Customer Reviews

From the Tables of Lebanon: Traditional Vegetarian Cuisine (Healthy World Cuisine)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I must first preface that I am not a vegetarian. I am third generation Lebanese-American and love Lebanese food, so people are always sending me cookbooks, and this book was just such a gift. This book has some very good recipies, however, I found some of them incomplete or difficult to follow. Having cooked Lebanese food myself now for a few years, I have been able overcome these difficulties. I highly recommend this books version of Fattoush and it's two Lentil Soup recipies. Those three recipies stand out the most. The food in this cookbook is healthy and very tasty. If you live in an are where fresh produce is readily available here is a book that can help you use it all.

I cooked more than 20 recipes from this book and most of them turned well. If you want novel tasting vegetarian recipes buy this book. However if you do not like garlic + olive oil + lemon + salt dressing stay away. The instructions are sometimes incomplete and there are lots of duplicate recipes. However, they end up tasting good.

Lebanese are known to be very particular about their food. My husband is no exception. He has been thrilled with the food I've prepared using recipes in this book. I'm thrilled, too, because I'm trying to please the family palate and reduce the meat in our diet. I have several other Lebanese cookbooks, but I use this one the most!

Here are some of our favorite recipes from the book:

Sauteed green beans (excellent!) Lebanese rice (excellent no butter version!) Swiss Chard soup Tomatoes with bulgur

Non-Lebanese families and vegetarians will enjoy these easy, clear recipes, too. The recipes yield food that is big on taste, healthy and economical. (No. We do not know the author. :-)

This is a great cookbook. The recipes are all pretty simple - one thing I like (haven't tried it yet but I will) is that there are even some hand drawn pictures on how to do stuffed grape leaves. I do wish there were some more "stories" with the recipes. I enjoy getting to read about the foods and have some context in this cookbook you pretty much just get the recipes. But they're good and straightforward. I've recently been turning into a vegetarian (for ethical reasons but the health benefits are great too) and I was looking for a cookbook that would replace my lebanese cookbook that is more meat focused. Thos one does it for me and I completely feel comfortable wiith giving up my old standby. I guess because the recipes are straightforward (i.e, not a lot of extra embellishment) it give the chef more leeway to throw in a few extra spices here and there which I enjoy doing. I certainly recommend it and I'm psyched to have it as part of my collection.

Public health practitioners have for many years advocated a well-balanced diet with proper servings of fruits, pasta, vegetables, etc. Most of the time, the public is not given any information on good tasting healthful meals. Dr. Abbas and Mrs. Holmin deliver a well-thought out book that has a combination of ethnic, healthy, and well-designed recipes. This book is a great experience that you will never forget and will use over and over. Try making Tabouli, or fatoush. You will never be wrong and it will always taste good.

"From The Tables of Lebanon" is an absolute culinary delight. Every recipe is authentic. Every recipe is delicious! My husband and I loved this vegetarian book and use its recipes often. Bravo to both authors!

i lived for many years in the middle east, and i think this is one of the best, concise books that i have ever read on the subject. plus if you're vegetarian, it's just one more bonus. highly recommended!

These recipes are both simple and delicious! It is true that you do need to love lemon, garlic, and olive oil (but who doesn't?) Sometimes the recipes call for far too much salt though so it proceed cautiously with the salt, you can always add more later.

Rating is for Kindle Version ONLY!

This rating applies to navigation only, which for a cookbook I find very important. There is no link between the book's index and the text. In places the book refers one to a specific page but the kindle software (on mac) provides no ability to find such a page.

UPDATE: Since I wrote the above I've had time to read more of this cookbook. I would recommend the printed edition. The recipes seem authentic and sound good.

However, if you wish to use the book for cooking I suggest that you DO NOT BUY THE KINDLE EDITION. It seem that one cannot return a kindle book so I'm feeling cheated by amazon.com's sloppy work. There are numerous references to specific pages that one cannot find except by going page by page (which is certainly not how I use a cookbook).

UPDATE II: Seems I am going to get a refund. I'm no longer irritated, just disappointed.