Edited by Maze (Healthy Foods from A to Z, 2015, etc.), a bilingual cookbook that introduces readers to iconic foods from cultures around the world.

Take a tour of international flavors through 30 ethnic recipes in this engaging, educational cookbook in English and Spanish. From British shepherd’s pie to Chinese kung pao to Israeli cabbage rolls, each recipe delves into its corresponding culinary tradition. Cooking tips and tricks kick off the book: If you ever wondered what to use to thicken sauces (cornstarch), how to clean a cast-iron pan (water, oil, and salt instead of soap), or how to prevent bamboo skewers from burning (soak them overnight in cold water), you’ll find answers here. The introduction emphasizes the emotional and nostalgic ties people feel to the food of their homelands and ways the United States, a country rich with immigrants, benefits from the abundance of culinary options. Breaking bread, the book states, is a timeless unifier: “In an age of zillions of impersonal gadgets, a shared meal may be one of the last bastions of true interpersonal connectivity and communication in our country and across the world.” While inspired by the traditional dishes of their countries of origin, some recipes have swapped red meat and pork for healthier proteins like chicken and turkey, and in some cases, the recipes have gone vegetarian. Further healthy hints, like substituting sweet potatoes for white potatoes or using ghee instead of butter, are offered at the end of the book. All dishes in the cookbook cost less than $18 to prepare, and each recipe includes nutritional facts. The brightly colored pages feature whimsical fonts and enticing food photography. Readers won’t just learn how to cook these dishes, they’ll learn about the historical and cultural origins of them; e.g., New Orleans’ staple jambalaya was born out of Spanish paella and a dish common among French Cajun settlers in the Louisiana bayou.

A vibrant culinary take on the American melting pot via an international array of recipes and flavors.

Famous Dishes from Around the World/ Platos famosos de todo el mundo is a bilingual cookbook presented in English and Spanish for lovers of good ethnic foods who may still be unfamiliar with their ingredients. The book provides an outstanding selection of top international dishes that are identified with a particular country, both with authentic recipes and variations thereof.

What sets this collection of recipes apart from that of other cookbooks is its focus on a single representative dish for each featured country. Familiar to many Americans, each of these iconic dishes is associated with a particular nation and is chosen with deliberate purpose: "Beyond emotions and memories, however, the dishes in this book represent something deeper: They are a collection of national and well-known culinary creations that have become intrinsically identified with a particular country because of their history. As such, they are a symbol of national pride and cultural identity with the country of origin, pride that is carried on from generation to generation."

Famous Dishes/ Platos Famosos includes recipes for Irish Stew, Israeli Cabbage Rolls, Mexican Fajitas, Swedish Meatballs, and Indian Fish Curry, among many others, with names that can be recognized by those who have sampled ethnic cuisine from around the world. The cookbook features a number of advantages: ingredients that can be shared across a variety of the featured dishes; dishes that are budgeted and won't break the bank; and recipes that are authentic or slightly tweaked to make them as healthy and accessible as possible.

Readers of this cookbook can expect to find not only a satisfying diversity of iconic foods, but a variety of international dishes that are appealing, surprising, and easy to produce as well. One of the featured dishes - American chili - for example, includes turkey, dried cranberries, cinnamon, and a range of many other delicious ingredients.

Each dish is accompanied by a color photo, a historical information sidebar, and a box with the nutrition breakdown of each recipe.

With its emphasis on familiar-sounding comfort foods and hearty mainstays, Famous Dishes from Around the World, Platos famosos de todo el mundo is recommended over and above other introductory ethnic cookbooks because of its recognizable national dishes, its diversity, its attention to healthy ingredients, and the ease with which the recipes can be prepared in the kitchen.

Famous Dishes from Around the World by Moonstone Press is a hefty tome of thirty thoughtfully assembled recipes from countries scattered all across the globe, including Shepherd’s Pie from the United Kingdom, Fish Curry from India, and Borscht from Russia. The recipes are instantly recognizable, giving equal stage time to both familiar favorites (like American Chili) and crowd-pleasers alike. After all, what dinner guest wouldn’t instantly be won over by a well-prepared French Ratatouille, or a Spanish Paella? Each recipe is presented across a two-page spread, with full instructions in both English and Spanish; accompanying notes and pointers add further flavor on almost every page.

Cooking and sharing meals together in the twenty-first century is seldom an easy task. Between all of the competing claims on our time—not to mention our attention—it’s safe to assume that most dinners, even among family, are hurried affairs with little fanfare. What books like Famous Dishesseek to do is to pepper in a little more humanity to our meal-making. The recipes here are accessible, yet impressive; inexpensive, yet satisfying. The book’s editors recognize that life in the kitchen, and in the American home, has changed greatly since the majority of these dishes were first invented—and it will likely change again before too long. This is the sort of cookbook that places a greater emphasis on healthy living than on constantly trying to one up each other. Each recipe can be prepared at home for $18.00 or less, which is hopefully incentive enough to convince the average American family to dine in and spend a little more time getting to know the loved ones in our lives.

Composed in both English and Spanish, this offering by Moonstone Press holds out the prospect of creating multicultural, multinational cuisine in any home, anywhere. From soups and sides to main courses, the “famous dishes” include such classics as American chili, English favorite shepherd’s pie, French salad niçoise, German sauerbraten, Indian korma, Greek moussaka, Indonesian satay, Spanish paella, Swedish meatballs, and plov, the “prized national dish of Uzbekistan.” Each recipe is complete with ingredients down to the smallest portions of spices. Each contains a description of the food as enjoyed in its home country. From these, we learn tidbits such as that pad Thai was actually a Chinese dish introduced by the Thai government to promote Thai nationalism, and that traditional Russian borscht dates back to Roman times.

The creators of this vibrant collection have spared no efforts to make their new project a feast for the eyes as well as for the stomach, with brilliant color photographs on every page. They also offer detailed nutritional information based on daily values per six servings. The page backgrounds are color-coordinated to enhance the dual presentation of all information in both English and Spanish. Making these thirty delicious meals available in two languages gives readers of many backgrounds a chance to cook, serve, and happily consume them. In addition, the editors, artists, and translators have assembled two sections to augment the chef’s knowledge and enhance the preparation process. “Some Cooking Tips and Tricks” gives advice on important processes like keeping pasta from sticking and cleaning cast-iron pans. “Healthy Hints for the Home Cook” suggests using authentic, organic ingredients whenever possible and avoiding overuse of fats and red meats by rotating to vegetable and chicken meals. In total, this book invites readers to enjoy and share new cuisine in combination with multicultural understanding.

RECOMMENDED by the US Review