It's not easy to make food sound delicious on the radio. You can't see it, can't taste it, can't even smell it.

But when Lynne Rossetto Kasper starts telling a caller on her American Public Media national radio show how to whip up a great dumpling or put together a 40-clove garlic chicken dish, somehow you can almost hear the sizzle and breathe in the delicious scent.

Kasper, well known to Sunday afternoon listeners of WUNC-FM in this area, will be in town this week to make two appearances to sign and talk about her new cookbook, "The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper."

Kasper will be at A Southern Season in University Mall today from 3 to 5 p.m., and she'll be at McIntyre's Fine Books in Fearrington Village Thursday, also from 3 to 5 p.m.

For more than 20 years, the James Beard Award-winner has been recognized as one of America's leading food authorities, commentators and cultural historians. "The Splendid Table," which she created and hosts, is a staple of American Public Media, and her print column, "Ask the Splendid Table," is distributed to more than 400 newspapers across the nation.

"How to Eat Supper" is her third cookbook. In it, Kasper and her Splendid Table co-host Sally Swift have compiled many of the most useful tips, recipes and culinary know-how from the program.

The book went on sale Tuesday, and copies will be available for purchase at both sites.

Kasper has been featured in The New York Times, People, Saveur, The Wall Street Journal, Gourmet, Newsweek, Cooking Light, Cook's Illustrated, and Home. She has appeared on television on the Jim Lehrer News Hour, Food Network, Good Morning America, and Julia Child's Master Chef, among others, and she has won awards for her work as a radio host, cookbook author, food writer and teacher.

For information about Kasper's visit to A Southern Season, call 929-7133.

For information about her visit to McIntyre's, call (919) 542-3030.