If there were a single reason the world should have ended when the ancient Mayans said it would, it might have been The MILF Diet.

See also: The PDT Cocktail Book: Does It Belong on Your Shelf?

But the world didn't end. And now, as of January 1, The MILF Diet, by Jessica Porter, who also wrote The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics, has been released so that its title can forever sear itself into our collective consciousness and cause women everywhere to slap their foreheads and exclaim, "What the f---, Jessica?"

Supposedly, The MILF Diet: Let the Power of Whole Foods Transform Your Body, Mind and Spirit Deliciously!, is Porter's answer to unleashing "your inner MILF" by eating whole, plant-based foods.

Think it can't get much creepier than the title? Oh, but it can.

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As diseases go, Alzheimer's is a real asshole.

Over several years, it can rob you of your memory, change your personality, and eventually lead to death. There's no cure. And in America, over 5 million people have it.

But there is hope. Dr. Marwan Sabbagh, a leading Alzheimer's Disease researcher, says there's evidence that changes to one's diet can reduce the risk or delay the onset of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia and memory loss.

And modifying what we eat is easier when the food tastes good. That's why Dr. Sabbagh teamed up with celebu-chef Beau MacMillan, (Elements at Sanctuary) for The Alzheimer's Prevention Cookbook, released earlier this month.

Bowlful of Brain-Boosting Broth anyone?

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At some point during your 85th trip to San Diego, while speeding down the highway in a car that reeks of Doritos and Red Vines and listening to your friend's favorite crap-ass local band on the CD player because she's doing the "hot" guitar player, maybe you've thought, "I'd rather be roping and herding cattle, trail riding through the wilderness, and making prickly pear syrup."

This just-released book is for you.

By local author and travel writer, Lili DeBarbieri, A Guide to Southern Arizona's Historic Farms & Ranches: Rustic Southwest Retreats, aims to help adventurous types find the perfect spots to experience southwestern heritage culture, and cuisine.

And if Spain's first mission in the continental United States, a heritage seed farm, the place to see a sandhill crane migration, and a Butterfield Stagecoach stop don't light your suitcase on fire just yet, there's also a chapter on Carol Steele's (hurry-and-go-'cause-it's-for-sale) Aravaipa Farms.

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The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, is coming to our frontier!

On Saturday, April 28, Ree Drummond will be signing books and shaking hands with fans in celebration of her second book, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks Food From My Frontier," at an event sponsored by Changing Hands Bookstore.

The event will be held at 2 p.m. Dobson High School's auditorium. Find the details here.

The long-awaited cookbook is brimming with fully illustrated recipes that cover every meal. If you don't already know The Pioneer Woman, you're in for a pleasant surprise, because not only is Drummond damn funny, she's one of the most admirable jack of all trades on the Internet. Her award-winning blog, ThePioneerWoman.com, helped blaze the trail for turning blogs into success. She's even got her own slot on The Food Network.

And she kindly shared two recipes from her book with Chow Bella.

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Gustavo Arellano/Scribner

Gustavo Arellano, the scribe behind the syndicated column ¡Ask a Mexican! (and also editor-in-chief of New Times' sister paper, OC Weekly), is on a quest to find out just how Mexican food got to be el norte's most American one. He's explored the Aztecs' contribution to world cuisine, the latest street food trends, and profiled cooking personalities who helped make it so popular like Diana Kennedy and Rick Bayless. He's even tackled words like "authentic" and "gringo."

And then he wrote a book about it.

Arellano's new book, Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, is on shelves now, and the author is making a stop at Changing Hands Bookstore at 4 p.m., Saturday, April 21, to talk about it. Here's ten nuggets of wisdom Arellano's learned from his historical deep dive into Mexican food.

- The first frozen margarita machine was invented by Dallas native Mariano Martinez in 1971 and has been deemed so culturally important that it's preserved in the Smithsonian.

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Jennifer Woods

We know the federal farm bill is up for renewal this year. We also know that the farm bill is a mucked-up sludgy mess of a bill that doesn't properly serve the food producers or eaters. Want to know exactly what the whole fuss is over and what's really going on?

We have the answer.

We recently received a review copy of Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to the Next Food and Farm Bill by Daniel Imhoff. It's a fantastic primer.

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​Remember Martin Cizmar? He was our music critic at Phoenix New Times (left last year, he's now at the Willamette Week in Portland, Oregon) and he also kicked up some dust in the Phoenix food community.

As you might recall, Cizmar got into a bit of a tiff with Earl's BBQ (there's still a "Wanted" posted up at Earl's with his picture on it); called out Papago Brewing on an April Fool's Day joke gone wrong; and thought that he could out-do the pros at a BBQ festival -- yeah, that guy.

Well, love him or hate him, Cizmar wrote a "how to lose weight book" and it totally blows.

Just kidding. It's actually really good. As far as diet books go, it may be the most informative and funny one I have read.

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​Hey Chow Bella readers -- and pie lovers everywhere!

Want to be a judge at the second-annual Pie Social, coming up Saturday, November 12 on Roosevelt Row in downtown Phoenix? We've got a star-studded line-up of celeb bakers, and we're looking for one more judge to round out our panel.

Intrigued? It's (almost) as simple as leaving a comment on a blog post. 

Details after the jump.

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Until restaurants became popular in the 1800's, a printed menu, unless it was a special occasion, was as rare a sight as eating with your hat on. Since then, menu design has become more and more important as a branding tool, an excuse to sit back and peruse an establishment's offerings, hell, even a keepsake.

Now, thanks to Menu Design in America: 1850-1985, there exists an omnibus of nearly 800 full-color examples of this art form, helping to build a visual past of dining habits and restaurants across the U.S.A.

From first-class publisher Taschen, the book includes menu covers and interiors, photographs of restaurants, an introduction on the history of menu design by graphic design writer Steven Heller, and extended captions by culinary historian John Mariani.

For a beautifully done peek into our gastronomic history of dining out via graphic design, this book's for you.

My copy arrived last week and there hasn't been a day I haven't picked it up and enjoyed turning a page or two. Want one for yourself or a foodie friend? Go here.

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Watching Plenty -- the veggie-centric cookbook by chef, restaurateur, and "New Vegetarian" food columnist Yotam Ottolenghi -- climb to the final round in Food52's Piglet cookbook competition last year was a frustrating experience. The cookbook, published in the U.K. in 2010, had yet to be released in the U.S., and what I was reading gave me the "I wants" for this cookbook I couldn't yet get.

Sure, I could find many of the recipes included in the cookbook by Ottolenghi on The Guardian's website, but I was looking for the big picture point of view that a cookbook in hand offers, from the creative chef, part of the team behind the celebrated Ottolenghi take away shops in London. The book hit the U.S. market last spring, delivering updated versions of recipes previously published in Ottolenghi's Guardian column, new recipes, and page popping food photography by Jonathan Lovekin.

The verdict? Get it after the jump.

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