In his Devil's Dictionary, a work of "cynical lexicography" published in 1911, satirist Ambrose Bierce skewered politics, religion, business and the average man by wryly redefining common terms. Referring to a dictionary as "a malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic," he suggested that author and lexicographer Noah Webster should have brought a little humor to his undertakings.

Humorist Barry Foy, author of The Devil's Food Dictionary: A Pioneering Culinary Reference Work Consisting Entirely of Lies (illustrations by John Boesche; ISBN 978-0-9817590-0-5; Frogchart Press, 2009) would probably agree (he at least pays homage to his predecessor, riffing on his title). Foy's book is a compendium of some 1,100 food-related terms that have been given new, comic definitions and, among other things, suggests that uptight foodies should lighten up.

The book bills itself as "The Most Unreliable Food Book Ever," and that's one of the few truthful statements to be found within its pages. Even the back-cover blurbs are fabricated (one is attributed to Bierce himself), as is Foy's biography. There's a handy bibliography, but don't go looking for titles like Teach Yourself Stirring or So You Want to Be a Temperature! at the library.

Actually, the book's claim to full-on phoniness isn't entirely true. Some definitions start out in the realm of fact:

Squid A soft, ten-armed sea creature that is a fixture of the cuisines of East Asia and the Mediterranean — and then veer off into the land of the ridiculous:

Squid range from tiny, no more than bite size, to gigantic and completely fictional, such as in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Given a choice, bite size are preferable, as the fictional ones have no taste.

Sometimes it's easy to recognize the lie:

Persillade One of the great ancient epics of Iran, and perhaps the only classic tale whose subject is garnishes.

Other times, what you're reading sounds like a falsehood, but a little investigating reveals that it's actually true:

Retsina A type of Greek wine originally flavored with pine resin ...

Some of Foy's characterizations, while not exactly dictionary-quality in their accuracy, have an oblique truth that's hard to argue with:

Bisque A soup with most of its liquid removed and replaced by flavor.

Consommé A tea made with animals.

Ethanol Corn that gives you gas."

At other times, Foy does anything but define the term in question:

Barbecue An extremely vague term for one or another of several approaches to cooking one or another type of food, usually meat except when it is something else, which make use of one or another cooking technique that most often involves smoke, though not always, and in which a sauce of one sort or another plays either an essential, a prominent, or a negligible role.

The work is impressively cross-referenced, although sometimes this is just Foy's excuse to spin you around in circles: the definition of chickpea refers you to garbanzo bean, which in turn sends you to kabli chana, pois chiche, ceci and back to chickpea — without ever actually defining the term.

Foy lampoons foodie pretension:

Foodie A category of generally affluent hypergourmet that developed as a reaction to progress. This is primarily a North American designation; a foodie from Italy, by comparison, is known simply as an Italian. The most extreme foodie may insist on incubating her own free range vintage artisanal yeast; a more moderate one may merely want the option of buying a loaf of bread made with ingredients considered edible by human beings.

Nonfoodies A category of persons who, before the advent of foodies, were known simply as "persons."

Sommelier The French name for a skilled professional who, after years of study and training, is qualified to operate and maintain the money-printing machine found in the cellar of an upscale restaurant.

He also incorporates a little food-related social commentary:

Agribusiness An approach to agriculture that maximizes efficiency by eliminating external factors such as human beings.

Farm, modern A state-of-the-art rural facility, equal parts mine and factory, specially designed to convert petroleum-based fuels, fertilizers, and pesticides into cheap food, massive debts, and contaminated aquifers. Most modern farms are situated within easy driving distance of supermarkets, so the people living on them will not starve.

Farmers market An open-air, producer-run food outlet whose minimal infrastructure, absence of middlemen, and other cost-cutting measures make it possible for vendors to charge higher prices than in supermarkets.

Organic food A term describing what our ancestors knew simply as "Food." ... Organic food is what Jesus would eat, if he could afford it."

And he mixes in some politics, too:

Cornbread A quick bread made with cornmeal. Southerners insist that good cornbread calls for white rather than yellow cornmeal ... the issue has been cited as one cause of the Civil War. That is almost certainly an exaggeration, but it may well explain why the United states invaded Iraq in 2003; at least, it is as plausible as any explanation offered so far.

Dumpling A generic name for an often homely looking, doughy object floating in warm liquid, not to be confused with Vice President Cheney in a hot tub.

On a more practical level, The Devil's Food Dictionary provides some clever (albeit misleading) cook's tips, including how to turn Crisco into extra-virgin olive oil, how to shop for carrots, and how to convert healthy recipes into dishes that actually taste good.

The Devil's Food Dictionary is obviously not a particularly helpful book — unless you need a good laugh, that is. Foy's is some of the funniest, most wickedly witty writing — food related or otherwise — on the shelves today. If you're like me, you will laugh out loud, and you won't want to put The Devil's Food Dictionary down — except maybe to get something to eat.