general

A very good general food reference book. My only complaint is that it is unclear how this book is organised. There is an index which makes finding things easy. But the body of the content isn't alphabetically arranged!

If you are a cook and sometimes come across ingrediants you have never seen (or can't pronounce) this is *not* the book for you. It is missing most of that stuff. Example recipes would be helpful, too. However, as a general western reference with good illustrations, it fits the bill nicely. I open mine about once a month to look up something. Great as a gift and even better to receive as a present!

Serge D'Amicos' "The Visual Food Encyclopedia" is a sumptuous book, almost worthy more of the living room coffee table than the coffee-stained kitchen table. As a French import translated into other languages, it lists only a dozen varieties of apple (what, no Jonathan?), for example, but gives snails their own chapter.

For a volume that provides a close look at such relatively exotic fare as jicama and carambola, a pronunciation guide would have been a nice addition. The book is arranged into sections (vegetables, legumes, cereals and grains, and so on-seaweed even has its own chapter), and every food is shown both whole and in cross-section. Like "Larousse Gastronomique," this is an eminently useful volume written with a definite French slant.