These recipes are fabulous, some of the most delicious vegetarian dishes I have ever tasted, with a great range of ideas in each area. A major strength of the book is that it is has contributions from over 50 of the world’s top raw food chefs, giving use huge sections covering salads, soups, sweets, and so on, with many different points of view and approaches.

Of course, the biggest thing about raw food is preparation.  Nothing is from a bottle or a package, and there are no microwave shortcuts for soaking raw nuts, or grain; you must prepare for tomorrow’s meal today.  That makes it a bit more of a commitment than other recipe books, but the benefits of a raw food diet – vitality, energy, health – are so pronounced, it is worth that commitment.

I have tried a lot of these recipes – the date-cranberry salad dressing is so good! and will continue to use it.  It is an excellent resource for the health-conscious cook, and definitely recommended.

This was a gift from my mentor, George Wagner; it is chocolate art, themed around Easter, and written by the Catalan Antonio Escriba, who was known as ‘El Mago del Chocolate’, the Chocolate Magician, during his lifetime (his family continues the tradition in Spain to this day).  This book was printed in 1967 in Spain, and has a surreal tone to it; fitting considering the Chocolate Magician shared an era with such unusual geniuses as Dali and Picasso.

Most of the illustrations in this book would have been created for buffet centerpieces, although I am not so sure they would have been appetite-inducing: there are some incredibly bizarre ideas here.

There is something macabre about chocolate war scenes, with dead chocolate bodies lying around; or the bank robbery theme, with a chocolate robber bleeding on the ground…other fight scenes include a barroom brawl, a swordfight, a korean war montage, and a ghetto riot.

Racist stereotypes abound, with blackface negros, long-moustachioed conspiratorial chinamen, indians with feathers and warpaint.  Equally weird (and vaguely disturbing) is a barnyard scene, with chickens happily wrapping their own eggs.

Obviously this is not a book I can use for design, or anything else.  Written in Spanish, German, English, and German, the text is brief or non-specific – check out this, written beneath a chocolate Mexican: ‘How does one see a Mexican?  A large hat, practically no eyes, an aquiline nose, long lascivious moustaches and a gaudy cloak.  Well, there it is! WE should visualize all our characters in this way before creating them.’  Ahhhh…so that’s it!

This is a bizarre and wonderful book, but not at all useful, practical, or even relevant.  I love having it on my bookshelf, but can’t recommend it except as a novelty.

This is a wonderful book, my definitive book on breads.  I love it’s range, the quality of its recipes, and its vision – it even includes sauces and stews, chutneys and spreads that you would sop up with the regional breads.  Mushan Pork and five lentil stew, bean soup and tomatillo salsa, pomegranate and meatball soup – I could go on, and on, and on.  Fantastic.

The recipes are detailed, and in-depth; the authors thoroughly know their subject, and tell us about their travels around the world doing research, making this ring authentic on every page.  If you love ethnic foods this is a must – don’t take my word for it, the James Beard Awards picked it as Cookbook of the Year, and it truly deserves that award.

If you only own one book about bread, make sure it is this one.  Enthusiastically recommended.

Claudia Fleming apprenticed under the master himself, Pierre Herme, and now is Pastry Chef at the Gramercy Tavern in New York.  I can easily see Pierre Herme in her work, especially in her chocolate recipes; and she brings her own charming style to his technique and approach.

‘The Last Course’ was my constant companion during my tenure at Sooke Harbor House, where I tried every single idea – they all worked.  Everything is about components to her – intelligent flavor combinations with whispers of such ingredients as rose petals, chamomile, lavender – I love it.  She explains her recipes in smart introductions, and carefully walks through all the steps; the book is laid out well, making it easy to find your favorite, and there is a nice section matching dessert wines with dishes.

I have made all of them – ice creams, her cornmeal crepes and pound cake, doughnuts, panna cotta, pumpkin clafouti – all delicious.  It is hard for me to pick a favorite recipe – bay leaf flan? pine nut tart? All her compositions are clean and simple and pure and just dreamy…

Absolutely, totally recommended.

My copy is the 1996 first edition (it has since been reissued and updated), and I bought when it was unique for its excellent recipes.   Mainly about those nurturing comfort foods we all love, it jazzes up basic recipes, adding nice tweaks and embellishments to create really satisfying dishes.  I personally made and loved the Alva Double-Garlic Chicken with Overnight Tomatoes (incredibly delicious rich saucy garlic-drenched YUM!) and the wild mushroom minestrone with mascarpone dumplings – like I said, comfort food!

