Customer Reviews

Apicius, a Critical Edition With an Introduction And English Translation

5 star:		(2)
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It's true that there are editions that cost less. But despite the steep price, it is worth every penny.

The cooperation between Latin scholar Grocock and recreatonal cook Grainger has resulted in a book that can be used for serious research as well as creating your own Roman meal. To do that however, you'll have to have some experience in interpretating recipes that give no amounts, cooking times or oven temperatures. If you want to have a ready-made Roman cookbook, I'd advise Cooking Apicius: Roman Recipes for Today, also by Sally Grainger. But then you won't have ALL the recipes, and you'll miss out on the thirty recipes from the 'Extracts of Apicius' by Vinidarius (5th century), who used another redaction of 'De re coquinaria'.

Worthwile extras: a glossary, original sources on Apicius, cooking and luxury dining, named recipes in Apicius, an article on garum and liquamen, and a concordance of recipes with earlier editions.

No wonder they didn't want to release this into the open market. The publisher is way too proud of the packaging. Releasing this at a more reasonable price would have at least doubled or tripled the sales! The work is excellent, with many new insights on Roman cooking by two noted scholars in the field. The new and fresh look, the background data, the recipes themselves, are all worthy of your time, but the price of the book has kicked it out of the hands of the casual cook and put in into the price range of severely dedicated hobbiests and scholars, a great disservice to the many readers who have an interest in this subject. There are several almost as good works for a much more reasonable price. I'd wait for a used or discounted version, unless you are really into the subject! I confess, I am happy to own the book, but I did NOT and would not pay full cover price for this work!

this is a must read for all pro chef!if your a nut of food and must know how it all started and why here you go !read slowly

I was expecting more for the price. I guess the publisher had to charge for the labor.

Did it really take expert linguists that long to translate this:"Put some turnips into a jar with honey and savory. They should keep in a cool dry place." The recipes aren't specific, and most of them should be, because they are dealing with aged and preserved foods.

You'd be better off with a cheaper version of modifed ancient recipes. I would also suggest a book on how to pickle vegetables.