Spain...A Culinary Road Trip (2008)

This fall's most luscious culinary fantasy is probably Spain...A Culinary Road Trip, the companion volume to the new PBS series in which corpulent chef Mario Batali and willowy actress Gwyneth Paltrow eat and drink their way across the Iberian Peninsula. Though dutifully stocked with tidbits of history, the book 
 is dominated by glossy shots of the charismatic stars 
nibbling churros in postcard-perfect locations. Batali and Paltrow have a cute odd-couple rapport — he likes tongue terrine, she drinks coffee with soy milk — which lends the whole production some wit. As with so many of its ilk, 
 however, flipping through this handsome tome is a little like going to a party where everyone else is having a fabulous time, but no one ever speaks to you or passes the sangria. B