I've always wanted to know how to make sophisticated Italian cooking look simple, and now I can. Thanks to Clifford Wright's new book I can whip up Mediterranean delights that approach the dishes in some of my favorite restaurants, and do it at home without spending all afternoon preparing. There's nothing esoteric here. Just as the title promises this is basic, down-home food.But Italian down-home, so it takes a little getting used to. There are combinations I've never tried before, and ingredients from Italian delis that I don't usually buy. But the recipes look perfectly do-able and promise a nice change from the usual pasta and red sauce.

MEDITERRANEAN VEGETABLES is misnamed. Many of the vegetables Clifford Wright lists in his book are not native to the Mediterranean, but rather hail from the Western Hemisphere. I was slightly annoyed when I realized this as I am a gardener and naively thought this book would get back to some "original" foods, but it does not. However, that being said, the book does contain some rather good recipes, and unlike other books on the various cuisines of the area, this book contains a nice selection of dishes that include eggplant. I am an eggplant nut, so for that reason alone I'll keep the book. Not only does the book include 10 recipes with eggplant as the star, all the recipes are tasty--although some are a bit spicy and not all are low-cal (maybe none of them are).

There are plenty of other good vegetable dishes. I also fancy okra, and Wright has included a delicious recipe "Okra with Olive Oil" that uses pomegranate molassas. Another dish Wright describes as a "guiless dish from Apulia" is "Oven-baked Potatoes and Mushrooms" with portobello mushrooms and pecorino cheese.

Wright says he is not a vegetarian, so don't buy this book if you're opposed to animal products in your vegetables. However, if you're an "ovo-lacto" veggie, you might check it out.

Mediterranean vegetables range from eggplant and fava beans to lentils and swiss chard, and Clifford Wright's superbly presented vegetable book provides 200 recipes for using vegetables to maximum advantage. There are no color photos, but the dishes don't need much embellishment: just access to a range of fresh vegetables.

Clifford Wright's Mediterranean Vegetables truly lives up to its title in offering more than two hundred delicious and inspiring recipes drawn from the such diverse Mediterranean bordering nations and regions as Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, North Africa, and the Middle East. From Umak od Hren sa Jabukom (Horseradish and Apple Sauce); Harisa (Hot Chile Paste); and Spinaci alla Genovese (Genoa-Style Spinach); to Yogurtin Salgam (Fried Turnips with Yogurt); Ardi shawki Maqli bi'l-Taratur (Fried Artichokes with Tartur Sauce); and Potage au Cresson (Watercress Soup); Mediterranean Vegetables is an ideal addition to the regional recipe cookbook shelves of anyone who enjoys culinary enhancements of daily meals or party menus.

In recent years there has been a growing hunger on the part of many readers for more informaton on the cultural and historical background of food. If you are such a reader, "A Mediterranean Feast" would be a welcome addition to your cookbook library. Along with traditional recipes from many countries, this massive volume offers extensive text on the history of Mediterranean food, including the influences of climate and geography. The book is handsomely produced, with maps and period illustrations adding their own interest to the narrative.

Also recommended: "Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen," by Sonia Uvezian. Fascinating text and fabulous recipes make this definitive volume a must for anyone interested in the cooking and culture of the region.

A Scholar, Storyteller, and Cook
My guess is the one negative review of this book came from someone who wanted a dry reference book and found a storybook instead. This is not a complete and authoritative cookbook on cuisine of the Mediterranean, nor is it a compendium of the last 1000 years of Mediterranean history. That is clearly not what the author wanted and if that is what you are looking for then you are wasting your time.
What you do get is a beautiful book filled with well-researched articles, each one telling a slice out of the life and food of Mediterranean history. Each section flows with history, recipes, and detailed side articles on specific foods, concepts, or bits of history. While in many ways the scholarly style and depth of knowledge may seem like a college text at times, the lyrical changes in focus and the obvious passion and excitement that the author has for the subject make it into a series of compelling stories. These stories are not a bunch of facts presented in a linier and plain fashion, but facts synthesized into organizing concepts, a real forest through the trees look at the wide ranging multiple cuisines of the Mediterranean. It would be hard to study this book for a test, but who is getting tested here? This is a book to read for curiosity, enjoyment, and culinary inspiration.

