5 comments about The Medieval Cookbook.

1. If you are looking for good tasting period recipes, this book is for you. Sometimes cookbooks that have recipes that are from times past offer recipes that taste quite differently than what our modern expectations are. This book will deliver you good recipes. Two of the favorite ones I have tried from this book were the Almond Chicken and the Golden Leeks and Onions. The instructions are very clear, and easy to read. The book does offer lovely art work as well. My only complaint about this book while the recipe that it has are very good, I just with their were more of them. This is a good book to start or even add to a Medieval recipe collection.



2. This is the perfect gift book for those interested in the Middle Ages. It is beautifully presented, and organisation of recipes with references to historical incidents or literary works is clever and winning. The recipes are easy enough to prepare, and I assumed the variations from the originals were intended to make obtaining ingredients simple.

   There were several reasons I withheld a 'five star' rating. First, though the author makes reference to how a particular dish would have been prepared in several different ways, only one variation is offered, in some cases markedly unlike the original. Secondly, and to a greater degree, there are not many recipes included. Those provided are illustrations of a category, not collections of, for example, varied main dishes, desserts, or savouries.




3. `The Medieval Cookbook' by Maggie Black is very similar to the slightly older book, `Pleyn Delit' by Constance B. Hieatt, Brenda Hosington, and Sharon Butler. It even cites this book and other works by these authors as references. Aside from the fact that the two books deal with almost exactly the same subject, English and French recipes from the late Middle Ages, and both are serious, scholarly works, there are two important differences.
   
   The positive differences in Ms. Black's book is that it is organized by source and that it has many more pictures, both black and white and color photographs of scenes from medieval sources, and line drawings or etchings of food plants and other botanicals. `Pleyn Delit' has virtually no pictures.
   
   The two books share several major sources. Dominating the sources and background of both books is Geoffrey Chaucer's `Canterbury Tales'. While this work contains no recipes itself, if has numerous references to food and beverages, and Ms. Black devotes an entire chapter to recipes cited in this great literary work. The second major work cited in Ms. Black's volume is a pedagogical volume by an upper middle class member of the gentry identified as `The Goodman of Paris'. The narrative identifies him as probably a civil servant, with houses in both the city and the country. After chapters on proper moral deportment, the author gives both menus and recipes for the training of his staff of servants. The book also gives several directions to wife and staff on proper kitchen economics and the care of domestic and captured animals. The third primary source is documents associated with the very sybaritic court of the English king Richard II, whose death started the War of the Roses. I am green with envy at my image of the author's working on this book among the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library and at the British Museum, two shrines of English language scholarship for sure. I have seen both as a tourist and my most persistent fantasy career is one of a scholar.
   
   The pictures in the book are very well chosen to illustrate the literary sources. Pictures of medieval life are taken largely from tapestries such as the famous Bayeux tapestry and similar sources. They are very well selected and, unlike so many other incidental pictures in books on cookery, they are actually given meaningful captions.
   
   Ms. Black and the authors of `Pleyn Delit' take almost exactly the same approach to translating their recipes from old English and identifying the sources of the original text. The recipe translations are equally fine in both books while the scholarly method of citing sources is equally dismal. I simply do not understand these authors use of a plainly obscure method for connecting source in the bibliography to the text in the main part of the book. I am certain these Brits and Canadians use the same scholarly conventions as we Yanks as codified in things like the `Chicago Manual of Style'. This little quibble is for the scholars among us.
   
   The most serious lapse in Ms. Black's book compared to `Pleyn Delit' is in the fact that the latter book has a much more interesting collection of recipes that a modern amateur cook would really find interesting. The very first recipe in `The Medieval Cookbook' is for Frumenty, a simple porridge of cracked wheat, water, stock, and salt with an optional addition of eggs and saffron. The second is Girdle `Breads' which is an unleavened, saffron coloured biscuit of flower, lard, and salt with no leavening. The third recipe is for grilled steaks brushed with either verjuice (an ur-vinegar made from specially grown grapes) or juice from Seville oranges. The fourth recipe is for rabbit. While these four recipes, taking up seven pages of the book are all very interesting from an historical point of view, it makes the book less valuable as a source for modern cooks who may want a good source for a medieval theme menu. To be sure, there are recipes in this book that are worth making today, but `Pleyn Delit' is a better source for actual cooking.
   
   I am very happy to see that the two books agree almost exactly on the use of ingredients and techniques. If you have an interest in history in general and culinary scholarship in particular, get both books. If you are only interested in a source for recipes, get `Pleyn Delit'. It is authentic and a richer source of interesting recipes.



4. Not only is The Medieval Cookbook a beautifully illustrated resource on the eating habits of Medieval folk, but the recipes are easy to follow with scrumptious results.I could hardly put this book down. [...] Very useful for hands-on projects when teaching children about medieval history. Wholeheartedly recommended.



