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Understanding Food: Principles & Preparation, 7th Edition

Amy Christine Brown

  • Copyright 2025
  • {{checkPublicationMessage('Published', '2024-03-22T00:00:00+0000')}}
Starting At $49.95 See pricing and ISBN options
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Understanding Food: Principles & Preparation 7th Edition by Amy Christine Brown
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Overview

Brown's UNDERSTANDING FOOD: PRINCIPLES AND PREPARATION, 7th Edition, has been a best-selling food fundamentals title for over 25 years. It takes the undergraduate student on a comprehensive journey through the science of food, covering the core content of three important fields -- nutrition science, food science and food service -- helping students to choose a career in the industry. Contemporary and comprehensive, the seventh edition discusses classification, composition, selection, purchasing and storage for a range of foods, and explores various aspects of food service, including food preparation, meal planning, equipment, food preservation and government regulations. This edition is available with an updated MindTap course, Cengage’s digital teaching and learning platform, that powers students from memorization to mastery.

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Meet the Authors

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Amy Christine Brown

Amy Christine Brown received her Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in 1986 in the field of Human Nutrition and Foods. She has been a college professor and a registered dietitian with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics since 1986. Dr. Brown currently teaches at the University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine in the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences. Her research interests are in the area of bioactive plant substances beneficial to health and medical nutrition therapy. Some of the studies she has conducted include "Diet and Crohn's Disease," "Potentially Harmful Herbal Supplements," "Kava Beverage Consumption and the Effect on Liver Function Tests" and "The Effectiveness of Kukui Nut Oil in Treating Psoriasis." Selected research journal publications include: "Position of the American Dietetic Association: Functional Foods" ("Journal of the American Dietetic Association" ); "The Hawaii Diet: Ad Libitum High Carbohydrate, Low Fat Multi-Cultural Diet For the Reduction of Chronic Disease Risk Factors" ("Hawaii Medical Journal"); "Lupus Rrythematosus and Nutrition: A Review" ("Journal of Renal Nutrition"); "Dietary Survey of Hopi Elementary School Students" ("Journal of the American Dietetic Association"); "Serum Cholesterol Levels of Non-Diabetic and Streptozotocin-Diabetic Rats" ("Artery"); "Infant Feeding Practices of Migrant Farm Laborers in Northern Colorado" ("Journal of the American Dietetic Association"); "Body Mass Index and Perceived Weight Status in Young Adults" ("Journal of Community Health"); "Dietary Intake and Body Composition of Mike Pigg—1988 Triathlete of the Year" ("Clinical Sports Medicine") and numerous newspaper nutrition columns.

What's New

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  • NEW Videos illustrate food principles and preparation.
  • Coverage is updated to include plant-based diets and food options.
  • New updates reflect the Dietary Guidelines, 2020–2025.
  • NEW Appendix includes Food Chemistry Composition Basics.
  • NEW Culinary Math feature has been added for menu, measurement and conversion techniques.
  • NEW professional kitchen and food preparation equipment has been added, explained and illustrated with photos.

Features

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  • Designs have been updated with full color images throughout, with an emphasis on updated photos of kitchen equipment. A rich design appeals to today's learners, adds impact to the book's charts and graphs and makes the information clearer and more engaging.
  • Problems and causes tables summarize the problems that may occur when preparing specific food products and describe the possible causes, providing students with a handy reference tool for deciphering "what went wrong."
  • Pictorial summaries: A proven favorite with readers, the Pictorial Summaries features close out each chapter with a combination of art and narrative text to encapsulate the key concepts for student review.
  • Chapter review questions help students prepare for both their class exams and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics registration examination.

Table of Contents

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PART I FOOD SCIENCE AND NUTRITION
1 Food Selection
2 Food Evaluation
3 Chemistry of Food Composition
PART II FOOD SERVICE
4 Food Safety
5 Meal Management
6 Food Preparation Basics
PART III FOODS PROTEIN—MEAT, POULTRY, FISH, DAIRY, & EGGS
7 Meat
8 Poultry
9 Fish and Shellfish
10 Milk
11 Cheese
12 Eggs
PHYTOCHEMICALS— VEGETABLES, FRUITS, SOUPS, & SALADS
13 Vegetables and Legumes
14 Fruits
15 Soups, Salads, and Gelatins
COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES— CEREALS, FLOUR, BREADS
16 Starches and Sauces
17 Cereal, Grains, and Pastas
18 Flours and Flour Mixtures
19 Quick Breads
20 Yeast Breads
DESSERTS—REFINED CARBOHYDRATES & FAT
21 Sweeteners
22 Fats and Oils
23 Cakes and Cookies
24 Pastries and Pies
25 Candy
26 Frozen Desserts
WATER—BEVERAGES
27 Beverages
PART IV FOOD INDUSTRY
28 Food Preservation
29 Government Food Regulations
30 Careers in Food and Nutrition

Compare Buying Options

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MindTap Options

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MindTap
Each MindTap product offers the full, mobile-ready textbook combined with superior and proven learning tools at one affordable price. Students who purchase digital access can add a print option at any time when a print option is available for their course.

This Cengage solution can be seamlessly integrated into most Learning Management Systems (Blackboard, Brightspace by D2L, Canvas, Moodle, and more) but does require a different ISBN for access codes. Please work with your Cengage Learning Consultant to ensure the proper course set up and ordering information. For additional information, please visit the LMS Integration site.

Standalone Digital Access — Ultimate Value

Recommended and most popular

  • ISBN-10: 0357974220
  • ISBN-13: 9780357974223
  • RETAIL $99.95
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Textbook Only Options

Traditional eBook and Print Options

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  • ISBN-10: 0357974204
  • ISBN-13: 9780357974209
  • RETAIL $49.95

  • ISBN-10: 0357974247
  • ISBN-13: 9780357974247
  • RETAIL $74.95

  • ISBN-10: 035797414X
  • ISBN-13: 9780357974148
  • RETAIL $185.95

  • ISBN-10: 8214189527
  • ISBN-13: 9798214189529
  • RETAIL $205.95
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Supplements

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Cengage provides a range of supplements that are updated in coordination with the main title selection. For more information about these supplements, contact your Learning Consultant.

FOR STUDENTS

MindTap for Brown's Understanding Food: Principles and Preparation, 1 term Instant Access

ISBN: 9780357974223
MindTap for Brown's UNDERSTANDING FOOD: PRINCIPLES AND PREPARATION, 7th Edition, is the digital learning solution that powers students from memorization to mastery. It gives you complete control of your course to provide engaging content, challenge every individual and build their confidence. Empower students to accelerate their progress with MindTap. MindTap: Powered by You. MindTap for Brown's UNDERSTANDING FOOD: PRINCIPLES AND PREPARATION, 7th Edition, gives you complete ownership of your content and learning experience. Customize the interactive syllabi, emphasize the most important topics and add your own material or notes in the eBook. MindTap's Diet and Wellness Plus app enables students to track diet and activities, generate reports and gain a better understanding of how nutrition and lifestyle choices relate to personal health goals.

eTextbook: Lab Manual for Brown's Understanding Food: Principles and Preparation

ISBN: 9780357974209
The Lab Manual includes recipes and experiments appropriate for a food principles and food preparation course, organized to match the sequence of topics in the text. Each lab begins with an introduction and pre-lab questions, followed by an overview of the objectives, procedures, recipes and post-lab questions.