The World in your Kitchen: Vegetarian recipes from Africa, Asia and Latin America for Western kitchens [Paperback]

Troth Wells (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2007

“If you believe we are one world and our survival depends on inter-dependency rather than independency, then, in terms of food and cooking, this is the book for you . . . the most delicious recipes even a novice can make—it’s all in The World in your Kitchen.”—Julie Christie

“Troth Wells makes a valuable contribution to moving towards a more sustainable world with The World in your Kitchen.”—Marilyn Borchardt, Food First (Institute for Food and Development), San Francisco

The World in your Kitchen brings people together in the same way that food does. This fascinating collection of vegetarian recipes shows how every non-Western culture developed its own vegetarian cuisine. It gives you the chance to enjoy some of the vast range of different foods eaten in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East.

With historical and cultural background, personal stories, and people photography, The World in your Kitchen brings color and context to global delights like quibebe (pumpkin soup from Brazil), coconut curry from Malaysia, and avocado and zucchini enchiladas from Mexico. Includes:

• One hundred fifty easy-to-cook vegetarian dishes
• Clear, step-by-step cooking method
• Personal recipes from around the world
• Full-page color photographs
• Food facts and a glossary of foods

Troth Wells has been with the New Internationalist since 1972. She has written a number of world food books.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Hold the groans at the announcement of yet another vegetarian cookbook, because Wells and readers of the New Internationalist magazine have put together an information-packed gastronomic tour of other worlds. Plus, the excellent color photographs appearing on nearly every page lighten her occasional preachy text on the merits of vegetarianism. And the six full-page sidebars on specific ingredients (such as bananas, corn, and noodles) provide useful--and amusing--data. Her 150 recipes are divided into four sections, from starters to desserts, and are further grouped by area and country. So, in addition to the all-too-familiar dal, hummus, and tabbouli, more exotic dishes include Mozambique's cashed nuts piri piri, Bahamian gunga (pigeon peas and rice), boiled pumpkin from Malawi, and Aamras, an Indian mango dessert. Barbara Jacobs --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"This colourful book demonstrates the amazing world-wide diversity of vegetarian ingredients and shows how just about every non-Western culture in the world has developed healthy non-meat cuisine." - JANE BROPHY, THE VEGETARIAN SOCIETY; " The World in Your Kitchen cookbook is very welcome. My imagination will be given a very necessary fillip by this international gathering of recipes." - GLENDA JACKSON, MP

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: New Internationalist; Revised edition (June 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904456200
• ISBN-13: 978-1904456209
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 7.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #717,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real multi-cultural cookbook, November 3, 2003

By 

merrymousies (Waterford, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World in Your Kitchen: Vegetarian Recipes from Africa, Asia and Latin America for Western Kitchens With Country Information and Food Facts (Vegetarian Cooking) (Paperback)

There are a number of things that I like about this cookbook, in addition to the tasty recipes themselves. First, it really does cover most of the world (the only countries left out are Europe and the US/Canada but I guess the author figured we already get a lot of those cookbooks). There are recipes from Bangladesh, Bahamas, Cambodia, Ghana, Syria, Kenya, Thailand, Guatemala, Brazil, Jamaica, Indonesia, Malaysia, Afganistan, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Haiti, Algeria, Peru, and I could go on.

There is a nice intro section (35pgs) that talks about nutrition, where to get certain vitamins/minerals and some history of eating habits/the force of marketing/big money - how we got so hooked on eating animals.

Then the recipes are broken out into the following sections:Starters & Snacks, Main Dishes, Side Dishes, Deserts & Drinks. Within each of these sections the recipes are broken out by continent (Africa, Asia, Middle East, Caribbean & Latin America) and the recipes themselves have a little intro that's stpecific to the food as well as the country its from and the native name for it.

Color pictures and artwork is on every page and there's lots of interesting information - more than just a cookbook but short stories about world eating which is neat.

The recipes are good from what I've tried so far. They're pretty straightforward and rely more on the flavors of the vegetables than on putting lots of different spices in there. The spices that it does call for are easily found (e.g. cumin, chili peppers, paprika, cilantro etc)

Thumbs up on this gem - lots of fun to read as well as cook from.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Cookbook, May 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The World in Your Kitchen: Vegetarian Recipes from Africa, Asia and Latin America for Western Kitchens With Country Information and Food Facts (Vegetarian Cooking) (Paperback)

The World in Your Kitchen is a window on basic recipes and foodways usually not included in higher brow cookbooks. Filled with vibrant photography including pictures of people growing harvesting, selling and preparing food, this cookbook presents a generous array of recipes, introduced by a brief history of the ingredients involved. Both metric and non metric measures are used in this combination geographic tour and culinary exploration.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Global Flavors, December 11, 2008

By 

Amaranth "music fan" (Northern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World in your Kitchen: Vegetarian recipes from Africa, Asia and Latin America for Western kitchens (Paperback)

"The World in Your Kitchen" is an excellent cookbook for the vegan, vegetarian, or person on a budget. Troth Wells has easy recipes, and introduces readers to unfamiliar cuisines such as those of El Salvador, Tanzania, and Ecuador. It's not the usual vegetarian recipes from China, Mexico, and India. It's exotic without being intimidating. The recipes are delicious. There's a forward from Glenda Jackson,and two recipes from cinematic star Julie Christie.

Recommended recipes- Ecuadorian potato pancakes with peanut sauce, Chilean bean&pumpkin stew (served atop spaghetti with fresh basil),Malaysian coconut curry with peanut sauce (from Julie Christie),Cambodian carrot stir fry (again,from Julie Christie),Tanzanian beans with coconut&cilantro,South African bean&tomato brede (stew),and beans with cocoa from Sierra Leone (think of an African mole)

There are some minor drawbacks to the cookbook-
1)No pictures of recipes.
2)Use of British terms like courgette,aubergine,haricot beans,cowpeas,and "pancakes" for enchiladas. And British measurements can be confusing.
3)Some dubious politics blaming the World Bank for Zimbabwe's dire situation,and dubious philosophy from Peter Singer,who considers animals human,but is okay with euthanasia and infanticide.
Again,these drawbacks are so minor they don't affect the rating. It's still a great cookbook.

"The World in Your Kitchen" benefits fair trade. It's got excellent,delicious,easy recipes. It brings the world into the kitchen!