Its two volumes are, indeed, useful. As general references, I
frequently use them (and Oxford's encyclopedias -- the two on
American food & drink, and the earlier, worldwide, one edited by
Alan
Davidson) as starting points.

As for cost and permissions... I wrote three articles in the
Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, which are now available online,
and
was never asked for permission or paid for the electronic versions.
It's possible that some authors were contacted and paid, but I
wasn't
even notified that they were going online. I stumbled across my own
articles by accident.

Gary

PS: It's great that this forum is not just a venue for spam anymore!


> It is a great reference; I'm glad somebody thinks it's useful. I
> sure do. *I suspect it's so expensive since they had to get
> permission and pay royalties to reprint some/all of the articles. *