The Mediterranean is its own country and most positively well known for its cuisine. But it wasn't always like that. At one time peasants would be routinely found dead, face down, their teeth stuck in the earth. Wright brilliantly traces the evolution of the Mediterranean gastronomic sensibility from the times of famine and shows how trade, politics, religion and technology influenced the creation of the cuisine so many of us revere and enjoy. He shows how the Mediterranean psyche finds food a deeply sensual experience, and how appreciation of History and Culture is to be savored in every bite of a dish. He explains also why it's never proper to look down your nose at meat dishes when travelling in these countries. Recipes, most modern, some old, grace the book generously with blurbs on the ingredients and their interactions. Many are just delicious. I tried my versions of the leek stew, the cabbage rolls, and the salted cabbage with mint dressing and simply adored them. I can't wait for what the next three quarters of the book have in store for me, over time. This isn't a volume to just check out of the library. This is one to have on hand for whenever the mood or the necessity strikes you.

I thought this book sounded fabulous. I love stews, and I like authentic food.

This book went too far off the deep end for me. I looked up cabbage as I had some on hand. One recipe called for 14 ingredients, including celery root (celeriac) and parsley root (try finding that ANYWHERE--it's similar to, but NOT, a parsnip).

Another called for 27 ingredients, including a 1/2 chicken, a parsnip, a turnip, a small amount of a hubbard squash (they don't COME in small amounts), etc.

The final straw was the recipe (with cabbage) that called for *39* ingredients, including (I'm not joking): beef honeycomb tripe, beef chuck flanken-style ribs, fresh chorizo or andouille sausage, prosciutto BONES, lamb shoulder, ham fat, ham bone, smoked slab bacon, boneless and skinless chicken thighs, goat meat on the bone, beef or veal marrow bones, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese rinds, fresh fava beans, fresh fenugreek leaves, celeriac, beef feet and pig feet. I'm serious.

I flipped through the rest of the book, and things like "rendered duck or goose fat" kept cropping up along with other insane ingredients. I live in a huge metropolitan city and would have difficulty finding many of these ingredients.

I'm sure there are a few good recipes in this book, but it really seems written for chefs who have unlimited access to off-the-wall ingredients through their vendors. I'm thankful that I checked it out from the library before purchasing it. I won't be purchasing it.

This cookbook will definitely challenge you to think beyond the "traditional stew" of meat and potatoes. The author provides many sidebars to explain terms or to provide rationales behind certain ingredients. While the recipes call for many ingredients, it is certainly not any different from cooking by scratch where the cook simply adds a little of this and a little of that until the desired flavors are achieved. You will need to have access to a good butcher in order to make the most of this book, but any good cook should be able to make do or substitute in the recipes to get something he or she enjoys. A list of sources for many of the ingredients used in this book can be found in the back.

Overall, I enjoyed reading through the book and have tried several of the less ambitious recipes. I especially enjoy the ones with African and Indian backgrounds.

I have the good fortune of living next door to Clifford A. Wright. I developed a bad case of pneumonia at the same time that C.A.W. was testing his recipes for Real Stew.
His delicious recipes nurtured me through a difficult time and speeded up my recovery tremendously!
I highly recommend his latest collection of recipes. I can't imagine a better and more complete resource for stews.

I read this book while attempting to increase my knowledge of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. My hope was to find sources which would provide broad factual context for the current crisis.

Unfortunately this work is no more than a diatribe on the total culpability of Israel for the conflict which leaves no room for shared responsibility in the Arab community. To accept the argument of this work the middle east was an eden of peaceful coexistence prior to it's invasion by Jewish aggressors (who also initiated all of the Arab-Israeli wars according to Mr. Wright).

I reject the argument that Israel does not bear it's share of responsibility for the conflict in the middle east; however, Mr. Wright's one-sided approach is totally unsatisfactory.

This is my favorite book on the Palestine-Israeli conflict. Zionists have had a monopoly on information on this subject and have created a web of myths. This book debunks these myths in 17 chapters, each of which discusses a particular topic such as "Israel and democracy". All claims made by the author are documented in footnotes so any sceptic can check them. ... if this information was more widely known the tragedy happening in Palestine might be stopped.

If you want to know why Arab[ians] refuse to have peace with Israel then this is the book for you. The Author talks about the treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories and sheds light on the inhumane practices of the Israeli army and government.

I found this book to be quite useful as I started studying for my APICS exam. As far as reference textbooks go, this is nicely laid out and easy to use. It is a neccessary evil because to make sense of the materials, you have to have a guide. This dictionary seems to be a good guide for getting through the material.

This is a workbook. So it contains a lot of blank spaces for filling in your responses. It is limited to the introductory level, covering such basic skills as identifying representation systems and the various Meta Model language patterns. There are many more NLP training manuals published since then. They can be followed beneficially without the workbook format. NLP also keeps advancing all the time. Just in the use of language, besides the Meta Model, we need to learn the Milton Model of hypnotic language patterns and the more comprehensive and sophisticated patterns summarised in Robert Dilts' Sleight of Mouth. We need more accelerated programs with greater coverage. This book is too basic and skim in content and may not be worth reprinting any more.