Mediterranean Vegetables: A Cook's ABC of Vegetables and Their Preparation (Hardcover)

by Clifford Wright (Author) "Throughout the Mediterranean, the heart, or receptacle, of the thistle flower is sometimes used in the same way as one uses the heart of an..." (more)
Key Phrases: North Africa, Middle Ages, Aksaray Province (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
First born as a simple appendix to Clifford A. Wright's bestselling A Mediterranean Feast (the 2000 James Beard Cookbook of the Year), Mediterranean Vegetables has grown up to be a stunning and useful guide in its own right. Part cookbook, part scholarship, part gardening guide, this A-to-Z reference encompasses the entire Mediterranean region and is sure to interest food scholars, those who grow vegetables, amateur cooks, food industry professionals, and foodies of every stripe, and open up the American kitchen to a whole new world of vegetables. Each of the more than 200 alphabetical entries--from Acanthus-Leaved Thistle to Zucchini--describes a vegetable; explains its origins, its culinary history, how to grow it, and where to get it; and provides recipes that range from simple to downright exotic.

Qarac bi'l-Tahina (Pumpkin Spread with Sesame Paste) is a pleasingly lighter and infinitely more intriguing version of the ubiquitous chickpea hummus, flavored, like its cousin, with sesame tahini, plenty of garlic, lemon juice, and freshly ground cumin seeds. The Syrian dish Bamya bi'l-Zayt (Okra with Olive Oil), flavored with 40 cloves of garlic, an onion, a bit of lemon juice, and fresh coriander, is made distinctly Middle Eastern by the pomegranate molasses that sweetens it. Carciofi con Mollica, or Artichoke Hearts in Citrus Sauce, harks back to the 19th century, when French-inspired Sicilian chefs of the aristocracy invented fabulous baroque recipes. The earthiness of the artichokes is drawn out by the tangy sauce, while salty anchovies and crunchy bread crumbs add welcome layers of complexity.

While most American cooks will never be able to get some of the vegetables and herbs listed (when was the last time you saw paper pumpkinseed or skirret at the local market?), the majority of the most popular vegetables in the Mediterranean--and of those included in Mediterranean Vegetables--are easily found in American markets. --Robin Donovan

From Publishers Weekly
A thoroughly comprehensive guide to vegetables from Mediterranean countries, Wright's latest is part cookbook, part academic reference. Originally an appendix to Wright's Mediterranean Feast, this book's alphabetically ordered vegetables run the gamut from acanthus-leaved thistle to zucchini. Wright admits that "practically speaking, only about eighty or ninety of the over two hundred vegetables listed will be even remotely available to a typical American cook." The book lists vegetables' English and Mediterranean names, characteristics, varieties, plant origins and history, and explains how to buy, store and prepare them for cooking. No nutritional information is given; the author wants to guide the reader away from what he views as "the gastronomically destructive `food as fuel' concept." While information on grape hyacinth, paper pumpkinseed and sea holly might seem esoteric to the average cook, some of Wright's recipes are treasures indeed. Shawandar bi'l-Laban (Beets with Yogurt) is stunningly colorful, and the fresh mint along with garlic is new and unexpected. Makbuba (A Potato and Bell Pepper Frittata in the Style of the Tunisian Jews) is made with ingredients most American cooks have, and caraway and coriander seeds enhance its simple ingredients in new ways. While Wright's recipes focus on vegetables, they are not exclusively vegetarian; it is common in Mediterranean cuisine for meat and dairy products to be used as condiments for vegetables. Impeccably researched, this book will appeal to botanists, food scholars and vegetable aficionados. Agent, Doe Coover.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Common Press (September 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558321969
• ISBN-13: 978-1558321960
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #515,725 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Culinary Reference of the First Order, November 22, 2003

By	B. Marold "Bruce W. Marold" (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Clifford Wright is one of the leading writers, along with Elizabeth David, Paula Wolfert and Claudia Roden, on the cuisines of the Mediterranian. He describes this volume as an expanded appendix to his monumental, award winning `A Mediterranean Feast'.

