'Appetite'
Nigel Slater
Clarkson Potter -- 2000
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Anyone titling a recipe "Classic, Unmucked-About-With Roast Chicken" is going to get our attention. Our Brooklyn kitchen measures 5-feet by 7-feet, so we're enormous fans of simple, hearty fare. So is Nigel Slater, an English toque who only uses a handful of seasonal ingredients in his recipes and would not take kindly to the notion that "back to basics" is some brand-new trend (this book printed in 2000). Slater's juicy roast chicken is our standby, his caramelized onion-taleggio tart has amazed many a dinner guest and his general approach to cooking -- welcoming, hilarious, opinionated -- is right up our alley.

Takeaway tips:

1. Not a book for those who like their measurements precise; Slater's a fan of "a handful" and "a bunch."
   
2. There's a knockout pantry guide: "A bag of pasta, a lump of Parmesan and a bottle of olive oil ... the best friends you will ever have."
   
3. Look for the "what goes with what" primer, which includes "marriages made in heaven" like figs and Roquefort.
   
4. Pour yourself a drink before cooking (his words, not ours).
5. Look for the "and more" at the end of each recipe (i.e.: A Potato Supper "with sausage" or "with cheese").
   

Quality of pictures: These are snapshots for real, hungry cooks, with droolworthy pics of the greasy inside of a skillet, an Impressionistic stained apron and a closeup of freshly plucked sage you can nearly smell.

We tested: Roast Chicken, A Tart for a Party

Not all appetite suppressants come in pill form. After all, food itself is an appetite suppressant. The trick is not to used hamburgers and macaroni and cheese, but to opt for more filling and less fattening alternatives. Fortunately, it is actually easy to incorporate some of these filling foods into your regular diet without totally changing the way you eat and without giving in to temptation too often.

Registered dietitians recommend high fiber, low fat foods as the best ways to fill up without filling out. Some top choices are:

• Pine nuts -- fatty acids in pine nuts trigger the release cholecystokinin (CKK), a hormone that could help suppress appetite.
• Spicy foods -- can boost your metabolism and "dull your taste buds so you're apt to eat less." On the positive side, the spices will taste great even if whatever you're tempted to eat after doesn't.
• Apples -- high fiber, low calorie. They have more fiber per bite than other fruits and one before a meal can help speed satiety.
• Milk -- the research is still up in the air, but some scientists think that the calcium in dairy can help break down fat.
• Light greens -- cabbage, celery and lettuce (as well as cucumbers) are very low in calories and can be added to most meals or salads to bulk them up.

Doctors in India have quelled the hunger of a man known to eat buckets of rice and curry in a single sitting, the Hindustan Times reports. For the 64-year-old man named Rappai, eating hundreds of idlis (steamed lentil biscuits, left) in competitions was no big deal. He was apparently the bane of all-you-can-eat restaurants in Thrissur and Kerala, where he earned the nickname Theeta or "monstrous eater." Digestive problems seem to have eventually caught up with Rappai, however, and his doctors have told him to cool it. He has agreed, much to the joy of the local restaurant community, says the HT.