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Monday, October 27, 2014

* THE REISSUES, THE REPRINTS, AND THE NEWER EDITIONS...

...all reflect a boom in the cookbook publishing business. A paperback reprint will lower the cost to the purchaser, and also give a publisher a chance to correct egregious errors or add a postscript. Some will reissue a book in paper covers with a new layout or photos. Others will rearrange existing material to present it as more informative text while keeping the focus tight. Some magazines will reissue popular or classic recipes in an "easy" format. Here are some recent "re-editions"...
 
 
21.TAPAS AND OTHER SPANISH PLATES TO SHARE (Ryland Peters & Small, 2010, 2014, 144 pages, ISBN 978-1-84975-570-2, $19.95 US hard covers) is a publisher's collection of assorted recipes – 60 preps for sharing, all with a Spanish theme. Recipes come from six writers, including Juliz Beresford (who has the most) and Linda Tubby (second-most). It was originally published in 2010 and slightly revised for 2014. It is a full range of meat, poultry, seafood and fish, veggies, cheese and eggs. Typical are chicken with garlic, Catalan chickpea salad, chorizo in red wine, pork and veal turnovers, ham and chicken croquettes, migas, and others, ending with tortilla campestre. Preparations have their ingredients listed in avoirdupois and some metric measurements, but there is no table equivalents. Quality/price rating: 85.
 
 
 
22.EASY EVERYDAY SLOW COOKER RECIPES (Robert Rose, 2010, 2014, 352 pages, ISBN 978-0-7788-0483-3, $27.95 CAN soft covers) is by Donna-Marie Pye, whose slow cooker books now have over a half million copies in print. The 200 preps here come from Slow Cooker Winners, a collection of 300 or so recipes, published in 2010. All courses are covered, from soups, stews, chilis, poultry, meats, big dinners, meals for two, and desserts. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements. Quality/price rating: 86.
 
 
23.FAMILY TABLE; recipes and strategies (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2008, 2014, 189 pages, ISBN 978-1-55455-037-1, $19.95 CAN paper covers) is by Marie Breton and Isabelle Emond, dieticians and mothers who have written other family cookbooks. This one was published first in French in 2006, then translated into English for publication in 2008, and it is now reissued as a soft covered book. It's a book about organizing a kitchen, menus and shopping lists in order to nutritionally feed a family. There are also some suggestions here for helping kids become good eaters and how to connect at dinner time. There are about 100 healthy, simple, fast and appetizing preps with nutritional values listed separately by dish and plenty of variations. Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of equivalents. Quality/price rating: 87.
 
 
24.JOHN SCHREINER'S OKANAGAN WINE TOUR GUIDE. Revised and updated fifth edition (Whitecap, 2014, 430 pages, ISBN 978-1-77050-230-7, $19.95 Canadian paper covers) is by the renowned B.C. writer who has written many books about B.C. and Canadian wines, as well as snapping up major writing awards in this area. He's been busy in the past few
years, crafting works on Canadian wines (in general) and on BC wines. The publisher claims that Schreiner has added 60% new material to this fifth edition, yet the price has remained the same – and 60 more pages were added. This tour guide includes the Similkameen Valley as well, which is the most southerly wine region in BC but only 5% the size of the Okanagan. He describes the sub-regions, and this is followed by an
alphabetical order to the 196 (up from 178 in the last edition) wineries themselves including others not yet producing. For each, there is a description and commentary, followed by some specific but brief notes on a few of the wines. A black and white picture of the owner and/or winemaker appears, as well as the date opened, address, phone numbers, website, and times of day open. Maps appear on the back flaps. Schreiner concludes with a vineyard census, general production figures, and VQA sales. The most popular grape in BC is still Merlot, followed by Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Gewurztraminer. The black and white photos are still on the dark side. Quality/Price Rating: 89.
 
 
 
25.PEPPER; a history of the world's most influential spice (St. Martin's Press, 2013, 302 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-04866-0, $16.99 US soft overs) is by Marjorie Shaffer, a business and science writer currently at New York University School of Medicine. This is the paperback reprint of the 2013 hardbound edition. She's crafted details about what is arguably the most important of the taste spices: black pepper. It's not a thorough history of European pepper trading in Asia, but it does examine why – and how – our forebears wanted a single product. As such, it is also the business history of the trading routes and regions. And there are also some pages on the US pepper fortunes. The colour section is loaded with visuals of plants, plantations, older woodcuts, and early drawings. She's got maps of the Indian Ocean, India, Malaysia and Indonesia so that readers can track the trade routes. There are copious end notes, a well-researched bibliography, and a workable index. Quality/Price Rating: 90.
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Chimo! www.deantudor.com

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