds, Michael Dorris, Margaret Visser, Charles Simic, Carol Field, and David Mas Masumoto, among others, join with the art of painters and photographers such as Frida Kahlo, Tessa Traeger, Diego Rivera, Gary Kelley, Jeffrey Alford, and Naomi Duguid. Together these offerings represent some of the best culinary works of past and present and produce a feast for both the eyes and the mind.