Rating: 
Summary: Another winner from Alford and Duguid
Review: "Flatbreads and Flavors" by these authors is one of my very favorite cookbooks. First I found it great reading, and since then I've really enjoyed using their recipes--over and over again, so I bought "Seductions" as soon as I heard about it. With this book I'm still in the reading phase, and I'm enjoying it at that level. Several of the recipes read well, with the added attraction that I'm learning how to produce some of the dishes I've met and enjoyed during my travels. I expect this book to be as durable as the last one; I'll be cooking from it with pleasure for a long time to come.
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Summary: The World of Rice is at your Fingertips
Review: "Somewhere along the line we found ourselves hooked on rice, as a way of preparing meals. Just as in hundreds of millions of homes all around the world where rice is a staple food, we took on the habit of putting rice on to cook first thing in the kitchen. It's effortless." -- Alford and Duguid How can one be seduced by something as ordinary as rice? Let these award-winning authors and travelers show you the ways. In their second cookbook, Seductions of Rice (Artisan) authors Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid introduce you to-and allow you to be seduced by-the world of rice through more than two hundred photographs, two hundred authentic recipes, and dozens of personal stories from years of travel around the world. Alford and Duguid exploded on to the American food scene in 1995 with the publication of their first book, Flatbreads and Flavors: A Baker's Atlas, which taught a host of Americans about one of the world's most traditional and sustaining foods. In their second book, they explore another staple of daily life around the world-rice. "Good rice is like good bread," they write. "It always tastes real and it always sparks an appetite. In fact, this is even truer with rice, as it goes so well with a staggering number of different foods, from Senegalese peanut stew to Yunnanese spicy pork." Not so long ago, the range of rices on supermarket shelves ran from white (plain) to white (converted). In the last few years, the quality and variety of rices available has taken a giant leap forward. Today we can choose from among Thai Jasmine Rice, California Wehani, Brown Japanese Rice, Chinese Black Rice, and Gobindovog-just to name a few. Introductory chapters explore these varieties as well as the myriad ways of cooking, cultivating, cleaning, husking and milling rice and include a comprehensive rice dictionary-a guidebook for the world of rice. Yet the heart of this book is how each culture really uses rice. Jeffrey and Naomi, with their sons Dominic, ten, and Tashi, seven, surveyed the world's great rice-eating traditions and created a book "about rice, and flavored rice dishes, and eating with rice as a staple food." From the Thai way of rolling a ball of sticky rice and serving it with a grilled beef salad to the Indian way with a spoonful of fragrant basmati rice and satisfying dal, to Persia's way of burying lamb in a pulao, the world's ways with rice are thoroughly explored. Seductions of Rice takes us to China, Thailand, Japan, India, Central Asia and Persia, the Mediterranean, Senegal, and North America and uncovers the dishes that all fit under the definition of good home cooking: easy, delicious, affordable and fun. After reading this book, you may find yourself enjoying Chinese Cucumber-Sesame Salad over a bowl of rice on a hot summer's night or digging in to Turkish Slow-Cooked Lamb and Onion Stew on a dark winter's evening. Or you may watch as guests revel in rolling their own sushi at one of your parties. Perhaps an Indian dal with aromatic basmati rice will turn a difficult day into an enjoyable evening. Whether eaten in a bowl, on a plate, in a salad, or on a banana leaf-for breakfast, dinner, or dessert-rice is the great facilitator, unrivaled in its adaptability and versatility. It's the ultimate comfort food, yet easily turned into the most sophisticated of dishes. The seduction is complete.
Rating: 
Summary: No instructions for using a rice cooker :-(
Review: Beautifully put together book, but my main complaint is that there are no instructions for using a rice cooker. The authors talk about how they used one for a year and were quite happy with this technique, but preferred using the saucepan method. That's all well and good, but some of us don't have the time or patience for that.
Rating:
Summary: No instructions for using a rice cooker :-(
Review: Beautifully put together book, but my main complaint is that there are no instructions for using a rice cooker. The authors talk about how they used one for a year and were quite happy with this technique, but preferred using the saucepan method. That's all well and good, but some of us don't have the time or patience for that.
