"The ideological mainstream in our day, " meanwhile, are Modernist Cuisine publishers such as Nathan Myhrvold.

WSJ: Bruce Palling on Food: Taking a Bite Out of Foodie Culture

He followed up last year with the user-friendly, relatively slender (456 pages) Modernist Cuisine at Home .

FORBES: How Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine Became The World's Most Influential -- And Profitable -- Cookbook

Today Myhrvold announced that The Photography of Modernist Cuisine will debut this fall, finally placing coffee in a coffee-table book.

FORBES: How Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine Became The World's Most Influential -- And Profitable -- Cookbook