The Encyclopedia of Asian Food and Cooking

Rating:
Summary: Average Dictionary.Lots of Room for Improvement
Review: This book suffers from the fact that it deals with the same subject as a true culinary classic, 'Asian Ingredients' by Bruce Cost which has recently come out in an updated paperback version (see my Review of this book).

The few areas where this book is a useful supplement to Cost's book are based on the fact that it covers more than Cost's venue of Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand and it is slightly better as a reference, being a true dictionary. Yet, in comparison to a book on Japanese ingredients, 'The Japanese Kitchen' by Kimike Barber, I found Passmore's book wanting. It's strength is in broad coverage, but you will invariably need Cost's book to really understand this subject.

Get Cost's book first, then see if there is anything you are missing and consider this book as a supplement to cover the Phillipines, Indonesia, India, and other remote Asian venues.

My strongest recommendation for this book is that it does include the Latin scientific names for all biological entries. It would have been worthless without these.