5. As a medieval historian and living history enthusiast, this book was everything I'd hoped it would be. Not only are there authentic recipes, but actual recipes reprinted from the original sources. It's great to read a 14th century Italian recipe for soup in the chef's origianl recipe. It also contains general info about types of dishes and other things like that for the non-historians out there. It's a lot of fun, and is organized just as any modern cookbook is, which is one of the best things about it.

5 comments about The Saucier's Apprentice: One Long Strange Trip through the Great Cooking Schools of Europe.

1. I really enjoyed this book as it took me on a journey of a man at a crossroads in his life and dealing with it through a love of food and friends. As a trained culinarian, you can't learn how to become a chef in three months but, if you love food, you can learn and enjoy something that really feeds the soul. Spitz took something he loved and crafted a great diary of sorts on travel, relationships, group encounters and how food, in spite of disparate languages, can help make a person whole. I read it in a few days and tightly bound me to him, his cooking school encounters and his experiences through a difficult time in his life. Highly recommended.



2. I am on my way to Paris this week for a culinary experience not unlike Mr Spitz. I am not going to the classes he did, but am looking forward to tasting foods one can only dream about in the United States. Mr. Spitz traveled to France and Italy in 2004 following demise of a relationship (actually two relationships) and went to a number of cooking schools over a period of several months. He honed his techniques, met some interesting people and shared those experiences after a period of allowing his memories to rest.
   
   There are a number of recipes (all really good, too) and heartfelt writing that I truly enjoyed. There are some dull moments, describing times when he clearly was not enjoying himself, but I envy him the experience, and am looking forward to creating my own.



3. After just going on a 2 month tour through Europe at the age of 51, I thought this book would extend the pleasure of my trip. NOT! His whiney, self-important, self-centered view of every aspect of his trip really bugged me. Even his writing style: labored similes, over indulgent use of foreign words, expectation that everyone shares his world view just made it harder to get through. I kept waiting for the moment when he would learn some kind of life lesson and curb his infantile behavior. A little humility would have gone a long way.



4. This book was so full of misinformation that it was a struggle to read. It was unreal to see the mistakes. Restaurants spelled incorrectly, villages set in the wrong geograhic locale, horrific descriptions of people. One cannot believe the arrogance of this author. After spending months each year in France for over a decade, I found his description of French attitudes so wrong. The attitude of the French to Americans is wonderful.Their customs are different than ours. Did this arrogant writer do any research?



5. The title of choice is never explained in the book: I thought at some point the author would wind up as a saucier apprentice in a professional kitchen, but he does not. Nor does he attend "The Great Cooking Schools of Europe". There are plenty of large reputable schools with extensive programs in Europe. But instead, he attends obscure programs offered by solo cooks of dubious reputation or programs designed by Michelin-starred chefs who just entertain rich housewives with demos and lots of wine. So the author ended up not learning anything and being quickly bored with the experience, and so was I, reading about it. If he was really serious about learning how to cook, there were plenty of exciting renowned programs with a professional orientation that would have made for a more interesting experience for him and a better read for us.
   If you are interested in learning about real professional cooking schools (still treated with a light tone), I would rather go with Julia Child's My Life in France or the modern version on the same topic, Kathleen Flynn's The Sharper the Knife.

1 comments about Passeport Gastronomique: Italy.

1. Missing our annual Italian summer eating extravaganza, I decided to take my Passeport Gastronomique to Il Casale in Belmont, MA and pretend that we were in Italy. Anxious to know what I might look forward to that evening, I went on the website and perused the menu. Not having a waiter nearby to ask for a translation, I used my PG to decipher the meanings of sauces and words that looked familiar and I thought I should already know, but didn't. It was great! I especially like the fact that it is not just main ingredients that are defined, but phrases such as "sweet and sour." This feature shedds considerable light on the menu selections. My PG contributed to a lovely meal and was fun to use. I know that it will be extremely helpful when faced with the challenge of an all Italian menu and no one around to translate. I plan to buy the Spanish version for our next trip to a Spanish speaking country. Terrific idea and so much more hip than traveling with a dictionary!

5 comments about Bulgarian Rhapsody : The Best of Balkan Cuisine.

1. We loved the color pictures of the food, people and places included in this wonderful cookbook. We also enjoyed the history and folklore mingled in between the recipes. AWESOME!



2. This is a great cookbook with detailed descrptions of the most popular Bulgarian dishes and all the needed US ingredient substitutions.



3. Covers a lot of famous Balkan recipies. However I found a few really strange dishes that do not really fall under traditional Bulgarian food, such as 'Meat and Eggplant pie' or 'Golden Milk pie'. I lived in Bulgaria for 10 years and have never even heard of such dishes. But overall this book includes some very yammy recipes and I would recomend it to anyone who loves food.



4. I am Bulgarian and my wife is American. This book did wonders in bridging the gap between the cultures. Linda has managed to capture the spirit of my culture and express it through food, stories and traditions. My wife has cooked Bulgarian meals using this book and I swear some of them could put my parent's and grandparent's cooking to shame!
   
