The United States

I got this, and I love it! The recipe's are delicous, the information is helpful and useful, and the pictures are sharp and clear. If you can cook at all, this is a MUST have.

As a professional chef and culinary instructor, I found this volume to be an excellent resource of American cuisine. The recipes are fairly basic, but the history behind regional culinary traditions is vast and informative. I recommend all the volumes in this series to chefs and home cooks very highly.

For once there is a culinary book that does justice to each of the individual, and exceptional, regions of the United States: the cuisine from Louisiana isn't restricted to the usual red beans and rice or jambalaya; the coast isn't simply seafood; Texas is more than beef and brisket. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This book is outstanding in not only the recipes, but the overall atmosphere given to the diverse sections of the country. As a senior high school student, I respect and value the differences between the states and surrounding areas, and Culinaria is one such informational text that depicts this diversity, and then some.

America's diversity of ingredients, foods, styles, and recipes is so very well documented in this guide. Reading this will make one want to visit every region of America to sample the delicacies. It's really more of an encyclopedia as there are numerous explanations of culinary techniques and facts about ingredients highligted by rich, colorful photography. Food and cooking enthusiasts of all levels will find this book informative and entertaining. The writing is excellent and very very readable. As one reviewer already stated, the biggest drawback is the book's weight. Frankly, it's worth the extra few pounds.

This is one of the finer books to be published for our consumption in too many year. The authors are thorough and inclusive. They cover the nation and tell it the way it has been these past many years. They not only give historical data -- they share specific recipes and local "color" dealing with the times and the food involved. Execellent and well done. One problem - the book is extremely heavy because of the quality of paper used and the printing involved.