I don’t use this much anymore, specializing in pastry as I do.  It is somewhat inspirational, but mostly useful for a home cook, and guaranteed to garner compliments at the dinner table.

I can’t really critique the recipes, or tell you whether they work – this book isn’t really about that for me.  Charlie Trotter is pure inspiration, a revolutionary chef of clever inventiveness and startling imagination – photos of such delicious creations as his ‘Peppered Lamb Loin with Polenta, Ratatouille and Bell Pepper Infused Lamb Stock Reduction’ seem to leap off the page.  The recipes are well detailed, but not for beginners, with complex directions for prep, reductions, and assembly that may confuse a newbie.

‘Charlie Trotter’s’ remains a fabulously stylish book, and recommended for all foodies with a love of the art of cooking. (If you are interested in learning a bit more about Charlie Trotter, he narrates an interesting promotional video on Youtube here.)

Currently Vancouver Magazine’s ‘Chef of the Year‘, Pino has created a beautiful and approachable work, featuring modern Italian with traditional – if you love Italian food, you must own this book. It is stuffed with amazing pasta recipes, risotto, seafoods; I was truly surprised to see that he was sharing so many of his great ideas!   The book is well-written, beautifully laid out with wonderful photographs of his remarkable dishes.

I worked for Pino as his Pastry Chef, and so have made all of the dessert recipes in this book (and then some!) I know they all work well, with very satisfying results – Creme Brule, Biscotti, Gorgonzola Cheesecake with Red Wine-poached figs and Port Syrup, Lemon Chiboust with Roasted Pineapple and Almond Milk Sorbet, Tiramisu, Chocolate Terrine with Espresso Caramel Sauce, Tuiles Nougatines, Okanagan Apple Tarte Tatin with Caramel Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream, Macaroons, Organic Lemon Tart with Italian Merinque and Raspberry Compote, Organic Honey Semifreddo with Orange Sauce and Cassis Caramel – I can personally vouch for them all.  My personal favorite?  Warm Chestnut Cake with White Chocolate Sauce and Maple Syrup Ice Cream – yum!

Cioppino’s (the restaurant) is very expensive, a credit-card buster that is worth every penny; I only go on very special occasions!  If you can’t afford it, or can’t get to Vancouver, then this is the next best thing to being fed by Pino himself.  Recommended completely.

Matt and Sarma make raw food quite beautiful, even sexy. When you say ‘raw food diet’, most people think it is a bland, boring choice.  Not so!  Anyone that thinks raw food isn’t tasty should buy this book, I have tried many of their recipes and they are just brilliant.  The salad dressings are awesome, and both blender juices and shakes are just delicious.  I haven’t yet tried their recipes which require dehydration – they take too long – but plan to do so, and am looking forward to trying their crackers, granola, cookies, tortillas .. everything is raw, so cool!

I would love to be able to sustain a raw food diet for myself, but because of my lifestyle – so hectic – I really don’t seem to be able to do that.  But it is great for a few months at a time, and I keep going back and trying it. I find that even eating raw food for a single day makes a difference to me, I really feel more upbeat and light.

Needless to say, I love this book and recommend it.  A raw food diet makes me feel  clean, alive, energized – at my physical best – and I know it will for you too. Recommended thoroughly.

This comes from a fascinating and dedicated man, heir to the Baskin-Robbins fortune, who turned his back on his family empire on principal.

This book is very detailed, tackling many global issues – famine, poverty, animal cruelty, genetic modification of foodstuffs, water shortages – with the very clear conclusion – we must change our eating habits, to save the world and our own lives.

It isn’t a vague book, but deals in specifics – for example, how many gallons of water a cow needs to produce a steak, and the local and broader impact of that consumption.

You should read this book.  Especially if you don’t want to.

Recommended.

Sting and his wife Trudie, both born and raised in the city, had become gentleman farmers, moving to the Lake House manor with its sixty-acre organic farm, and were rhapsodic about their new connection with the earth.  I can just imagine Sting, coming home from a 50 city tour with his easy listening jazz band, putting on the overalls and going out to pull weeds… right.  Ok, so I am a pessimist about all that, but I did try to give the book the benefit of the doubt, and read it without too much bias..

Nah, that didn’t work.  This book is so obviously a vanity project, even the family chef couldn’t save it.  Both recipes and pictures are very average, with nothing special or even vaguely interesting.  I have cooked long enough to know this is a pile of poop that should be avoided…

bad dog!