   Very authentic, highly recommended for anyone who is interested in Bulgarian culture/cuisine and/or wants to introduce it to a loved one/friend.



5. I am a Bulgarian who has lived in North America for about 35 years. This book is very basic and it is obvious that the author was in Bulgaria during the 90s when food was scarce. To me the book does no justice to bulgarian cooking because it lacks recepies
   that involve lamb and pork which is very important in Bulgaria. The book is O.K. for someone who wants to try out some basic ,every day dishes and get a feel for bulgarian cooking. I was happy to find that the author has included som bulgarian jewish dishes which I am going try.

No comments about Czech & Slovak Kolache Recipes & Sweet Treats.

5 comments about The Best of Croatian Cooking.

1. `The Best of Croatian Cooking, Expanded Edition' by Liliana Pavicic and Gordana Pirker-Mosher is published as a member of `The Hippocrene Cookbook Library' which seems to focus on all those national and regional cuisines which will appeal to a sizable emigrant population, but which is not covered by the mainstream foodie literati. This would be just about everything except French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, `Mediterranean', Moroccan, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, German, Russian, Turkish, Lebanese, and Jewish cooking. Their real forte is for small central and eastern European nationalities such as Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Slovak, Ukrainian, and Bulgarian cooking. I am especially drawn to several of these national cuisines, having some relatives from Hungary and Slovakia.
   
   The problem with these books in general and with this volume in particular is that amateurs in both culinary skills and journalistic or scholastic skills write them. We are not reading minor league Paula Wolferts here. That is not to say there is nothing of value here. In fact, the intellectual discoveries one can make in this book may be even more interesting than the culinary ones. Croatia lies squarely in the confluence of three culinary dynamos. Directly to the west is Italy, especially the leading culinary region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. To the north is Vienna, the capitol of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, of which Croatia was a part for several centuries. To the south is Greece and Turkey, the heart of the old Ottoman Empire who was Croatia's landlord before the Austrians took over. So, Croatian cuisine is a great gemish of world class influences, with a bit to add on its own, being, like Friuli-Venezia Giulia, a fertile site for grape growing and, therefore, wine making.
   
   The authors take seriously their interest in giving a good picture of the regional cuisines of Croatia, except that they fail to handle this task effectively. Their first lapse is that they neglect to include a map of modern Croatia. I would consider this a flaw even in a book about well-known Italy. When you are covering Croatia, the omission is deadly, since the modern borders are highly irregular, shaped as it is like an hourglass tilted at a 45 degree angle, with its base on the Adriatic. When I checked my trusty Oxford Atlas of the world, I saw things of which this book gave me little inkling. And yet, it was not much help, as the book deals with provincial names, which are very difficult to see on a small-scale map.
   
   The next failing is that they don't identify the regional source of the various recipes, after going to so much trouble to identify the culinary characteristics of each province, they don't say from which province each recipe comes. It would be very interesting to know if a strudel recipe comes from a province closer to Vienna or closer to Greece.
   
   Speaking of strudel, the one reason I would buy this book is because it has a recipe for both strudel dough and for cabbage strudel. This reason is not compelling, as if you already own Rose Levy Beranbaum's `The Pie and Pastry Bible', you already have a whole chapter of strudel, but our authors give us a fair approach, but few tips if things go wrong. For that, you will need to go to Beranbaum.
   
   Since we are at the confluence of three very well known cuisines, there is really very little here which is new to the experienced culinary eye. There are novelties, especially among the simpler dishes, so that the book may be a truer picture of the cuisine of poverty than most books on Italian cuisine, but the similarities are such that if you already have lots of Italian cookbooks, especially Lydia Bastianich's `La Cuisine di Lydia', you will not get much that is new (Bastianich grew up in Istria, which is now part of Croatia).
   
   My last comment is that I think the authors may have gone just a bit too far from their roots to standard American cooking practice in that their most common cooking fat is `cooking oil'. I am willing to bet that the traditional Croatian cook, like their Italian and Greek neighbors primarily used either olive oil, pumice oil, lard, or butter, not corn or safflower oil.
   
   If I were to pick a single recipe that makes this book worthwhile for the cookbook collector, it would be the squid and potato salad, in spite of the fact that the title and ingredients say `squid' and the procedure says `cuttlefish'. This is just another dropped detail which makes the book less than perfect.
   
   Recommended for the foodie cookbook collector. Highly recommended it you have a Croatian background.



2. If you need to keep the Croatian culture in the family, you need to have this book on home!



3. My Croatian husband has a little trouble getting these recipes to come out right and he is an excellent cook. Some of the ingredients are difficult to find where we live (in the States) and sometimes the instructions are unclear. He made that rum cake recipe and it just tasted like pure rum. The cake was beautiful but tasted awful. The recipe for the crepes is delicious though!



4. Coming from a Croatian raised eating home cooked Croatian meals all his life this book is great.



5. This was said to be a $299 book and I paid $55 for a used copy - on the book cover it is priced $24.95 - the recipes are unusable as most of the meats and ingredients are unavailable in the US. I wrote the store where the book came from and, needless to say, did not hear back from them. I will not order any other books online until I have actually looked at them someplace.

