To say I was excited about The World on a Plate would be an understatement. It's a collection of all the things I love in life -- talking about food, cooking, and learning about different cultures. So, when I got the email that I'd been approved for an advance copy, I was almost giddy.The book wasn't really what I expected. It's more of separate informational pieces than anything else. This isn't a bad thing, and I actually learned a lot while reading it. I also got a few ideas for what to do with my CSA vegetables this year, which coincidentally begin on May 26, this book's official release date. In general, I find it really hard to review nonfiction. What do you say? I guess the main thing that I noticed was that the facts were all there, but everything felt a little haphazard. There wasn't really any flow between one region and the next, and I couldn't figure out the rationale for the recipes chosen. They're not the most famous or the most popular. Perhaps they're just the author's favorites? The selection of recipes left a lot to be desired. Take Peru, for example. Ceviche I get, it's a classically Peruvian, very well-known dish. But Peruvian rice? Really? I'd have preferred to see something like lomo saltado, ají de gallina, or even chicha morada! In the section on Ethiopa, injera is mentioned several times, and the author even goes on to suggest where you might find a recipe, but for some reason didn't see fit to include it in her book. She did, however, feel the need to include the Korean soondae (blood sausage encased in pig intestine) only to turn her nose up at it. I also felt that some of the sections dragged as the descriptions of regional variations became tedious and monotonous. Some chapters come across as almost a little pretentious, as if the author feels that she needs to prove that she knows everything there is to know about Moroccan or Japanese or Thai food. Her (multiple) soliloquies on curry felt a little over-the-top as well. In addition, something was wrong with both versions of this book that I received -- the Kindle copy was garbled almost beyond understanding starting around 80%, and the PDF I received crashed at Africa and refused to keep going. I hope that the final version for sale doesn't have these problems, but it caused me to skim the majority of the last 20%. Of course, there was some good. There are several recipes I would love to try, provided that my advance copy doesn't expire too quickly. I did also enjoy the realization that cuisine around the world isn't too different. Sure, the proteins might be different, and a spice or two may have changed, but the building blocks are very similar. Final rating: a low three stars Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free copy! This book will be released on May 26, 2015. [see all my reviews at the bibliophagist] ( )

An enjoyable food and travel book. Has lists of foods to have in your pantry. Nice section on wine. ( )

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. I should add that this was not an ideal means of reading, either. The text was garbled, recipes difficult to read, and images were not in place. I imagine the finished book will be much prettier in all editions.

Holland took on a major endeavor: part cookbook, part history lesson, part travelogue in a survey of major foods from around the world. The end result is organized by continent and delves into 40 cuisines and 100 recipes.

As a history buff, I found the historical lead-ins for the recipes to be quite fascinating. It's food cultural geography. She explains the regional differences across Italy, and why: access to sea food, or ancient trade routes with spices, etc. Germany sees the divide with the east being more closely aligned to Russian-like tastes. Some of the bits feel like common sense--Portugal has a lot of coastline, so sure, they like seafood--but then there were places like Israel, which has expanded its recipe repertoire with the cuisines of many Jews who have returned in recent generations. I especially liked reading about foods that are foreign to me, such as those of Africa.

That said, I was not attracted to many of the actual recipes. The author often mentioned, "You can find this at a good grocery store!" and I kept thinking, "Well, you live in London, of course a diverse city of that size will carry such things!" I think that out of the 100 recipes, there are two I would really like to try.

I can imagine that it was difficult to choose recipes to represent such wide areas. I'm a native Californian, so I fully expected one dish to include avocado, as that's a signature California thing. But I was surprised it was in a kind of Asian-fusion salad that wasn't a traditional recipe like those used to represent other parts of the world... and then the second recipe for California was BBQ corn. Really? Why not something like tri-tip? I'm curious to how other people will respond to the choices for their representative recipes, too.

I think this book is ideal for a very experimental, try-everything kind of cook who lives in a metropolitan area with good international markets or for someone who can appreciate it for the history alone. ( )