Customer Reviews

Food Plants of the World: An Illustrated Guide

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for anyone interested in the very staff of life: what we eat, why and where it came from. this book has information on every obscure fruit, herb, drink component, bark, vine, grain and spice you can think of. each species has a full page with three pictures, description, origin and history, parts used, cultivation and harvesting, uses and properties, nutritional value and notes. written by a botanist, it includes family information and the author is careful to include leaves, flowers AND fruit in almost every species account.

belongs in any good kitchen or botanist's library and always bound to settle any argument about a food item. invaluable.

I recently went on the Spring 2009 Voyage of the Semester at Sea program, and found this book during the trip. It was really helpful in supplementing information we were given in pre-port lectures, by guides and locals, and in diplomatic briefings, because it includes some of the most commonly found food plants of a wide variety of countries around the world. It was nice to figure out what I had been eating at each of the ports we visited, and to look up things I might like to try at future ports in advance. I was able to find more information on the !Nara plant I saw and learned about in the Namib Desert in the nutrition tables located in the back of the book, and what I learned gave me cultural insights into the country: a plant so rich in nutrients, among so many other valuable natural resources in such a seemingly barren place would explain the Namibian people's love for their land. Additionally, this book offers interesting and important information to anyone interested in botany and anthropology. Each plant profile has detailed pictures that often depict the foliage and growth habit of the species along with its edible parts and related species. And the descriptions include a history of the plant: where it originated and which culture developed it (if it was not naturally occurring)/cultivated it the most, as well as how it is currently used and how it contributes to the economy of the country it inhabits. Finally, of course, this book is great for people interested in nutrition; the vitamins, minerals, nutrients, properties, and calorie contents are provided for almost every plant in the book, and the whole vague line between pulses, nuts, and grains is explained. The South African nationality of the author is evident in the book, because a good number of the plants listed are found in the Cape Province Region; his soft spot for his homeland gives us an interesting glimpse into its food culture, adding further interest to this publication.

This is a reference work. It's not written with much style. The entries all have nice photos and not a lot of in-depth text. I'm glad I have it but it could have been a great book.

This is a really great book, quickly broadens your horizons & is packed with a multitude of useful information - listing history of food use, nutritional value, cultivation & uses, as well information of where it originates from.
Book came very quickly in Brand New Condition.

Does a skilled botanical artist better capture leaves, fruits, and flowers than a gifted photographer? Ever since the first printed herbals appeared in the Renaissance, this question remains as reframed by each era's technologies, and the publication in 2005 (by Briza in Pretoria) of van Wyk's Food Plants of the World continues the debate, now five centuries old. Often cited for it's sparklingly precise paintings, the Francesco Bianchini, et al., Complete Book of Fruits & Vegetables (Italian: I Frutti della Terra [Arnaldo Mondadori pub., 1973; English trans. pub. US 1976]), now is challenged by the refulgent clarity of the color photography in van Wyk's inclusive assembly of botany's edible varieties from Ziziphus jujuba ("Chinese date") to Abelmoschus esculentus (okra), and van Wyk is the better by far. Food Plants of the World not only identifies very carefully each species with instantly comprehended triplicate images (natural settings of growth, flower/fruit/seed/rhizome/root, and 'finished' product), but also supplies up-to-date phytochemistry, dietetics, and the essential details of the physiology and biochemistry immediately applicable to nutrition, diet, and the maintenance of a healthy "balanced" intake of food. Multilingual nomenclatures (Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Malay, Portuguese, and Spanish) accompany the English and Linnaean Latin, so that vegans world-wide can immediately use this volume to key their own cultures and how the multitudinous adaptations from one continent to another characterise modern 'national' cuisines. Van Wyk also leads any reader into the best of the vast literature on the topic ("Further Reading," pp. 446-447), including publications by nutritional scientists throughout the world. A detailed index (pp. 450-480 [four columns per page]) concludes this most satisfying reference work. Food Plants of the World is one of those rare volumes that provides basic information on the great majority of botanical foodstuffs and is a reliable gateway into the enormous body of writing in several languages on this, an essential facet of human existence.

I just love this book....I love sitting down and trying something new...or pondering something I've eaten a hundred times and thinking "I wonder what plant this is from, where it grows, what else is used...etc". So, I open up this book and find all sorts of fascinating info about the item in question....then just for fun....peruse through it and find more and more bits of intriguing info on hundreds of different and delectable edibles.

This is an amazing book with a lot of wonderful and helpful information as well as pictures. I have enjoyed it very much.