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Book Review

Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables - A Commonsense Guide - An Encyclopedic Cookbook of America's New Produce from Arugula to Yuca

by Elizabeth Schneider

Bookcover: Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables - A Commonsense Guide

This is one our favorite cookbooks. First published in 1986, and then quickly out of print, this classic has now been reprinted in hardcover. Eighty unusual fruits and vegetables are introduced with descriptions and discussions of their histories, origins, uses, and nutritional values. And then, Ms. Schneider treats us to 420 tempting recipes. If you ever wanted to know more about cooking with arugula, bok choy, breadfruit, carambola, celeriac, chayote, feijoa, Jerusalem artichoke, kohlrabi, loquat, mango, nopales, okra, passion fruit, pummelo, quince, radicchio, rapini, salsify, tamarillo, taro, water chestnut, winged bean, or yuca, this is the book for you. As Schneider says, "There is no such thing as an inherently weird vegetable. What your mother didn't cook, someone else's did". This book is a lot of fun!

We can do no better than to reprint some reviews: "If there were Emmys or Oscars for cookbooks, Elizabeth Schneider would surely receive one" - Boston Globe; "the book has already become a must-have" - Bon Appetite; "It's a truly invaluable trove of culinary, historical, and botanical knowledge" - Gourmet; "landmark reference book" - Vogue; "the timeliest and most truly helpful (cook)book of the year," - Time Magazine.

Elizabeth Schneider is a columnist for Food Arts and Eating Well magazines. Both her columns have won James Beard Journalism Awards for best magazine series. She also has published articles in Gourmet, The New York Times, Food & Wine, and dozens of other publications, and written three other cookbooks.

Steve Christman 5/26/00