Chris Andrews tells you right up front that his new book, “A Culinary History of Mobile,” is a snapshot, not a definitive in-depth study, that the stories within it “represent only a fraction of the city’s rich culinary tapestry.”

You might think of it as an appetizer sampler platter: Bite-sized portions of a lot of intriguing flavors, some familiar, some eyebrow-raising, all rich and tasty. And reading it is a brisk experience, as befits its origins.

Andrews and his wife, Laney, are the founders of Bienville Bites food tours and an Eastern Shore spinoff, Taste of Fairhope tours. For six years now, Andrews has organized and led walking tours of downtown restaurants and other landmarks, working in some local history amid the seafood, barbecue and cocktails. Acknowledgements have included being ranked second in the nation earlier this year in a USA Today 10Best reader poll of food tour operations.

Andrews was familiar with a couple of tour operators in other cities who’d augmented their programs with books on their respective local dining scenes. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut things down, he saw an opportunity to bang out a quick book expanding on the local history he’d already learned through designing and conducting his tours.

That went about as well as a lot of people’s grand self-improvement plans during the shutdown. As life ever-so-slowly returned to normal, it got harder and harder to find time for the book project, which stretched out to a three-year effort. Andrews gives a lot of credit to supportive folks at The History Press for nudging him along.

“They stayed on me throughout the process,” he said. “They were pushing me along, especially toward the finish line.”

Fortunately, the struggle doesn’t show, thanks to the structure Andrews chose. “A Culinary History of Mobile” weighs in at a little over 130 pages. Each of its dozen chapters starts with a specific restaurant and uses that as a jumping-off point to delve into a specific historical aspect of food in Mobile.

While some of the featured restaurants are partners in the Bienville Bites tour, not all are. Andrews also picks a couple outside the usual downtown territory covered by his company’s tours.

“I think the first criteria was [to include] the iconic restaurants, you know, so Wintzell’s, A&M Peanut Shop, Dew Drop, Callaghan’s,” he said. “To me, those were non-negotiable. Those are the iconic restaurants of Mobile, especially for this day and time. Those were the Mount Rushmore, in my mind, of Mobile restaurants.”

A visit to Wintzell’s is, naturally, a springboard to the subject of oysters. The Peanut Shop has a fine story in its own right, but it’s also part of the story of the peanut, a critical foodstuff in earlier, leaner times. The Dew Drop opens the door to a general discussion of the early 1900s, when Mobile’s docks were a major import site for bananas, downtown landmarks were rising and the roots of the modern restaurant scene were beginning to develop thanks to institutions such as the original Morrisson’s cafeteria. Callaghan’s is a stepping stone to Oakleigh and the antebellum era in which it was built.

It’s an approach that, by design, hits highlights but is far from comprehensive. That’s especially obvious, Andrews acknowledges, when it comes to the wave of Greek restaurateurs who had a massive impact on the area’s dining habits in the middle to late 20th century.

“100%, the Greek restaurants could be a book on their own,” Andrews said. “I probably should have put that in the book. The Greek Restaurant scene deserves its own book. There’s no doubt about it. I left out so many Greek restaurants and there’s probably so many out there that we don’t even know about.”

But what it does, “The Culinary History of Mobile” does well, and it capitalizes on some relatively new restaurants to cover some of its historical bases. Squid Ink, whose décor and menu honors colonial-era French official Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, allows some exploration of the era of Mobile’s founding. The speakeasy-style Las Floriditas is a handy place to have a rum drink and ponder the days of Prohibition, and Mobile’s connection to Cuba. The Joe Cain Café obviously presents a chance to talk about its namesake, and Mardi Gras tradition in general.

Andrews was to celebrate the release of “A Culinary History of Mobile” with a launch party starting at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 23, at The Haunted Book Shop. After that, he said, the book will be available at The Haunted Book Shop and other area booksellers.

Andrews said his hopes for the book are straightforward. He’d like it to augment Bienville Bites, drawing new patrons to the tours and giving his existing customer base something they can add to the experience.

He thinks it’ll appeal most to locals, with tidbits that expand their knowledge and appreciation of their hometown food scene. One interesting riff: Andrews lays out some evidence that Mobile might be considered the birthplace of jambalaya, or at the very least, a critical place in the early development of the coastal staple.

“There’s still open debate about jambalaya,” he said. “We can leave that as an open dialogue and an open debate that, you know, I’m not going to explicitly say that Mobile created jambalaya. I don’t think that would be objective.”

Though he’s quick to say that another, more substantial book could expand on some of the topics touched on in “A Culinary History of Mobile,” Andrews is pretty sure he won’t be the one to write it.

Writing this one was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever write another one. I could certainly change my mind in the future, but I don’t foresee another one. That’s not my plan anyway.”

“I’m just a guy who loves history and loves good food and I’ve got a lot of content from these food tours,” he said. “I saw a void and I thought, well, if nobody else is going to do it, I might as well fill that void.”

“Maybe it reveals some hidden hunger,” he said. “And if nothing else, you know, at the end of the tour people go, ‘Where can I learn more?’”

Now he’s got a handy answer.

For more information on Bienville Bites tours, and “The Culinary History of Mobile,” visit https://bienvillebitesfoodtour.com/. A second release event will be held at 5 p.m. Nov. 3 at Braided River Brewing.