Ingredients

We have lots of books about the economics of food and its place in the world's economy. There are books about the dietetics of food and its relation to individual health and a healthy life. There are, of course, a million cookbooks and a dozen or so good books about the chemistry and physics of food and cooking. We even have a handful of good books about the history of food (has everybody read EATING RIGHT IN THE RENAISSANCE?). What has been in short supply has been books that deal the sheer beauty of what we eat. We are missing a credible erotics of food. One book that has stepped up to the plate is INGREDIENTS, a gorgeous picture book about, well-ingredients-the simple stuffs from which we make our food. INGREDIENTS is a picture book. Almost 400 pages of luscious, sexy photos of food in all of its bewildering diversity. The page devoted to plums has a plum called 'Tragedy' as well as the more prosaic santa rosas and gaviotes and greengages. The fish page should drive you out to the fishmonger with drool on your chin and the page on greens is so good you can almost smell it. The book has no recipes. It's also short on real infor- mation-the photo spread on potatoes gives no hint of the differences in starch type that cause all the variation in use. But let's not quibble, this is pure food porn, the sort of book that we use to remind ourselves of our appetites at the same time that it stimulates them. Yum. Lynn Hoffman, author of The New Short Course in Wine and the forthcoming novel bang-BANG from kunati.

This book is OUTSTANDING. As a future chef and culinary enthusiast I find it absolutely necessary to have a variety of great references. This book is one of those great references. This book lists thousands of ingredients which are coupled with colorful and clear pictures that allow you to fully understand what each ingredient is. I have often found myself running to this book after hearing someone mention an ingredient in class or in general conversatoin that I am not completely sure of. This book never lets me down, and always had the ingredient I am looking for along with a description listed under the picture. This book breaks down each ingredient and tells of all of the different varieties. I did not know there were so many types of grapes for example. I have noticed an increase in my own knowledge of ingredients in the few years that I have had this book. I found this book for about 7 dollars a few years ago, and have been looking for more ever since then to pass out to friends who are in the business. If you can get your hands on a copy, it would be to your advantage to invest in this great reference. I wish I could personally thank the authors, photographers and all who were involved in the production of this book, they did a GREAT job!!!

What an amazing book. With about three thousand entries in the index this surely must be the definitive visual volume of what food looks like. The twelve chapters cover it all, for instance, Baking Goods and Additives include sprinkles and sparkling cachous, Berries include twelve types of bramble and Tea has twenty-seven types, each shown in a white saucer. Apart from the comprehensiveness the reason I love this book is the way it looks. Each spread has an overall still-life color photo (shot from above) with the relevant foods carefully positioned and lit to show what they look like, short captions are overprinted on the clear space between items. The pages are uncluttered by design elements, the paper is glossy, the printing first-class, I must say that to see food presented in this way is quite stunning. The ultimate coffee-table book of grub. * If you are an illustrator or artist this book will be the only one you'll need for reference. ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

I fell for this book within moments while turning it's pages. Having spent over twenty years in kitchens here was not just a reference tome but an encyclopedia and travel guide.Soon after, Alex a young line cook from Mexico who'd taught himself English, became the proud father of a baby girl. "Ingredients" was my gift for him to be used as a picture book both he and his wife could read to their child. He happily accepted on the condition it would be read in English and Spanish so that their daughter could converse with her grandfather in his native language. Thanks a million! As the lyric to a Ricki Lee Jones song goes " You never know when your making a memory ".

Ingredients is a painstakeingly prepared reference book that is a visual masterpiece of every food item you ever wanted to see. It categorizes every food item known to cooks including, cheeses, fish, exotic vegetables as well as trendy food we only hear about people eating. This book will become a favortie of any cook. Don't know your pasta names? You'll see them and see how they are commonly prepared. How about exotic seafood? Spices? exotic eggs? I learned more about food from this book then all of my fine dinning experiences combined.