I believe this book would be of interest to anyone with more than the most minimal interests in food. At the very least, it is a highly accessible catalogue of good vegetable dishes. Although some dishes do contain meat, fish, or meat stocks, it can also serve as an excellent resource for enlivening vegetarian diets, as the author does minimize meat ingredients.

These types of books are not commonly written in English by British or American writers. It always seems to be the Germans and the French who write the great compendia volumes for various interests. Unfortunately, good German and French and Italian works like this are hard to come by, even at the local Borders or Barnes and Noble. So, I am immensely grateful that Wright has rescued us, at least in the specialized world of Mediterranean cuisine.

Some people may find issue with his selection of vegetables. Wright's strategy is to be as broad as possible, including both vegetables only found in the wild and vegetables which have been imported to the Mediterranean shores from the orient or from the new world. I am very happy with this choice, especially since entries indicate the most likely point of origin for each plant and it's current distribution. There is nothing more annoying than looking for an entry in a reference book, not finding it, and wondering why it was left off, out of laziness or because it did indeed fall outside the scope of the book. With this book, that question should never arise. I also endorse the vegetable classification done by commercial criteria rather than by scientific criteria. Who could imagine this book without the tomato! My only disappointment here was that mushrooms were all lumped together under a single heading. Culinarily, this makes some sense, as most mushrooms are interchangeable in dishes, but I have to believe the distribution and ethnic uses of morels is quite different from portobellos.

One of the great joys of the book is that it's emphasis is both culinary and scholarly, in that much material, such as scientific names and common names in many different languages is available here along with very useful recipes. One direction in which the book is not exhaustive is in the choice of recipes. For vegetables such as artichokes and tomatoes, only a small representative sample is included. Whole books could be dedicated to the dishes of these vegetables. What we find is interesting, tasty examples which may not be found elsewhere.

I find the culinary contents of this book to be truly amazing and of tremendous value in any foodie's library. Surprisingly, I find several problems in the more scholarly content of the book. There are at least two statements on artichokes I find very surprising. One is that the choke is edible and the second that the stalk of the choke is not eaten. I rely on the authority of Mario Batali to believe both of these statements is incorrect, at least for Italians, who, Mario reports, regularly buy artichokes with long stems, peel, cook, and eat them with the heart. Another statement says that white asparagus is actually normal green asparagus, blanched before it is picked. `Blanched' is simply the wrong word, as it indicates a brief heating in water. A better word may be `bleached', although that has misleading associations as well. The fact is that they are whitened by mounding soil around the stalks to keep them away from sunlight. No heat of chemical is involved. The book would have been well served by a really good copy editor. Well, all the blurbs on the back cover are from culinary stars. No Nobel laureates here.

That aside, this is a wonderfully useful book. I wish many more of this type from Wright and other English speaking authors.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An ideal addition to regional recipe cookbook shelves, November 11, 2001

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Clifford Wright's Mediterranean Vegetables truly lives up to its title in offering more than two hundred delicious and inspiring recipes drawn from the such diverse Mediterranean bordering nations and regions as Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, North Africa, and the Middle East. From Umak od Hren sa Jabukom (Horseradish and Apple Sauce); Harisa (Hot Chile Paste); and Spinaci alla Genovese (Genoa-Style Spinach); to Yogurtin Salgam (Fried Turnips with Yogurt); Ardi shawki Maqli bi'l-Taratur (Fried Artichokes with Tartur Sauce); and Potage au Cresson (Watercress Soup); Mediterranean Vegetables is an ideal addition to the regional recipe cookbook shelves of anyone who enjoys culinary enhancements of daily meals or party menus.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 200 recipes for using vegetables to maximum advantage, February 9, 2002

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Mediterranean vegetables range from eggplant and fava beans to lentils and swiss chard, and Clifford Wright's superbly presented vegetable book provides 200 recipes for using vegetables to maximum advantage. There are no color photos, but the dishes don't need much embellishment: just access to a range of fresh vegetables.