EAT THIS TOO

Rating:
Summary: Too Many Repeats, But a Good Substitute for the Original.
Review: Dom DeLouise's first cookbook -- Eat This, It Will Make You Feel Better -- was a huge hit in my Italian family. Each of the women in the family owned a copy, and it is the one cookbook I absolutely HAD to have when I moved out on my own. There are a ton of great, easy and relatively healthy recipes in the first, along with several very funny anecdotes and tons of photos. The first book is still, hands down, my favorite cookbook.

Unfortunately, Mr. DeLouise's second cookbook is not as great as the first. For one thing, several of the recipies from the first book are reproduced here, sometimes with slight differences, and sometimes exactly the same as in the original, right down to the photos and anecdotes that accompany them. As much as I love dishes such as Lucy's Pasta and Escarole and Beans, I did not need to buy the recipes twice. Moreover, where the anecdotes in the first book were entertaining tales of the people Mr. DeLouise loves to cook with, followed by favorite recipies from that person, the anecdotes in the second book often have nothing to do with the recipes. The tributes to Barbra Streisand [sp?] and Jason Priestly are particularly out of place.

Nevertheless, the second book, like the first, contains many wonderful recipes, most of which require a minimum of skill and virtually no "exotic" ingredients. The best thing about the recipies, to me, is that many are for dishes I grew up eating, but somehow never learned to make. The Eat This books are like having a grandma in the kitchen, showing you how to make traditional favorites.

Bottom line, If you have access to the original book, buy it and skip the sequel. If, however, you cannot find the original, than this book is a good substitute, particularly if you want good, basic, inexpensive, healthy and DELICIOUS meals.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Cookbook for Everyone
Review: I have made several dishes from the receipes in this book and I am pleased. The first book is more entertaining, but I still recommend this one.

Rating:
Summary: Delish
Review: This book was a dissapointment after his first book "Eat This...It'll Make You Feel Better". The sense of home, family, friends, and real down to earth Italian cooking was gone. How sad. The genuine Italian warmth and passion was missing. No bravos for this one!!!

Rating:
Summary: A very good cookbook.
Review: This is a very good cookbook, but I think I like the first one better. "Eat This!" the original, was more practical and is one cookbook I have used more than any other I own. Dom does have quite a habit of hampering his cookbooks with more than a little name-dropping. (i.e. You hear of all the stars who have eaten his food, but you rarely find out what they liked about it.) But the two "Eat This!" books are well worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: Almost As Good As The First One
Review: This second "Eat This" book is nearly as good as the first: lots of great recipes, fun family stuff, etc. Here we have more bread recipes and finally some good pizza and calzone recipes. There does seem to be more emphasis on dead animal and in a misguided effort to keep fat calories down he uses margarine (a synthetic and dangerous substance that has the same amount of fat as butter, but increases cancer risk) instead of butter. With these few exceptions, I can recommend this book with nearly as much enthusiasm as the first one.

Rating:
Summary: Too Many Repeats, But a Good Substitute for the Original.
Review: This second "Eat This" book is nearly as good as the first: lots of great recipes, fun family stuff, etc. Here we have more bread recipes and finally some good pizza and calzone recipes. There does seem to be more emphasis on dead animal and in a misguided effort to keep fat calories down he uses margarine (a synthetic and dangerous substance that has the same amount of fat as butter, but increases cancer risk) instead of butter. With these few exceptions, I can recommend this book with nearly as much enthusiasm as the first one.