Martha Rose Shulman

“Mediterranean Light” takes recipes from all around the Mediterranean Sea; Italy, Greece, Egypt, the Middle East, north Africa, even France, and reduces the calorie content of them all. While admitting that olive oil is good for one’s health, she cuts the amount of oil in the recipes down drastically. There are almost no dairy products included, and red meat is super scarce. Even chicken doesn’t make very many appearances. There are some fish recipes, and a couple of egg ones. So show more it’s a good book for the near-vegetarian. The part I love, though, is that the recipes are all well flavored with herbs and spices, so that one never feels like one is eating ‘diet’ food. It’s a complete way of eating. I can’t wait to try the Moroccan Chick-pea soup, among others. show less

A cookbook I go back to frequently because of the simplicity and taste of the recipes. It's been a great help in my efforts to stay as vegetarian as possible.

We cooked out of this cookbook for quite a long time, to the point where our copy is spattered with tomato sauce and falling apart. Her stories about the food go well with the recipes.

At first glance, you would think that this is a cookbook. Then you would be wrong. This book is a guide to the differnt countries of the world through the different foods that are eaten. Each region gets a brief discussion about their history as well as the staple foods for each country. The pages are full of great photos that help show these different foods. There are also highlighted sections that give special attention to signature dishs or food traditions. It could be used as a good show more intorduction into a more detailed dicussion about a country in a geography class. Many students may gain an interest in a different country just by reading about why they eat certain foods, such as potatoes or yogurt. You can also talk about how the weather of the different regions affect what is grown, which can tie into nutrition/ health. Their is also the possibility of tieing into an economics class by talking about the trade in food. The author not only provided references for the book, but also a list of recipes for a selction of the covered dishes. Since I am a big foodie, I am very interested in combining food with education. This book gives me a way of showing students how food is just as much a part of our lives as computers or language. show less