5 comments about Mediterranean Light.

1. I don't see how seafood, hummous, tzatziki, baba ghanoush and lentils make a book low-fat. The fact is, this book celebrates Mediterranean cuisine, and much of that cuisine is already low-fat. If you love cooking from this region, you will love this book. The recipes are simple, delicious, mostly easy, and even if when I just read the book for ideas, it inspires me.
   
   It is true that the author modified some recipes to bring them into line with her healthy eating ethos. If you get the willies or heartburn from intake of mucho lard, this works wonderfully. I find the recipes delicious. They are packed with super-food ingredients, full of vitamins and minerals that will make you feel energetic, and not with hydrogenated fats or other proven culprits in heart disease, adult-onset diabetes, or cancer. As I understand it, the point of lowering intake of saturated fat is not necessarily to lose weight -- but to make your life long and healthy / enjoyable. I don't want to get diabetes or heart disease if I can prevent it. Both run in my family -- but for me, so far, at age 40, so good.
   
   Before I continue on this paean, I'd better mention that I have never met the author nor her family or friends, I am not associated with her in any way -- and actually, I'm not a health nut -- just a normal mom trying to cook whole foods for our family. When this book taught me how to efficiently clean shellfish, coaxing them to open and so forth, instead of skipping that step like so many other cookbooks (which leads to sandy mussel broth unless you remember the process!), I knew it was a winner.
   
   The recipes are simple, and true to the region. If you have visited the countries whose cuisine Martha Rose Shulman celebrates, you will recognize the authenticity of ingredients and combinations set forth here. Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and more -- all have classic and newer representatives on these pages. You'll find minted yogurt salad (which I know as 'tzatziki'), lentils, chickpeas, eggplant, even pizza and pasta -- in the index.
   
   Unlike another commenter, I found no great surfeit of garlic. The amounts prescribed seemed quite normal for the regions addressed. But then, perhaps I am used to garlic: it lowers cholesterol, so I use it in cooking for my husband.
   
   If you long for the foods you once enjoyed near the Mediterranean, try this book. If you love seafood and vegetables, and aren't afraid to try seasoning with lemon juice and yogurt, coriander, or cloves, try this book. If you long for beef, cream and mascarpone, try another book.
   



2. I have small children with bland Minnesota cuisine tastes. I have found some recepies that our whole family would eat. I personally enjoy the cook book but struggle finding many choices for all of us. I find I can modify some of the recepies to make it work for all of us.



3. Mediterranean Light, by Martha Rose Shulman, is the second book I have owned written by her. A friend gave it to me thinking that without pictures, it couldn't be special in any way, but she was so wrong. Because I eat healthfully, mostly vegetarian, with just a bit of meat, and think the Mediterranean diet is the right plant-based way to eat, I was quick to try some of the recipes. (Incidentally, this way of eating drastically reduced my total cholesterol, which I cannot lower with medication because statins attack my muscles.)
   The Warm Chick Pea Salad is very filling (and inexpensive to make). I ate it cold, and added raisins and a few slivered almonds, just for my own personal taste. The protein content for each serving is off the charts. I used organic canned chick peas which taste "cleaner" to me.
   I made her dense whole wheat bread with the French chef starter several times finding it filling and satisfying. And, I do not gain weight eating a small slice twice a day. If you like wholegrain bread, but are not a bread baker, it may be a bit of a challenge, but can be conquered easily. Like her, Saturday is now my bread baking day for my extended family.
   I made her Lentil Soup and enjoyed it made with organic lentils and added a touch of white wine. I also have begun substituting yogurt for olive oil in dressings which lowers calories and reduces fat. The yogurt, vinegar, mustard combo in some of the dressings creates a dressing that is somewhat like light mayo. I never use anything else anymore.
   This is my type of eating which I adopted after I had a brush with heart
   disease at a young age. Americans don't always realize that for much of the world, meat is a rare treat. Grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, dairy, and fish comprise much of the diet in places where the people live longer and much healthier lives than we do. Combine that with exercise, deep faith in God, and a mental attitude of contentment, and you are doing a great deal to help yourself to a better quality of life.
   True, not everyone in your family will love these dishes, but keep trying; you'll find a few they will enjoy.
   The book is clearly written, contains interesting stories and anecdotes about the recipes and Ms. Shulman herself, and is deserving of a place on a cookbook shelf. I, like others, will take it on my next trip.



4. We've all heard how healthy the Mediterranean lifestyle is. Well this book tells you how to live it in your own kitchen with great yummy recipes and colorful insights. Check it out!Mediterranean Light: Delicious Recipes from the World's Healthiest Cuisine



5. The recipes in this book contain easy to find ingredients. In some ethnic cookbooks, you nearly have to visit the country to find everything needed. It starts with appetizers, goes to many assorted main dishes, to deserts and even includes bread recipes. The author has taken traditional recipes and made them healthier.

