Posted by abe avila on May 08, 1998 at 01:42:59:
In Reply to: Re:My Favorite Books posted by g.e. willis on January 14, 1998 at 16:20:44:
: Some of my all-time favorite food books:
: 1.) The Time-Life "Foods of the World" series, published in 1968-69,
: is still inspirational, informative, and the recipes work. Seek
: out the volumes at used book stores (I've got 'em all except
: Africa, I think). This series did 30 years ago what "Saveur"
: does now in terms of travelogue and bringing authentic foods
: to the American kitchen.
: 2.) "Honey from a Weed," by Patience Gray. Reprinted last year
: in paperback! Real rootsy peasant fare from some great Med
: rim places: Catalonia, Greek islands, S. and N. Italy, etc.
: Full of entertaining stories and folklore, too.
: 3.) "Simple French Food" by Richard Olney.
: 4.) "The Auberge of the Flowering Hearth" by Roy Andries de Groot.
: A bit dated now, but another inspiring bedside book about the
: ultimate little alpine inn and its mythical kitchen.
: 5.) "When French Women Cook," by Madeleine Kamman. My only gripe
: is that her autobiographical stories about France in the 1940s and 1950s
: and the cooks who influenced her are only a page or two before each recipe
: section.
: 6.) Elizabeth David's "Mediterranean Cooking" and "French
: Country Cooking." (A hardcover from the 1960s contains
: both books in a single volume) David's recipes are notoriously
: brief and vague, but that's their charm. They seem to come
: directly from hasty transcriptions that she made, perhaps,
: as some country cook was speaking over her stove. If you already
: know basic skills, David's recipes make great sources of ideas
: for flavors and combinations of ingredients.