Online, my favorite is "Practically Edible", which I just discovered today:
www.practicallyedible.com...
On the entries I checked so far, the information is not only free but also highly accurate! On this beta website, currently available languages
include English, French, German, Italian, Indian, Japanese, Spanish.
In print, my favorite general encyclopedia on food is:
The Oxford companion to food, by Alan Davidson 1999, Oxford University Press.
The Oxford companion to food explains the history of foods, as well as varying uses of those foods over time and in different cultures around the
world. Other than giving short shrift to the foods of Ireland, it is a reliable source.
I'm still looking for a comprehensive food encyclopedia on natural foods. Any suggestions?
[edit on 2/4/2009 by Uphill]
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My favorite print source is my copy of "Professional Cooking" that I got in CS. It is published by Le Cordon Bleu, I can't remember the authors
though. It covers all the essentials and runs the gamut of techniques and disciplines.
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Here is a great natural foods encyclopedia. It was last revised in 1999, so it's not brand new, but it is comprehensive, accurate, and
user-friendly:
The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia, by Rebecca Wood. Published 1999 by Penguin, New York. 426 pages.
And I just found an older food encyclopedia that I like as well as I like the Oxford version:
The Food of the Western World -- an encyclopedia of food from North America and Europe, by Theodora Fitzgibbon. Quadrangle/New York Times Book Company
publishers, 1976. 576 pages. Since Fitzgibbon herself is Anglo-Irish, she sheds a lot of light on Irish cookery history. Very well done.
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My absolute favourite is Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian Cookbook. Incredible recipes, and astounding food knowledge. A complete dream that will
make you want to experiment with everything.
[edit on 22-4-2009 by caitlinfae]
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