[Sca-cooks] Encyclopedia of Exotic foods (was Adadina which should have been Adafina)

[vicki shaw]

A friend who loves my eclectic cooking but found herslef totally lost when I
took her to my favorite indo-pakistani shop, kept pointing to one thing
after another asking what is this, how do you use it, how would I know, etc
etc etc.  I laughed and told her she did not have to buy everything, but
rather decide on a dish from a book, for instance, list those things she
does not have at home that are required in the recipe, and then go to the
shop and buy only what she needs, and this way if she kept experimenting
with dishes, she would get to know more and more of what is on those
shelves.  But then she had another idea.  She said I should write a book on
all the exotic herbs, powders, spices, condiments, bottled and jarred items,
vegetables, fruits, meats, fishes, etc etc, from Indo to Pakistani to
Laotian, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Chinese stores.  The
adventurous cook could then refer to this book, using it as a guide to
understand every item that struck his/her fancy.  I told her she was asking
me to write a freaking encyclopedia!!!!

It's actually not a bad idea if such a guide does not already exist.  Anyone
itching to author an encyclopedia?  Call it Guidebook to Shopping in Ethnic
Food Stores.

By the way, I saw Mostly Martha last night.  The meal that most appealed to
me is the one Mario prepared in Martha's own kitchen!

Angharad