Elizabeth Schneider

There was a time when this cookbook/reference was more useful. But what were "uncommon" fruits and vegetables when it was published have now moved into the mainstream. You can buy star fruit and chayote in any supermarket. But back in the 1980s, much of today's ordinary produce seemed exotic. I was introduced to mangoes, for example, when I read a memoir about eating them as a child in a Gourmet magazine of that era. I love the pretty pen-and-ink drawings of the food. And who knew that kumquats aren't really citrus?… (meer)

At 6 pounds, Elizabeth Schneider's Vegetables From Amaranth to Zucchini: The Essential Reference: 500 Recipes and 275 Photographs is an absolute doorstop of a book. Happily for a book of this size and density, the text is quite lively ... educational, surely, but with just enough humor to keep things fun.

Every entry is accompanied by a full color photograph of the subject, includes common and botanical names, and gives some history of the vegetable as well as providing lots of good information regarding selection, storage, and cooking. The author is even nice enough to toss in a few recipes with each entry ("Parsley Root-Bean Puree with Bacon and Shallots" ... yum).

I also appreciated that rather than having a general entry called "Mushrooms" each variety was given it's own entry and full justice. Where I expected to find a general mushroom entry is instead a couple pages of thumbnail photographs and "see also" -- very nice idea for those of us who want a quick and easy visual guide for identifying the gnarly-looking mushroom we bought yesterday.

This book is very thoroughly indexed (Multiple indexes! By recipe category! By common and botanical name! By recipe, recipe ideas, chefs and cooks! I am in love) and comes with a nice bibliography full of some interesting sounding books.

I love this book and, if I owned it, would keep by my bedside table and read it every night.… (meer)