Customer Reviews

Understanding Food: Principles and Preparation

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

 

 

I was really disappointed (and surprised) to open this $160 textbook and find all the pages are printed in black and white. Give me a break. There is a small insert section of about a dozen pages that has color pictures of some meats and vegetables. That's it. The other other ~700 pages, the actual textbook content, is all grayscale! There is a lot of information in this book, with a lot of diagrams, and photos of a many foods, ingredients and techniques. And it's all in black and white. Moreover, the cheap printing smacks of publisher greed (and we the students get fleeced).

There are few other annoyances with this book, sorry. In some chapters the author includes a "Professional Profile" where she highlights careers in the food industry. Several of these furtive advertisements are for big snack food and processed-food conglomerates, including Kellog, Kraft and Wrigley. For me, it felt like a strange choice for a nutrition textbook. I found myself wondering if the author had been compensated by any of the companies? I would have preferred to read about careers with healthier businesses, or the National Health Service Corps, or even the military; not a snack food company.

One other oddity I can remember. In the section about coffee, the author mentions and describes many ways of brewing (drip, espresso, percolator, vacuum, etc.) -- except French press. Maybe by the fifth edition the author will get around to adding one of the most popular methods of brewing coffee lol

Anyway, I'm nitpicking with that one. My main gripe is that I paid so much $$ for black & white printing. Such a bummer :(

The second edition of this book was one of my college texts in 2004. While I didn't find the accompanying lab. manual as helpful, the actual text is great. Brown describes food science in simple language, explaining the reasons behind why cakes crash, why chemical elements in foods react as they do, why high altitude cooking rules differ, ingredient substitutions, etc., but also provides more in-depth chemical and physical explanations as well. It is really fascinating to read through just for fun. If you enjoy experimenting with recipes as I do, you will really appreciate Brown's guidelines. I refer to my copy a lot; her charts and guidelines are incredibly useful.

I like how this book gives you examples that are recent and really up to date. The author makes it easy to understand the construction and properties of food and parts of food. Plus there are little boxes within each page that further explain vocabulary and had to understand concepts. Also there are just fun pictures that show some fun things about food as well. Overall the book is very informative and easy to read.

All,
I have taken the course that calls for this book. The course..., but this is a very good book. If you're majoring in nutrition/dietetics, do not get rid of this book. It is invaluable.

The book was pretty cheap, had a lot of writing inside but it was worth not having to buy a way more expensive new version. You get what you pay for! I'm satisfied!

I ordered this book instead of going to the bookstore at the college. It arrived just in time to get the work started for my class. It only cost one third of what the bookstore was asking and most of the important information is already highlighted for me. Amazon offered a good product that saved me quite a bit of money.

This textbook is well written and easy to understand. The information is very thorough and logically grouped together.

I have not recieved the book......please someone contact me NOW, this is the 2nd purchase I have made and not recieved my book!
Very Upset!!! Please help me!