7-letter words:
• auspice • espials • hippier • hippies • pierces • precipe • precool	• pushier • recipes • recoals • shipper • special • spicier • whipper
8-letter words:
• especial • precipes • precools	• specials • whippier

Oldest trick in the book, gentlemen.  You take your weakest grunt, you pair him with your strongest, then you give ’em mutual goals to motivate ’em.
—Ben Weaver, Brothers in Arms (2001)

Each one of the pictures below is entitled "Unknown Fisherman."  Is an Unknown Fisherman some sort of archetypal figure?  He is symbolic by his very nature, for we know nothing about him.  What does his appearance suggest?  Is he a manifestation of the Fisher King of Arthurian legend?  And/or a Christ figure?  Does he hold the Salmon of Wisdom from Irish mythology?

Here's an anecdote by a person who carried an Atlantic salmon fly from one corner of Europe to the other, with the sole purpose of giving it to an unknown fisherman.  The quest sounds like some sort of pilgrimage, and the gift sounds like a tribute to a deity.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I am against the pestering and/or killing of fish.)

The market for food books appears, at last, to have begun devouring itself.  Nearly every topic worth writing about has been written about, and the well of reliable, interesting information on food, once thought inexhaustible, is beginning to run dry.

In circumstances such as these, author Barry Foy believes that an honorable writer has nowhere to go but sideways, into the realm of lies, misleading claims, and baseless speculation. With its hundreds of entries on subjects ranging from ingredients to utensils to techniques, plus its you-are-there historical coverage of everything from the little-known Icelandic roots of cheese to the strange case of Emil the Talking Black-Eyed Pea, The Devil's Food Dictionary promises much-needed relief to the foodish reader who finds him/herself sagging under the burden of informativeness and credibility.

smorgasbord  also smörgasbord; smorgäsbord; smorgasbörd; smörgasbörd; smörgäsbord; smorgäsbörd; smörgäsbörd; smörgäsbörrd: A lavish Swedish buffet traditionally consisting of four courses plus dessert. The first course is always herring, the undisputed king of Scandinavian foods. This can include pickled, smoked, and/or fried herring, as well as pickled smoked herring, pickled fried herring, and fried smoked herring. The second course moves on to other types of seafood, such as salmon in herring sauce, herring-smoked eels, and jellied sprats (a relative of the herring). Third come meats such as veal and beef in various delectable forms, but the unpopularity of those dishes--owing to their lack of herring--usually results in their being donated to Somali refugee centers. The fourth course features traditional hot dishes, such as sprat gratin (herring can be substituted), baked onions stuffed with herring paste, and/or meatballs molded in the shape of a herring (or a sprat). The dessert lineup is enshrined in tradition and unfailingly includes herringberry coffee cake, creamy cheesecake from which all herring (or sprat) bones have been painstakingly removed, and s'mores, the chocolate-marshmallow-graham cracker confection after which the smorgasbord is named.

7-letter words:
• aspises • basenji • basinet • beastie • boatmen • fainest	• mutases • mutines • outsees • pinetum • spinets • website
8-letter words:
• abatises • basifies	• beasties • websites