The good folks at Leite’s Culinaria have posted their list of the Best 20 Food Books of 2006. Topping the list is not a cookbook, but Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

“If you haven’t read it, do yourself the favor. It’s one of the most important food books to come along in memory. In it Pollan traces four meals back to their natural roots: a McDonald’s lunch eaten on the go, a meal made with ingredients from Whole Foods, a chicken dinner cooked with foods from a small über-organic Virginia farm, and a banquet comprised of items Pollan foraged and hunted. You’ll be fascinated, horrified, awestruck, and think twice about the foods you put in your body. Plus we guarantee you’ll never look at corn the same way again.”

I’m inclined to agree with their nomination; after all, I included it in the Culinary Lit gift guide. Pollan’s book is not only important and extremely edifying, but an outright enjoyable read. It will force you to see everything you eat in a new light. It will make you long for a pastoral farm where happy animals produce healthful food. And it will probably squelch any fantasies you’ve had about boar hunting. In any case, it will absolutely change the way you eat, or at least what you know about what you eat.