Customer Reviews

The World of Street Food: Easy Quick Meals to Cook at Home

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

 

 

If you are looking for a book with a sampling of recipes for various ethnic dishes, then this may be the book for you. Each page features a different recipe and a picture of that dish in a display bowl/plate (like a posed "still life"); the colors & quality of these photos is nice. However, There AREN'T pictures of how the food actually looks at the street vendor stalls, or pictures of the streets/markets that sell these, etc. Also, there wasn't much explanation about the origin or cultural importance of each food that was chosen; basically each dish starts with a sentence about how it is popular in Thailand, etc, and then you get the recipe. So if you are looking for a cookbook, this looks like it would do well; but if you're looking for more cultural tidbits consider other books.

The problem with this book is that the cooking directions mostly aren't very good. Seems like the recipes were compiled by people who don't cook much. An example is the Malaysian Chicken Rice, which advised making a glaze of honey, coating a chicken with it, and then roasting the chicken at 400 for an hour. Anyone who cooks regularly knows that a)the honey will burn to carbon and b)a chicken cooked at 400 for an hour will be dry as toast. Other recipes have you frying bits of dough in hot oil "until done." What does "done" mean here? The point of the cookbook is to introduce foods that the reader probably hasn't eaten or in some cases even heard of before. So how are we to know what "done" means?

Otherwise the selection of recipes is excellent, the pictures are nice, and the stories are interesting and well-written. Too bad the actual recipes are sub-par.

I was really excited to initally get this cookbook because I thought it would be interesting to try foods from different areas of the world. It does have recipes from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

However, I have never travelled to these places so I have no idea what these foods are and can't pronounce half of their names. Many of the ingredients I'm not sure you could purchase here. There's ethiopian spice paste, cassava root, red palm oil, ful beans, desiccated coconut, mangetout, asafetida, garam masala, tamarind, laksa noodles, candlenuts, etc etc. You'd have to live near Whole Foods or a major city I would think to find this stuff. I live in the Mid-West and have never seen these items.

One of the recipes calls for 2 cups of chopped vegetables to cook and retain stock, but doesn't tell you what type of vegetables nor how finely to dice them. Well it doesn't say how to cut them at all. The picture looks like it might be carrots, beets and mushrooms but I can't be sure. It could be sweet potatoes, red onions and chilies. I can't tell. There was an asterisk that mentions using cabbage, carrot, potato, aubergine, squash or turnips. Is that all of them and in equal amounts? And if it doesn't matter than say so. Then it gives no indication what to do with the retained stock.

Another recipe calls for frying bananas and covering with chili powder but then shows a bottle of tabasco. So I wasn't sure if they were using the term chili powder and tabasco to be the same or if it was a mistake. It says to cover the bananas in grated ginger, chili powder and black pepper. If you covered the bananas chunks in tabasco, whoa, that's be some hot bananas! We've had fried plantains in Mexico and it was a side dish, not a dessert. The book didn't mention if this was either.

Many of the dishes I couldn't figure out if they were appetizers, entrees or a snack. Being that many people who purchase this book would have no idea either you think the authors would have provided a little more detail. Also, there were no suggestions of how to combine them to make a truly African meal, or Middle Eastern meal, etc.

I would have to agree with the other reviewer that whoever assembled the ingredients list was not a cook. In most cookbooks the list of ingredients are given in the order they should be used in the recipe. These recipes do not list their ingredients that way. It's a hodge-podge of ingredients then you have to read the instructions to find out that first you make a sauce, or a rub, then you fry something before adding something else to it but the ingredients list does not read in that order. It's just a little confusing.

Overall, I would have to say the cookbook delivers on what it says it does. There are foods from many parts of the world. I'm guessing they are street food/vendors fare. It's just that I'm not sure it's food you would really make at home. I love the funnel cakes at the fair but I have no desire to make them at home.

If you were a world traveller and knew what these ingredients were you'd be in hog heaven. The pictures are beautiful, there is a pic for every recipe. It's 170+ pages long so it's a good sized book. The pages are nice and glossy. There are drink recipes for ginger beer, mojito, daiquiri, la bomba, and others.

Overall, I'd say a 4 star cookbook...only because I guess in street food mentality there is no "main course", it's all the same either way. You just eat what you eat without regard to whether it's an entree or a dessert. Just be prepared knowing it's a list of different, perhaps hard to find, ingredients, there's no rhyme or reason to the way the recipes are grouped, and some of the instructions are rather vague.

Bon Appetit.

I got this book for our household a year ago. Have enjoyed and used it a good deal. Gave two copies as gifts this hear. Good photos. Good recipes that are not the usual ethnic foods found in most cookbooks.

"The World of Street Food" is a so-so book by Troth Wells. Street food is interesting--but having it one's own dining room is well, different. Street food is best enjoyed on the streets. Wells goes for easy, accessible recipes. No deep fried insects or exotic meats. This book is a very tamed and domestic equivalent to No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach Tony Bourdain's culinary adventures are, compared to this, exciting. Bourdain is willing to eat ANYTHING. On the other hand, "World of Street Food" is about as authentic as Taco Bell or Panda Express. Troth Wells does have a much superior cookbook- The World in your Kitchen: Vegetarian recipes from Africa, Asia and Latin America for Western kitchens It's got lesser-known cuisines, such as those of Chile, El Salvador, Cambodia and Pakistan,as well as helpful anecdotes. "Street Food" is so-so.

Troth Wells, in The World of Street Food -- Easy Quick Meals to Cook at Home , delivers a culinary trip down the world's busiest streets with this colorful book of unique recipes.

Consider this book a sampling of special-occasion foods, treats that can help your family, your scout troop, or your classroom experience other cultures. As the world gets smaller and more homogenized, many of these unique flavors are in danger of being lost.

The book is divided regionally -- Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Caribbean and Latin America -- and each section includes everything from beverages and snacks to entrees and dessert items. Many of the recipes were contributed by westerners living and working in the third-world countries or homesick expatriates remembering childhood favorites. All provide loving descriptions of when and how they first tasted these foods.

It would be hard to make a case that street foods are particularly healthy, especially for sedentary westerners. Many are fried or highly salted or sweet, although most are vegetarian/vegan or easily adaptable. Think of street food as a treat. Each new cuisine we try educates our palates, and we can bring those flavors to our more mundane cooking.

The book features full-color photos of the food items as well as the people and streets they represent. The directions are clear and easy to follow, with measurements in metric units as well as cups and teaspoons.

There are wonderful recipes for beans, such as Ethiopian Lentil Wat (stew); lamb, such as Pakistan Seekh Kebabs (meat on a skewer); and fish, such as Peruvian Cebiche de Pescado (cebiche of fish -- raw fish marinated in lime juice). The reader can make his own Ginger Beer (Malawi), Roasted Peanuts (Garrapinada from Uraguay), or Prickly Pear Cactus (Tlacoyos azules from Mexico).

Between the travelogue descriptions, the photos, and the recipes, it is impossible not to feel inspired to globe trot, or at least travel to the nearest ethnic food shop to give something new a try.

This is a great book with great recipes, but it was in a lesser condition than I expected for the price.

I can't say enough good things about The World of Street Food. It clearly is not a mainstream cookbook, it is intended for those people who are adventurous travelers, eaters, and readers. If you fall into this category, you will love this book.

If you have ever dreamed about walking amongst the food stalls of a distant land, smelling and tasting all the typical peasant food available, or even better, if this is your idea of an ideal vacation, Street Foods is for you!