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Summary: The world in a grain of...rice
Review: How we feed ourselves is so much of what we call culture, and one of the great pleasures of travel. In this book, Jeffrey and Naomi lead us on journeys into other worlds through their photos, stories and recipes. Even for a life-long rice eater, like me, the recipes provide new ideas. Sometimes I'm inspired to explore for new ingredients, an adventure within my own city. When I want comfort, I retreat to the familiar, maybe trying a new accompaniment. Other times, I use the book as a starting point, and do what cooks all over the world do, including the authors: work with what's on hand. The crisp black and white photos entertain and educate as good photo journalism will. The colour photos are spectacular; many are exhibition-quality art shots. The authors have travelled places I'll never go: the stories and pictures remind me of my good fortune to be living as I do. This book feeds the spirit as well as the body.
Rating:
Summary: nearly as good as their first book
Review: I am a big fan of Flatbreads and Flavors and bought Seductions of Rice as soon as I saw it. You can just sit down and read all of the interesting travel narratives in both books. In this book, however, some of the narratives seem a bit artificial at times. But overall, it is very enjoyable. The Thai Fried rice is simple and became a family favorite. The Persian Cardamom and Rose Water Rice Pudding was incredible. I have cooked quite a few of the recipes (Simple Dal with Basmati Rice, Spicy Simmered Tofu, Golden Chicken Kebabs and more) and enjoyed them, but I will admit I won't ever cook all of them - some of the ingredients get a little too exotic - but they are fun to read about. If you are interested in down-to-earth food and life of China, Japan, Thailand, India, Central Asia, Senegal and more, this book is for you.
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Summary: I was quickly seduced
Review: I enjoy cooking. Especially food that feeds the soul as well as the body. I also enjoy the look and feel of a beautifully designed book. Seductions in Rice feeds both of my passions. The text is interesting, something not usually true in a cookbook, and the photography is engrossing. Then I tried the recipes. I started with a chicken curry from India, then a Miso soup and sushi roll from Japan, and then my favorite, a Thai papaya salad. All filled my kitchen with rich exotic smells and tastes. This book now lives on my coffee table. It is a keeper.
Rating:
Summary: I was quickly seduced
Review: I enjoy cooking. Especially food that feeds the soul as well as the body. I also enjoy the look and feel of a beautifully designed book. Seductions in Rice feeds both of my passions. The text is interesting, something not usually true in a cookbook, and the photography is engrossing. Then I tried the recipes. I started with a chicken curry from India, then a Miso soup and sushi roll from Japan, and then my favorite, a Thai papaya salad. All filled my kitchen with rich exotic smells and tastes. This book now lives on my coffee table. It is a keeper.
Rating:
Summary: Great job as always!
Review: I got to know about Jeffrey and Naomi from Julia Child's "Baking with Julia" PBS series. Bought their older book "Flatbread and Flavors" and found it to be totally delightful. Flatbreads and Flavors and Seductions of Rice have been written with thorough understanding of the different cultures and cuisines. I also love the travel stories that are told with cultural sensitivity and down-to-earth spirit. Here's two Americans who travel to some poorer parts of the world to learn from and mingle with the locals, not to act like they're superior than the rest of the world population just because they're from an affluent and influential country like the US (unlike many North Americans who have visited my country). I have never met Jeffrey or Naomi in person, but from their writings, I think they're two terrific people who also know how to cook! The recipes are as authentic as you can expect. It's a breath of fresh air in the midst of this haute cuisine craze where chefs create foods to feed their egos, not their customers and obsess about putting together in the same dish all the unusual ingredients. This is real downhome stuff, not some Americanized versions of ethnic cuisine. Well done! Keep up the great work!
Rating:
Summary: Great job as always!
Review: I got to know about Jeffrey and Naomi from Julia Child's "Baking with Julia" PBS series. Bought their older book "Flatbread and Flavors" and found it to be totally delightful. Flatbreads and Flavors and Seductions of Rice have been written with thorough understanding of the different cultures and cuisines. I also love the travel stories that are told with cultural sensitivity and down-to-earth spirit. Here's two Americans who travel to some poorer parts of the world to learn from and mingle with the locals, not to act like they're superior than the rest of the world population just because they're from an affluent and influential country like the US (unlike many North Americans who have visited my country). I have never met Jeffrey or Naomi in person, but from their writings, I think they're two terrific people who also know how to cook! The recipes are as authentic as you can expect. It's a breath of fresh air in the midst of this haute cuisine craze where chefs create foods to feed their egos, not their customers and obsess about putting together in the same dish all the unusual ingredients. This is real downhome stuff, not some Americanized versions of ethnic cuisine. Well done! Keep up the great work!
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