Summary

The author has been wisely selective, and excluded from the 1,000 or so entries are foods and drinks whose names simply reflect the places where they originated, animals in their non-gastronomic sense (e.g. venison is an entry, but not lamb), and wines named after the grape-variety from which they are made. Both linguistic and gastronomic history comprise the definitions, which vary in length from 45 words (for lemon grass) to 1,000 or so words (for salad). Includes no help with pronunciation and no bibliography. Annotation(c) 2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)