The multiple-James Beard Award--winning restaurant critic for Los Angeles Magazine delivers an arresting exploration of our cultural demand for "artisanal" foods in a world dominated by corporate agribusiness.

We hear the word "artisanal" all the time--attached to cheese, chocolate, coffee, even fast-food chain sandwiches--but what does it actually mean? We take "farm to table" and "handcrafted food" for granted now but how did we get here? In Finding the Flavors We Lost, acclaimed food writer Patric Kuh profiles major figures in the so-called...