Customer Reviews

100 Vegetables and Where They Came From

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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This book amazes me: The author has managed to combine two activities I don't usually do (cooking and seed propagation) with two of my least favorite subjects (history and social studies) in a reference-style format compelling enough to read in bed.

Mr. Weaver has a flair for culinary description combined with an unabashed enthusiasm for both plants and people. When he describes a plant's origins, he doesn't just state a place and a time, he takes you there, he tells you how he found it, he describes the husbandry behind it, and THEN he tells you what it's like to eat it. And what it goes well with. And how it might look in a garden. And what its virtues are. And so on, invoking an exotic world of color and taste such as never graced your local grocer's vegetable shelves!

So:

...If you've ever enjoyed thumbing through cookbooks to savor the taste of imagined dishes...

...If you've ever enjoyed reading a travel journal and experiencing people and customs through the eyes of others...

...If you've ever enjoyed browsing through seed catalogs and plotting away the winter with dreams of exotic varieties (--all yours for the mere price of a seed packet!)

...Or if your shopping for anyone with an interest in "foodways"...

...Then this book is well worth the price.

In one sense this is a popular book, easy to read with helpful line drawings of the vegetables (gracefully rendered by Signe Sundberg-Hall). Weaver even gives phonetic guidance on how to pronounce the names of the vegetables, which include peppers, beans, potatoes, lentils, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, eggplants, etc. Part of the book is a celebration of those names and an appreciation of their history. While reading this I made a mental note to get to my local Whole Foods or Begonia Farms store more often and try something new and exotic!

In another sense this is an advanced book for gardeners and culinary experts, not because the book is technical, but because for most people most of the vegetables presented will not be found at the local supermarket, nor will their seeds be found at the local garden and seed store. Additionally it is not always clear to this amateur how these exotic varieties differ from their more prosaic fellows at the local A&P. Weaver helps by attempting to describe the taste (hard to do!) and advises on things like texture, color and spiciness (e.g., wear gloves when cooking Aji Lemón peppers, and don't breath the fumes!). He includes some recipes and advice on complementary foods to go along with the featured veggies. He gives some recipes, sometimes from the culture of origin. For gardeners there are five pages of seed catalogue stores and their web addresses. For botanists he includes the botanical names and the plant's family name. No fungi, by the way. There are varieties from "every continent, except the frozen one," e.g., "Shungiku Edible Chrysanthemum," from Japan, "Pepino Dulce Melon" from South America, "Jaune du Poitou Leek," from France, even the "Petaluma Gold Rush Bean," from my native California. Among the exotic names I found some terminology new to me. Some vegetables are referred to as "heirloom" varieties and/or "cultivars." Weaver uses the term "landrace," which I couldn't find in any of my dictionaries, defined on page two as a noncommercial or "backyard" variety in cultivation for a long time. Weaver has himself cultivated all the varieties presented here on his farm in Pennsylvania where he grows three thousand or so vegetables on a rotating basis. His knowledge about vegetables and his love for them is very impressive. His appreciation of the culinary arts is evident. This is a pretty little book from Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill that would make a nice present for someone you know who loves cooking or gardening.

A Tour Through Our Extraordinary Culinary Heritage. A fascinating history of vegetables from around the world & onto our platters for supper.

You will find sidebars extolling the virtues of efficiency & flavor of just about every plant W3 hunts down, together with hints for gardeners about spicing up beverages & other mildly improper culinary secrets.

From the Aji Dulce Pepper (Capsicum chinense) from Venezuela - smoky flavored without the "hot pepper overkill and the sensation of fiery lava flowing through the body" ... to the Zwollsche Krul Celery (Apium graveolens) found in the salt marshes of the Netherlands - a curly leaf celery that falls under the general English category of smallage - parsley & such - used boiling or stewing.

Part of the history of the plants we've cultivated for hundreds of years(What was the Lumper Potato?) is also part of the history of our language of cooking. You will find terms such as landrace or smallage.

The plants which W3 pursues are noncommercial or "backyard" varieties that have been under cultivation for a very long time. They are the real ingredients of peasant cookery & often provide regional cookeries with their distinctive flavors.

Which vegetable delicacy did our Third President set upon his table for his guests? Would you know what Cardoon is? W3 knows & now so do I!

Enough already! Talk about digging for the roots of our roots! A garden book for cooks or a cook's guide to ancient gardens - either way - if you like veggies, you're going to want your own copy of W3's latest!

I haven't been able to finish it because all my friends keep borrowing it. What a wondrously awesome book. I started at the beginning checking all the plants I want.... I thought I was well-informed on heirloom vegetables. Most of the vegetables in the book so far I hadn't even heard of. This book would be an awesome present to get for all your gardening friends and relatives.

Thanks, William Woys Weaver, for this lovely little book . . . fun to read a veggie or two at mealtime, and always something new to muse over. The Seller, Got Books Inc, gave a good value, delivered on time, in the condition described. Will do business with them again if the opportunity arises.

In this book, author and organic gardener William Woys Weaver, takes a look at 100 *heirloom* vegetables, telling you where they came from, how to grow them, and how to eat them. For the most part, I must say that I did find this to be an interesting book. I think that the author did a good job of talking about the plants in a succinct and yet interesting way. And, I did enjoy the format, which makes the book look like an old 1960s book!

I must take a moment to stress, though, that this book is about *heirloom* vegetables. There are no entries for the lowly vegetables that have looked up at your from your plate all these years. Instead, you will find such plants as the Dwarf Choy Sum, the Flageolet Chevrier Vert Bean, and the Toad Skin Melon. So, if you are interested in adding long-forgotten friends back to your diet, you will like this book...just know what you are getting.

such a variety of books to choose from and ordering or browsing made stunningly simple. thanks a million!

100 Vegetables and Where They Came From text treatment of the vegetable picks a hundred vegetables from around the world and shares their stories of development and consumption. Read here about the Pennsylvania Winter Luxury squash which can be eaten like an apple, or the Botswana cowpea, which is a creamy dish in Africa. Excellent folklore for vegetable fans.

William Weaver's 100 Vegetables And Where They Came From text picks a hundred vegetables from around the world and shares their stories of development and consumption. Read here about the Pennsylvania Winter Luxury squash which can be eaten like an apple, or the Botswana cowpea, which is a creamy dish in Africa. Excellent folklore for vegetable fans.