SC - Waverly Root

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Susan Browning wrote:
> 
> Hey all,
> 
> I found Food by Waverly Root at $12 today.  It wasn't on my must have list,
> but at that price I went ahead and got it.  Is this a good reference?
> 
> Eleanor d'Aubrecicourt

I'd rather have Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking" and "The Curious
Cook". McGee concentrates on a slightly different focus, though: there's
a good deal more science and only a fair amount of history than in the
Root book. On the other hand, everything in the McGee books, AFAICT, is
correct, while Root makes some rather peculiar assertions, almost none
of which are documented in any way which makes it possible to check on
the accuracy. For sheer whimsical fun, I'd recommend Alexis Soyer's
"Pantropheon", a sort of Napoleon III - era
Vehling-Meets-Pliny-With-Root-Thrown-in-for-good-measure: The Complete
History of Every Food Known to Man, How Everything Was Invented Either
By The Greeks or the Babylonians, Then Improved Upon By the French , In
Spite of the Fact That They Didn't Exist Yet, Who've Been Eating Things
Like Peking Duck for Thousands of Years.

More modernly, you have Toussaint-Hamat, which to me is basically the
same as Soyer.

Well, lest I get too far from the question, I'm not hugely fond of Root,
but for $12 it might not be too bad.

Adamantius 
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com