One of the most profound differences between American and European movies is the prominence of cooking and eating in the European films. The occasional American character might stop at a fast food joint for a burger (especially if that chain had paid the film studio a handsome fee for visibility on the silver screen), but in European films, there is almost always at least one scene of characters preparing, relishing, or discussing food that they or a friend had created. Although From the Tables of Tuscan Women may seem at first glance to be a wonderful cookbook filled with exquisite recipes from the Tuscany, Anne Bianchi"s newest book is also a meditation about the intimate interdependence of food and life. Perhaps from a purely materialistic perspective, "we are what we eat" but Bianchi reminds us that "we are how we cook--and how we eat."