Mediterranean Vegetables: A Cook's ABC of Vegetables and Their Preparation in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and North A

Clifford Wright is one of the leading writers, along with Elizabeth David, Paula Wolfert and Claudia Roden, on the cuisines of the Mediterranian. He describes this volume as an expanded appendix to his monumental, award winning `A Mediterranean Feast'.I believe this book would be of interest to anyone with more than the most minimal interests in food. At the very least, it is a highly accessible catalogue of good vegetable dishes. Although some dishes do contain meat, fish, or meat stocks, it can also serve as an excellent resource for enlivening vegetarian diets, as the author does minimize meat ingredients.These types of books are not commonly written in English by British or American writers. It always seems to be the Germans and the French who write the great compendia volumes for various interests. Unfortunately, good German and French and Italian works like this are hard to come by, even at the local Borders or Barnes and Noble. So, I am immensely grateful that Wright has rescued us, at least in the specialized world of Mediterranean cuisine.Some people may find issue with his selection of vegetables. Wright's strategy is to be as broad as possible, including both vegetables only found in the wild and vegetables which have been imported to the Mediterranean shores from the orient or from the new world. I am very happy with this choice, especially since entries indicate the most likely point of origin for each plant and it's current distribution. There is nothing more annoying than looking for an entry in a reference book, not finding it, and wondering why it was left off, out of laziness or because it did indeed fall outside the scope of the book. With this book, that question should never arise. I also endorse the vegetable classification done by commercial criteria rather than by scientific criteria. Who could imagine this book without the tomato! My only disappointment here was that mushrooms were all lumped together under a single heading. Culinarily, this makes some sense, as most mushrooms are interchangeable in dishes, but I have to believe the distribution and ethnic uses of morels is quite different from portobellos.One of the great joys of the book is that it's emphasis is both culinary and scholarly, in that much material, such as scientific names and common names in many different languages is available here along with very useful recipes. One direction in which the book is not exhaustive is in the choice of recipes. For vegetables such as artichokes and tomatoes, only a small representative sample is included. Whole books could be dedicated to the dishes of these vegetables. What we find is interesting, tasty examples which may not be found elsewhere.I find the culinary contents of this book to be truly amazing and of tremendous value in any foodie's library. Surprisingly, I find several problems in the more scholarly content of the book. There are at least two statements on artichokes I find very surprising. One is that the ch

MEDITERRANEAN VEGETABLES is misnamed. Many of the vegetables Clifford Wright lists in his book are not native to the Mediterranean, but rather hail from the Western Hemisphere. I was slightly annoyed when I realized this as I am a gardener and naively thought this book would get back to some "original" foods, but it does not. However, that being said, the book does contain some rather good recipes, and unlike other books on the various cuisines of the area, this book contains a nice selection of dishes that include eggplant. I am an eggplant nut, so for that reason alone I'll keep the book. Not only does the book include 10 recipes with eggplant as the star, all the recipes are tasty--although some are a bit spicy and not all are low-cal (maybe none of them are).There are plenty of other good vegetable dishes. I also fancy okra, and Wright has included a delicious recipe "Okra with Olive Oil" that uses pomegranate molassas. Another dish Wright describes as a "guiless dish from Apulia" is "Oven-baked Potatoes and Mushrooms" with portobello mushrooms and pecorino cheese. Wright says he is not a vegetarian, so don't buy this book if you're opposed to animal products in your vegetables. However, if you're an "ovo-lacto" veggie, you might check it out.

Mediterranean vegetables range from eggplant and fava beans to lentils and swiss chard, and Clifford Wright's superbly presented vegetable book provides 200 recipes for using vegetables to maximum advantage. There are no color photos, but the dishes don't need much embellishment: just access to a range of fresh vegetables.

Clifford Wright's Mediterranean Vegetables truly lives up to its title in offering more than two hundred delicious and inspiring recipes drawn from the such diverse Mediterranean bordering nations and regions as Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, North Africa, and the Middle East. From Umak od Hren sa Jabukom (Horseradish and Apple Sauce); Harisa (Hot Chile Paste); and Spinaci alla Genovese (Genoa-Style Spinach); to Yogurtin Salgam (Fried Turnips with Yogurt); Ardi shawki Maqli bi'l-Taratur (Fried Artichokes with Tartur Sauce); and Potage au Cresson (Watercress Soup); Mediterranean Vegetables is an ideal addition to the regional recipe cookbook shelves of anyone who enjoys culinary enhancements of daily meals or party menus.

Clifford Wright's Meiterranean Vegetables presents a complete collection of history, recipes and also growing information. Mr. Wright's historical insight and deep culinary knowledge gives the reader a view of the whole region and the connections between cultures. Particularly interesting are the contributions made by the arabic peoples to region that are usually ignored or given minor attention. For most there will be new flavors from old recipes.