I'm in the Mood for Food: In the Kitchen With Garfield »

Garfield debuted on June 19, 1978, in just 41 U.S. newspapers. Today it is the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world, with million of readers. Garfield, the lasagna-loving fat cat, lives in Muncie, Indiana, where he is kept well fed by his creator, cartoonist Jim Davis.

Over the years, Garfield the cat has struck a chord with readers who can identify with his laid-back, shall-we-say-lazy approach to life. The famous feline-whose passion for food and sleep is matched only by his aversion to diet and exercise (he prefers lie-downs to sit-ups)-has become the poster cat for all kinds of people, none of whom would ever describe themselves as "Type A's."

So what's wrong with that? Twenty-five years after cartoonist Jim Davis introduced this lovable character to newspaper readers, Garfield's timeless appeal remains at an all-time high. And to celebrate a quarter century as the world's favorite feline, Garfield introduces I'm in the Mood for Food: In the Kitchen with Garfield. Chock-full of tasty recipes, the cookbook also features spot art and food-related Garfield comics in color.

I'm in the Mood for Food includes chapters on family food, party food, pasta, outdoor cooking, kids' recipes, snacks and desserts. Consider some of these mouth-watering morsels:

• Lazy Cat's Lasagna

• Color Me Hungry Red Pepper Potato Frittata

• Royal Roasted Lemon-Herb Chicken

• I'd Rather Be Happy Than Thin Chocolate-Chunk Cookies

  All in all, I'm in the Mood for Food will appeal to cooks everywhere, especially those who love Garfield and, like him, believe that the best things in life are edible.

  Children's Literature

  Although designed with an adult market in mind, any kitchen-competent adolescent can follow these simple recipes to produce basic meals. There are a number of lasagna recipes—standard, deluxe, and vegetarian. Standard calls for a can of tomato sauce, while the deluxe and vegetarian varieties rely on cans of crushed tomatoes and a certain amount of diced veggies. Overall, then, the emphasis is on comfort foods: spaghetti and meatballs, mac and cheese, Tex-Mex chili. Comfort, of course, carries over into desserts. Who would think that the production of S'Mores requires an entire two-page essay on technique? And then there is the raison d'etre for the entire enterprise. This, naturally, is the appending of pertinent "Garfield" strips as well as a few single, possibly new, Garfield the Cat/hapless Jon images onto the pages, which add a certain cheerful color to the slim book. This is not a cookbook meant to compete with Julia Child but, for a franchise product, the end result is fairly successful.