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Monday, September 20, 2010

FOOD BOOK OF THE MONTH!

 
 EDIBLE; a celebration of local foods (John Wiley & Co., 2010, 324
pages, $29.95 US hard covers) has been pulled together Tracey Ryder and
Carole Topalian, cofounders of Edible Communities Publications. It's a
combo cookbook and sustainable living guide, with all sorts of material
about local farms scattered throughout North America. Edible
Communities are a series of 60 magazines published in most of the large
urban centres. Two are in Canada (Edible Toronto and Edible Vancouver).
All are freely available via the web site www.ediblecommunities.com. So
this book has gathered "stories" from six American regions (the two
Canadian mags are in Northeast and Pacific Northwest). The stories
concern locals such as Ahiwenzie's Fish & More, a family business
fishing in Georgian Bay (Edible Toronto) or Joe S. Sausage from
Albuquerque (Edible Santa Fe) who regular wins awards for his red hots.
You cannot get much local than this. The 74 recipes come next, and they
are divided by season beginning with spring. At the back, there is a
recipe index by region, a listing of all 60 Edibles, and a general
index.
Audience and level of use: those foodies curious about local farmers
and businesses around the continent.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: glazed lamb chops (Edible
Hawaiian Islands); linguine with clams (Edible Seattle); strawberry
shortcakes (Edible Ojai); harvest cake with cider-cinnamon frosting
(Edible Rhody); braised pomegranate chicken with walnuts (Edible East
Bay); egg noodles with fresh spring veggies (Edible Portland OR).
The downside to this book: Preparations have their ingredients listed
in avoirdupois measurements, but there is no metric table of
equivalents.
The upside to this book: good looking photos of people and products,
all in colour on matte paper (so the book does not weigh a ton).
Quality/Price Rating: 90.
 
 
 

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