Islands in the sun

The "glory that was Greece" can be seen in superb sculpture, ceramics and temples, but the glory that is Greece can not only be seen, it can be tasted. And the mythic islands that dot the "wine dark" Aegean and Ionian Seas are the perfect place to taste simple and sophisticated Greek food, with flavors as bold and bright as the sun-splashed white houses perched on their rocky cliffs. The next best thing to sitting in a taverna, sipping ouzo while you wait for your Shrimp Baked in Tomato Sauce with Feta, is The Foods of the Greek Islands, Aglaia Kremezi's tribute to "Cooking and Culture at the Crossroads of the Mediterranean." Ms. Kremezi, an authority on Greek food, journalist and photographer (she took all the lovely photos included), spent eight years collecting thousands of recipes from island cooks who have inherited them from generations past. For her book, she selected dishes that can be made successfully in American home kitchens and serves them to us sauced with history and tradition. That makes it an ideal gift for "armchair cooks," who can browse through these pages imagining themselves in Odysseus' rugged Ithaca eating Grilled Bonito Steaks with Garlic and Lemon or at a Greek Easter dinner, savoring a fragrant, tender Leg of Lamb stuffed with Greens and Feta. Hands-on cooks can make those dishes for friends and family as well as exotically-spiced Cephalonian Meat Pie, Chicken Baked with Orzo, tiny pear-shaped Tangerine-Scented Almond Cookies and so much more. This is true ticketless travel.

Sybil Pratt has been cooking up this column for more than five years.