Joyce Goldstein is a first rate cookbook author, combining a lusciousness up there with Paula Wolfert's with a practical kitchen veteran's tone akin to Marcella Hazan's. This book includes the cultural background of the cuisine, contrasting it with the Ashkenazic tradition most people are more familiar with. And the recipes are amazing--pumpkin-filled filo coils, leek and cheese matzo pie, vegetable soup with plums, tomato bread pudding, and Georgian-style meat-with-fruit fare like roast chicken with apples and pomegranate. YUM. I'm a cookbook addict--by which I mean I love the ideas and opinions behind sublime food, and I also love curling up with a good cookbook just to read it for fun, and collecting them as historical documents. This takes the cake for all three. ( )