5 comments about Fish Forever: The Definitive Guide to Understanding, Selecting, and Preparing Healthy, Delicious, and Environmentally Sustainable Seafood.

1. This is a beautiful book, full of great information about different types of fish, fishing practices, and how to buy fresh seafood. I was surprised to find, however, that it only includes 1-3 recipes for each type of fish. There is a chapter on each fish/seafood, with detailed information about it, and then a recipe or two. I thought it was mainly a cookbook, i.e. lots of recipes, but there are probably about 100 recipes total in the book, and since I won't eat or cannot access all types of seafood, my choices are pretty limited.



2. Would love to have seen more photos. Pleasant to read and to be used as a resource.



3. Hated fish as a kid, but love it as an elderly guy.
   I was fortunate to have an opportunity to fish commercially for salmon before the decline of the fishery. I steadily developed a great appreciation for seafood and the industry. I have not met the author, but I have heard about the good things he has done to support the fisheries.
   I have his book, "Fish Forever" and have used this quide to prepare a variety of seafoods. It is a favorite reference.



4. I think of this as a food book more than a cookbook. It is a book about fish that has a few favorite recipes for each type of fish discussed. The recipes are very good. For example, I am known for my salmon glazes. But the simple tomato basil relish that Paul Johnson recommends has been requested by my wife every time we have had salmon since we got this book. But the philosophy of how to eat fish (which fisheries and and aquacultures to avoid) has changed how we buy fish as well (starting with the humble tuna fish salad sandwich). The index could be improved (e.g., try finding his discussion of farmed vs. wild salmon), not every type of commercial fish is listed and some of the species he discusses have never been seen at our local fish market. But the writing and recipes are both great. Now we just have to wait for the rest of the species to come into season. Highly recommended!



5. This is a very informative, interesting book which includes excellent recipes for fish. My husband found this in the library and couldn't stop reading it. He finally requested his own copy for the recipes which we use frequently. The author is very knowledgeable and gives practical tips on purchasing and preparing fresh seafood.

5 comments about Ukrainian Recipes.

1. NEW in the series of Stocking Stuffer cookbooks, in the popular recipe-card file size Stocking Stuffer format, this book represents Ukrainian cooking as one of the best homestyle cuisines of the world - basic, fresh, wholesome and nutritious, yet still possessing a taste as rich as the black soil itself.

   Ukrainian food is not often found in restaurants, for it is a style of cooking best meant for families, for homecomings, and for holidays. The majority of recipes in this book come from Ukrainian-American homes, where Joanne Asala, who collected the recipes, shared the food and native traditions.

   One-hundred-sixty pages include recipes for daily fare and festive celebrations. Notes and menus for traditional observances of Christmas, Easter, and the wedding feast are included with the recipes. Among these are Flummery, Kutia, one of the most sacred of ritual dishes; Easter Bread, Paska, and Honey Nut Cake for weddings.

   On the cover is a photo of a candelabra representing the trident, a traditional symbol of Ukraine. Examples of the exquisite, symbolic folk art, especially egg design, krashanky, are found throughout the book with reference to the significance of the various designs.

   Excellent for personal collections, as well as a thoughtful gift and memento.




2. I love the spiral binding. It makes this perfect for actually cooking & reading the recipe. The small size is fun too. It's a good basic Ukrainian cookbook. Of course, not all the recipes I remember are in here, but there's a pretty good mix of recipes.



3. I'm always on the hunt for authentic cookbooks and the spiral ethnic cookbooks from Penfield Press of Iowa City, IA are the best buy around.
   
   It's true that big things come in small packages. These books are packed with tons of history and, best of all, delicious recipes that are easy to prepare, don't take too much time to cook, and won't have you searching everywhere and spending a fortune for the ingredients. The history sprinkled throughout the book gave a good background to the food being prepared and enriched the cooking experience for me.
   
   The first things I made from this book were two drinks: Cherry Vodka and Medivka (Honey Liqueur). Although I don't drink, I had a sip of each and boy were they good. (Although the cherry vodka has to ferment for 2 weeks, the wait is definitely worth it). I also made the Turkey Breast with Cherry Sauce and my mouth watered during the entire meal.
   
   I've bought and made dishes from the Dutch, Danish, and Irish cookbooks of the same series and the final product will turn out an authentic ethnic dish without the gourmet prices for the book or the ingredients.
   
   Highly recommended.



4. A cook's/chef's cornucopia of culinary desires (meals that are nutritious, delicious, easily prepared, reasonably priced, and savored by seasoned gourmets, bon vivants, and munchkins of all sizes and shapes) will be a potential possibility when you open the cover of Ukrainian Recipes and delve into the myriad menus and recipes. Albeit, not what you'd consider to be a conventional cookbook, Ukrainian Recipes is a cookery/collection of Ukrainian recipes presented à la modern style on red spiral-bound index cards with front and back cards laminated.
   
