oxcompanion.jpg   Alan Davidson 3 out of 5

This book is massive, apparently it took twenty years to compile and the amount of information about food in it is unbelievable.The Oxford Companion to Food is an encyclopaedia laid out in alphabetical order from “aardvark” to “zucchini” and covers all manner of foods, nutrition and culinary subjects….it really is one for major food fans. However as with more general reference books no matter how big, it’s still not going to be comprehensive, I mean food is such a huge subject, you couldn’t make a book big enough! So I have a strange feeling about this one, it’s too big (you couldn’t read it cover to cover), yet it hasn’t got enough in it! There have been plenty of times I’ve looked up something in this huge tome only to find there is no entry, frustrating! And despite the many references to international cuisine  I find “Dictionary of menu and culinary terms” by Rodney Dale far more useful for translating foreign food terms into English. Buy this book : UK USAIllustrations are sparse, black and white, drawing style images with no photos. Major items such as “rice” have their own multi-page sections dedicated to them and more obscure items may have just a few lines….entries are informative and obviously authoritative.So what you’ve got to think about is are you looking for a general reference book, or would you be better off buying two or three more specialised books in the subjects you are particularly interested in?It does make a great “I’m a serious foodie” status symbol coffee table / kitchen library book if you’re that way inclined though!

Having said all that I don’t want too be negative about this book, I’ve discovered lots of little interesting things in this book, such as an ingredient called “ambergris” an intestinal secretion of the sperm whale found floating around in lumps up to 200lbs in size on the surface of the ocean, which can be used to flavour food and coffee! ….blimey! I’ll keep my out for some of that on the beach.

Buy now from: Amazon UK Amazon USA

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