brazil - a cook's tour by christopher idone

Beyond the fact that they do not like capital letters in the title the book is a winner.  Written in 1995, this is a travel book, cook book, and photographic tour of a country that Kate and I found colorful and exotic with wonderful fruits and foods and great people.

Christopher Idone travels to a variety of Brazilian landscapes to sample the foods.  People often forget or never learn that Brazil is the size of the "48" states of America and that means no trip can do justice to the entire country.

But I found his writing bringing me back to the places and the beautiful warm people who shared so much with us.  We can feel the people in this "cookbook" even though it is the food that is supposed to be the stars.  But the foods reflect the differing regions - the resources and the origins of the people who live there which makes the food of Brazil some of the greatest and most diverse in the world.

To top it off - the color photos really do justice to the subject matter and enhance the readers experience.  I do not usually review cookbooks, but this was more of cookbook within a photographic book within a travel book.

Now I am committed to making Pudim de Leite da Augusta - a Flan because that is Kate's ultimate desert, but there are many fish dishes, some unusual items like chopped beef in pumpkin, the recipe for the classic Brazilian drink - Caipirinha (I know this from experience) and the basic Feijoada.