The Visual Food Encyclopedia: The Definitive Practical Guide to Food and Cooking

No food categories are overlooked. The pasta section tells how to make pasta from scratch, and illustrates all manner of pasta types. There are detailed instructions on preparing snails, sea urchins, and frog (this is a translation from a French edition)--and all manner of foods are included, from fruits, grains, and vegetables to seaweed, fats, and tea to dairy, fish, and meat. Some ingredients get more attention than others (all the pear varieties, for example, from Anjou and Bosc to Comice and Passe-Crassane, are pictured and described in detail, while the various chili peppers don't get as full a treatment), but with more than 1,000 ingredients, 1,200 illustrations, and a goodly number of recipes as well, this is a corker of a food reference, of value to any cook, from novice to weekend gourmet to professional chef. --Stephanie Gold

Product Description
What does a tree tomato look like? Whats the difference between a turnip and a rutabaga? Where does malanga come from? How do you trim an artichoke bottom? The Visual Food Encyclopedia answers all these food questions and thousands more. The Visual Food Encyclopedia is the cooks companion in the market and the kitchen, illustrating and explaining everything other cookbooks assume you already know. It takes you by the hand and, with a no-nonsense approach, tells you how to look for freshness, when to buy each ingredient at its peak, how to store it once you get it home, and the best methods of preparation and cooking. This extensive guide covers more than 1,000 ingredients, including: 70 different kinds of vegetables 63 varieties of fruits 37 types of meat 62 species of fish 34 different cereals and grains 47 herbs, spices and condiments 30 kinds of cheese and milk products Varieties of nuts and seeds, mushrooms, seaweed, sugars, fat and oils, and coffee and tea. In large part, the explaining is done with pictures, over 1,200 of them. The state-of-the-art computer images are so clear and richly colored, youll want to eat the food right off the page. And because you just have to see how some things are done, like cutting a chicken into serving pieces, basic techniques are clearly illustrated with original step-by-step photographs. This unique book doesnt ignore health benefits either. All the entries include nutritional highlights. A glossary of terms along with a comprehensive index of the technical and most commonly known names for each entry is provided at the end of the book. Plus, while this is an encyclopedia, not a cookbook, serving ideas and traditional recipes using selected ingredients are featured/ From the novice cook to the experienced chef, there are timeless lessons to be learned from The Visual Food Encyclopedia.

For a volume that provides a close look at such relatively exotic fare as jicama and carambola, a pronunciation guide would have been a nice addition. The book is arranged into sections (vegetables, legumes, cereals and grains, and so on-seaweed even has its own chapter), and every food is shown both whole and in cross-section. Like "Larousse Gastronomique," this is an eminently useful volume written with a definite French slant.


Good but not all-inclusive.   August 4, 2001
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

This was a great start for our culinary reference library. For each entry, you get information about selecting the item, how to use it, and sometimes some interesting history. I wish it had photos instead of drawings, and I wish it had a more complete selection. But all things considered, you couldn't ask for a much better basic food reference.