   The cover color red is picked up as a border around the title, Ukrainian Recipes, which appears to the right of a photo of a candelabrum from Ukraine; the bottom of the border displays a red Ukrainian embroidery design. Also laminated, the back cover continues coloring red; only this time, the same border as on the front is enhanced by three red Ukrainian pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs). To the right, outside the border, repeated in red, is shown the coat of arms of Ukraine, the tryzub (trident); there's an explanation of the tryzub on page 81 of the booklet (Desserts section). For a detailed history and explanation of the tryzub, visit the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, which states, in part, that the Ukrainian tryzub is "a gold trident on an azure background."
   
   Visual embellishments via folk art and egg designs throughout the booklet were provided by Luba Perchyshyn of the Ukrainian Gift Shop, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ms. Perchyshyn is very well known and much respected in the Ukrainian community. For decades, I've immensely enjoyed her demonstrations on the art of writing Ukrainian pysanky (Easter eggs) via a Prolog VHS (awarded numerous international film prizes) by Ukrainian-American filmmaker Slavko Nowytski, himself a recipient of numerous international film prizes. If it can be found, I truly recommend this VHS, which has three segments: Pysanka, the legend of the Ukrainian Pysanka--the Easter egg and the technique of making it (Luba Perchyshyn, demonstrator); Sheep in Wood--the making of a woodcut by a master--Jacques Hnizdovsky; and, Immortal Image--the Lost-Wax Process of sculpture by Leo Mol. The VHS is by Prolog Video, 744 Broad St., Suite 1115, Newark, NJ 07102-3892, 1-800-458-0288. This 47-minute video is truly priceless and, undoubtedly, a most welcome addition to the film libraries of those lucky enough to own a copy.
   
   Special thanks are given to the Ukrainian National Museum of Chicago, to the Ukrainian National Women's Alliance, and to the Embassy of Ukraine, Washington, D.C. Roman Huminiak of New York helped with the menus, and his help is also acknowledged. Editor Joanne Asala is the author and editor of over twenty books on folk tales and traditional customs; she resides in Chicago, not far from Chicago's Ukrainian Village. To see several photos of Ukrainian Village, please visit my review of Ukrainians in America by Dr. Myron Kuropas (0822519550); I've posted 156 photos on the product detail page, and many of them depict life in Chicago's Ukrainian Village and also in some of the Ukrainian communities of the New York State area.
   
   In keeping with the times, the small size of this recipe booklet is an asset--it may be kept in a purse or in a car (to reference future fare), or it may be stood on a counter (no need for book stands; use independently while preparing the myriad gastronomic creations). The Contents has fourteen entries: Introduction, Beverages, Breads, The Bread Basket of Europe, Soups, Salads, Fruits and Vegetables, Meats, Desserts, An Easter Sunday Celebration, Hard-cooked Eggs and Krashanky Eggs, A Traditional Christmas Eve Feast, Christmas in Ukraine, and, The Wedding Supper.
   
   As stated in the Introduction, since religious restrictions once enforced strict dietary restraints on Ukrainians (only meat and dairy products were allowed to be eaten during certain times of the year), Ukrainian cooking has retained the prevalence of vegetable dishes, which are fresh, wholesome, nutritious, and basic. Not often found in restaurants, Ukrainian food is "a style of cooking best meant for families, for homecomings, and for holidays." Most of the recipes in this booklet are ones which editor Joanne Asala was served in Ukrainian-American homes, "where pride in native tradition is still strong."
   
   Most sections illustrate various Ukrainian pysanky (Easter eggs) and provide an apropos Ukrainian proverb. The illustrations of the pysanky in the booklet are carefully reproduced designs, which pysanka artist Luba Perchyshyn provides--many appear on original pysanky which grace Easter baskets and china cabinets worldwide.
   
   In the Beverages section, there are a number of easy-to-prepare adult beverages--various alcohols are utilized: vodka, rum, whiskey, wine, and lemon liqueur. Many recipes are found under the Breads section--after all, Ukraine was once called the Breadbasket of Europe. Ukraine has one of the world's most fertile soils (called chornozem), and even ancient tokens of hospitality were bread (khlib) and salt (sil). Recipes appear on both sides of the cards, and often include bits of interesting information and illustrations.
   
   The Soups section opens with a Ukrainian proverb, "borscht is the center of all things." Although a recipe for borscht isn't to be found under this classification, a fine illustration of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Chicago does appear on the flip side of the tomato soup recipe. One caption needs correction, however, it's on page 60--the illustration is of Saints Volodymyr and Olha Ukrainian Catholic Church, but the caption reads The Saint Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, Chicago, IL.
   
   Under the Meats section, the last recipe is for Chicken Kiev. The reverse side of the card states: "How the city of Kiev lent its name to this classic dish is unclear, especially since it is not typical of Ukrainian cuisine." Wikipedia elaborates: "This famous method of preparing chicken is probably not of Ukrainian origin as the name Kiev, the national capital, would imply. The Russian food historian William Pokhlebkin claimed that Chicken Kiev was invented in the Moscow Merchants' Club in the early 20th century and was renamed Chicken Kiev (kotleta po-kievski) in one of the Soviet restaurants in later years." A note of clarification: not only is Chicken Kiev not a Ukrainian dish, but also please note that Kiev is the Russian spelling and pronunciation; the Ukrainian spelling and pronunciation is Kyiv, and Ukraine's capital city should be correctly referred to as Kyiv.
   
