Oh also: Vote!
(fellow US citizens of alt.food.asian)

I voted this morning (Ohio) at around 6:30 when the polls opened, but I
guess right now (11AM ET) there are tremendous lines outside the polls,
and there already were at 7:30, even out in the middle of nowhere,
according to a co-worker, who is registered in a more rural area of the
county.

krnntp

KR wrote:

> My one reservation on the Fuschia Dunlop book is that for all its
> length, there aren't as many recipes as you would expect... she goes for
> the "recipe plus a 3-page essay" style of cookbook design, where each
> dish is placed in context and accompanied by an account of origin,
> personal reminiscence or detailed explanation. Which is fine and dandy
> in its own way - Sort of what I like in a cookbook actually, having cut
> my teeth on Yamuna Devi's "The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking" and
> Shizuo Tsuji's "Japanese Cooking - A Simple Art". Recently got Hi Soo
> Shin Hepinstall's "Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen" and it's along the
> same lines, even giving instructions for brewing Korean style soy sauce.
> I guess what I find a little sad is that Dunlop's is not as ambitious in
> scope as these other books, in terms of number of recipes or varieties
> of dishes covered. The two things I look to first are vegetable dishes,
> and sweets; there were far fewer vegetable dishes than I expected, and
> the section with recipes for sweets and street snacks was fleshed out by
> a bunch of descriptions of snacks for which no recipe was provided in
> the book. Interesting to read but *frustrating* in a cookbook. When I
> read about something in a cookbook I want to cook it, dammit! :-) That
> goes for meat curing too... Dunlop talks about lots of home meat curing
> going on in Sichuan, but gives a recipe for bacon only. Overall: the
> glass is 3/4 full. Points for tackling Sichuan cuisine, points for
> striving for authenticity, points for being detailed and interesting and
> unique... points deducted for making a big, big deal about how important
> it is in Sichuan cooking to cut the ingredients just so, and then not
> provide drawings (let alone photos) of most of the recipes. Points
> deducted for breathless excitement about using a cleaver :-) Points
> deducted for not including more recipes, and for assuming readers will
> most likely never have access to actual Chinese vegetables. I want a
> good Sichuan radish recipe dammit! :-) I also want more info about
> pickling and preserved food.
>
> My review above is festooned with smiley faces :-) to make the point
> that I do not hate Fuschia Dunlop or this book. I just wish it were
> more, and better.
>
> 2001 doesn't really count as new, but I recommend "Growing Up in a
> Korean Kitchen".
>
> On Alan Davidson: I guess he has written the definitive work on trifle.
> Also "The Oxford Companion to Food", but if it were my resume, I'd want
> to highlight the trifle book myself (title: "Trifle").
>
> Davidson and his group are behind the VERY esoteric quarterly magazine
> or small food journal "Petits Propos Culinaires". Go take a look! A
> subscription would be a great Christmas present if the recipient is just
> crazy interested in all food, from the Meditteranean through Eastern
> Europe, Africa, and all parts of Asia, and all historical periods,
> including points such as
> * Analysis of actual menus and dishes served at the Lord Mayor of
> London's annual banquet in the 1700's
> * Fact: At certain times of year, wild partidges in parts of Greece may
> be toxic to humans! (Not only a fact, but a named fact: "coturnism")
> * Dried wild fruits of Iran
>
> krnntp
>
> Peter Dy wrote:
>
>> With Christmas coming up, I was wondering if there's any new or newish
>> Asian food-related books out there that are unique and noteworthy?
>>
>> Here's three I can think of:
>>
>> 1. Fuchsia Dunlop. _Land of Plenty: Authentic Sichuan Recipes_.
>> This one is from 2003, and has been mentioned several times here, so I
>> won't say more about it, except to say: It's a nearly 400 page book
>> devoted only to the Sichuan cuisine! Get it!
>>
>> 2. James D. McCawley. _The Eater's Guide to Chinese Characters_.
>> This is a much-awaited reprint of a book first published in 1984. It
>> has also been mentioned numerous times on this group. If you have any
>> interest in food-related Chinese characters for whatever reason, the
>> late University of Chicago linguist's book is a must. Though he seems
>> to have meant it as a way to read Chinese-language menus, I use it as
>> a reference dictionary.
>>
>> 3. Alan Davidson. _Fish and Fish Dishes of Laos_.
>> Ok, I only just saw this book on Amazon last night--I don't have a
>> copy and I've never held one in my hands. But one of my favorite food
>> books in my library is Davidson's _Fruit: A Connoisseur's Guide and
>> Cookbook_. That hardcover tome is filled with wonderful, full-page
>> drawings of what seems like most every edible fruit in the world. It
>> give scientific names, a list of what the fruit is called in other
>> languages, and excellent descriptions. It even includes the Pili nut,
>> native to the Philippines, which I didn't think any non-Filipino knew
>> of--it's the nut with the highest oil content, and is awesome roasted
>> and coated in a sugar syrup.
>>
>> Well, that book has been long out of print, as has been Davidson's
>> _Seafood_ book, which is advertised on the flap of my fruit book. But
>> on my recent trip to NYC, I found out that some of his old seafood
>> books had been reprinted! One is _North Atlantic Seafood_ and the
>> other is _Mediterranean Seafood_. Both, like the fruit book, seem
>> like excellent, one-of-a-kind reference books. And searching Amazon
>> last night, I also came up with this intriguing-looking book on
>> Laotion fish! Seems Davidson used to be the British ambassador to
>> Laos. It was his first book, from 1975, and this is a reprint. If it
>> is anything like his Fruit book, I'd highly recommend it, especially
>> considering that we are damned lucky that a book on the fish of Laos
>> is being reprinted. I can't imagine the printing continuing for long.
>> Oh, and there's also a reprint of his _Seafood of South-East Asia_!
>>
>> Has any one seen any of these Davidson books? He's the one who wrote
>> the much acclaimed Oxford Companion to Food, which I've never looked at.
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/6cnxy -- Laos book.
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/3vf2n -- Seafood of SE Asia book.
>>
>> So, any other new books out there? I seem to recall reading about a
>> new Goan cookbook somewhere.
>>
>> Peter
>>
>>
>>
>>
>