NONFICTION - Sept. 1, 1991

WHY WE EAT WHAT WE EAT by Raymond Sokolov (Summit Books: $22; 244 pp.) Come with us now, to those thrilling days of yesteryear--1492, to be exact, when Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas and put the pomodoro in pappa al pomodoro , the pommes in pommes frites , and, for that matter, the cheese in a quesadilla . Sokolov, editor of The Wall Street Journal’s Leisure & Arts page, wanted to know how various cuisines came to be--and realized that Columbus had perpetrated the single great culinary exchange that would transform world cuisines. Despite an enduring snobbery, in certain foody circles, about what we think is culinary authenticity, Sokolov explains--in an irresistibly energetic, anecdotal style--that what we eat is always in flux, that sanctifying pasta with tomato sauce is ludicrous because there was no tomato sauce until Columbus found the tomatoes. First Sokolov discusses who gave what to whom, country by country, then he offers up pithy histories of some of our favorite foods and dishes. Last, he takes a look at nouvelle cuisine, the current interest in regional foods, and what he applauds as revolutionary new combinations of food.