The first cookbook I reviewed is “The Africa Cookbook” The book is written by Jessica Harris and details the different foods between north and south and east and West Africa. The book does a good job of describing the different cuisines in the different regions of Africa. However a closer examination reveals many ingredients that I have never heard referenced before (Melegueta pepper?). This book would be good if you come from an affluent family in Africa and want to enjoy your native cuisine. Be warned, however, you must have the resources as well as expertise to follow some of these recipes. I would not recommend this book for a cooking dilettante looking to explore African cuisines for an exotic “food adventure”.
Having been to Germany, I really appreciated the German cuisine, mainly because it was bland, simple, and pulled no tricks on you. Yet it was quite enjoyable and rarely did it have that processed taste that a lot of American food has. That being said, I decided to review The German Cookbook: A Complete Guide to Mastering Authentic German Cooking. I find this book written on about a fourth grade level, which is a compliment to a cook book since it is very explicit on exactly what to do and one can make a lot of the recipies described with common ingredients from around the house. However, this book is not without its flaws. There are no pictures in this book whatsoever. For a person wanting to experience German food, they would probably not pick up this book due to its lack of its visual appeal. However the text makes up for lack of pictures. If it had pictures, I would say this cookbook would be a “must have” for those interested in European Cuisine.
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