   In the Desserts section, one exotic dish worth noting is the recipe for rose pudding--for it's made of wild roses (they're the most flavorful and aromatic, we're told); other edible flowers may also be used (violets or hawthorns).
   
   An Easter (Velykden) Menu (in Ukrainian, Easter is called Velykden [The Great Day]) features ten recipes, and includes a write-up on "the perfect hard-cooked eggs and krashanky eggs." Included, too, are instructions for dyeing krashanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs which are hard boiled, dyed a single color, and meant to be eaten; pysanky are intricately designed, usually multi-colored, often hollow, often works of fine art, and never eaten). The Christmas Eve (Sviata Vecheria [Holy Supper]) Menu features twelve recipes (representing the twelve apostles). It's in this section that you'll find the recipe for borscht--it's from Tetiana Levkovych of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Roman's Rose Preserves recipe follows (Roman Huminiak of New York also helped with the menus throughout Ukrainian Recipes).
   
   At the end of the recipe booklet, you'll find North American sites to visit (Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre, Winnipeg; Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Saskatoon; and, Ukrainian National Museum of Chicago, Chicago). Although there's no recipe for the wedding bread, there are illustrations of how to shape doves, which are applied to the top of the wedding bread (korovai). A chart of some traditional Ukrainian egg designs, and a chart of ten ways to divide an egg conclude this fun recipe booklet.
   
   If future editions are published, an index would greatly facilitate locating recipes and menus. Overflowing with a nice sample of Ukrainian recipes and information, this card-index format is handy to have and utilize, and a sure-to-be-appreciated housewarming gift or stocking stuffer. Clearly written, easy to follow, on its own stand (when you flip some of the cards over), ingredients are usually easily available and common household items--all of these make this a fine recipe booklet--for it'll quench many a thirst, satisfy many a sweet tooth, and appease many an appetite.
   
   Some additional notes, which I'm including in this review since not all readers may read the comments:
   
   Page 28 shows the Russian spelling of two Ukrainian cities: Kiev instead of Kyiv, Odessa instead of Odesa. Pages 42, 78, again, refer to Kyiv as Kiev. However, on page 60, the description correctly refers to Dnipro (not Dniepr, the Russian word).
   
   Page 38 states: "Many of the words are similar or identical. Some Ukrainian words: goodbye - do pobachenya (do svydanyia); thank you - dyakuyu (spasubo); yes - tak (da); no - ni (net)." I've typed the Russian words (as I found them in a Russian dictionary) in parenthesis to give the reader examples of how dissimilar the languages are. Unless you've studied Ukrainian/Russian, there are very many words that you won't understand.
   
   An explanation appeared in Arnold Berke's article "Ukrainian Dawn," Historic Preservation, March/April, 1993, pp. 31-32:
   
   "Ukraine is a new country but an old nation--a fact often lost on foreigners, who remain largely ignorant of this land of fifty-two million people, Europe's second largest in area after Russia. Ukraine to them has always been "the" Ukraine--no more than a region of its powerful northern neighbor, Russia--and Ukrainian culture a mere variation on the Russian national theme. Russians used to call Ukraine "Little Russia," a sobriquet that Tchaikovsky`s Second Symphony earned for its use of Ukrainian folk themes. Even the Ukrainian language was downgraded as a dialect of Russian, although Ukrainian differs from Russian as much as does Polish."
   
   Page 86 has a quote from Ukrainian writer Nikolai Gogol (Hohol). His name is misspelled as "Gogel."
   
   Page 154 states: "No one knows for sure how the art of pysanky originated." The Encyclopedia of Ukraine states: "Pysanka painting is a widely practiced form of decorative art in Ukraine. The practice originated in the prehistoric Trypillian culture." Further, Trypillian culture is described as: "A Neolithic-Bronze Age culture that existed in Right-Bank Ukraine ca 5400 to 2000 BC. It is named after a site near Trypilia in the Kyiv region uncovered by Vikentii Khvoika in 1898."
   
   Addendum: The detail product page (click on the title) shows sixty-six images/photos which I took in Ukraine and depict some of the items mentioned in my review of Ukrainian Recipes, which I thought you might find interesting: food, items relating to food, flowers, animals, tryzub, etc.
   
   Additionally, readers, you're invited to visit each of my reviews--most of them have photos that I took in Ukraine (over 600)--you'll learn lots about Ukraine and Ukrainians. The image gallery shows smaller photos, which are out of sequence. The preferable way is to see each review through my profile page since photos that are germane to that particular book/VHS/DVD are posted there with notes and are in sequential order.
   
   To visit my reviews: click on my pseudonym, Mandrivnyk, to get to my profile page; click on the tab called review; scroll to the bottom of the section, and click on see all reviews; click on each title, and on the left-hand side, click on see all images. The thumbnail images at the top of the page show whether photos have notes; roll your mouse over the image to find notes posted.
   
   Also, you're invited to visit my Listmania lists, which have materials sorted by subject matter.



5. Took too long. In this day and age for it to take a month is ridiculous.

5 comments about Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome.

1. The book I have to say are decent and the recipes, defiantely reproducable, if you are looking for a cookbook then this is your book, if for some crazy hobby of trying to cook with ingredients impossible to get then this is not your book. The author adds or omits ingredients that you would simply not find, anywhere, even Sicily, promise. The dishes are close to true and if you are interested in Sicilian cooking you get a very different perspective. Try reading Pomp and Sustenance after this book and you will see what I mean. As for the "Christian" zealots in the other reviews, get a life, please, from the Roman point of view it is CE, AD is just so narrow minded, and take a look around we are not the only people on this earth.



2. I haven't read the book, so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt with five stars. I just wanted to comment briefly on the whole A.D. / C.E. controversy. First, A.D. stands for Anno Domini, not "After Death" - the Christ is said to have died in 33 A.D., not 0 A.D. Second, the "Common Era" designation is nothing but a euphemism, and as such I find it hard to understand how it can be deemed an "improvement" over the A.D. designation - when you use the "C.E." designation, you're still taking the alleged year of the birth of Christ as your chronological reference point. In other words, this "Common Era" verbiage is pure window dressing. Those with a proclivity for pointless euphemisms are of course free to identify their dates under the C.E. system - just don't be too self-righteous about it.



3. Vehling was a professional chef, not a scholar of Latin, and his grasp of Latin was limited, so his translations are not good. Also they are not based on the earliest available copies of the Apician cookbook. Instead, he used humanistically "enhanced" Renaissance texts. And he didn't understand the history of the various editions he was looking at. Thus Vehling's translations are full of gross inaccuracies. When his book was first published, readers had little access to anything much better. But today there are quite a few much more accurate translations, and more accurate translations lead to more accurate interpretations, when one wants to cook a recipe.
   
   I won't even go into an analysis of his faulty translations, but, assuming most buyers want to cook food of the Roman Empire, I'll go straight to examples in his worked-out recipes...
   
   Vehling uses a roux (a technique in which flour is browned or at least lightly colored in hot fat before having the fluid stirred in) to thicken sauces in many of his recipes. This technique was not common until the 17th century. Clearly the Romans used other techniques, and we can use them, too.
   
   Vehling includes vegetables not known in Europe even in the 15th century, let alone during the Roman Empire, such as French beans aka green beans aka string beans (when the Romans used green fava beans, quite a different item), and bell peppers and kidney beans and pumkpins (which are all native to the Americas, unknown to Europeans until the 16th century).
   
   In one recipe he even substitutes pate à choux (used for things like eclairs and cream puffs) for splet or emmer grits (early forms of wheat)!
   
   Additionally, he substitutes "broth" for "liquamen", that is, fish sauce, one of the hallmarks of Ancient Roman cuisine!!!
   
   In fact, in many of his worked out recipes he "corrects" the original recipe to make it more like modern European cuisine, losing the flavor of the original and destroying its Roman character. Some of his worked out recipes are so transformed as to be nearly unrecognizable when compared to the original recipes.
   
   If there were no other translations available, Vehling might be useful. But there are. And Vehling is misleading, erroneous, and wrong. Get a better book.



4. although more modern works have appeared this Edition is good for those (like myself) on a budget.



5. I rather wish there was a more recent, open-content translation of Apicius. Vehling's was long known to be borderline-horrible, but sadly this is probably the only readily available translation for the casual cook in English. Beyond that I've not much to say about the translation; others far more conversant with Latin than I have commented at length on it.
   
   This book doesn't lack for other flaws though. For one thing, Vehling's ranting, somewhat sniffy tone is weirdly remniscent of German-speaking cranks such as Petr Beckmann (Czech) and Erich von Däniken (Swiss) -- it makes for rather strange and uncomfortable reading, as if a chef with a stereotypical mad scientist accent is shouting at you. Another issue -- Vehling freely confuses and substitutes New World ingredients without saying much of anything about the Old World ingredients being replaced (he mentions pumpkins quite frequently, for example, and gives "broth" for the fish sauce liquamen when Worcestershire sauce would probably be more appropriate in the early 20th century; both are nearly inexcusable errors for a supposedly scholarly work). Finally, the typography is abysmal, with the recipes translated from the Latin presented in all caps, enhancing the "shouting" effect of Vehling's prose.
   
   The book isn't irredeemable, necessarily. With some extra background (most readily available in FAQ documents and the like on the internet) it can be quite a serviceable introduction to upper-class Roman cuisine. The question is, however... there is a very good chance that this book might be someone's first introduction to Roman cookery. How are they going to know to go looking for more background while reading?