Seductions Of Rice Hundreds Of Recipes

IN 1995 Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dunguid published a cookbook that defined a new genre. "The first of its kind," raved The Boston Globe. "If you buy only one cookbook this year, make it Flatbreads and Flavors" (USA Today); "a certifiable publishing event" (Vogue); "a rich and rare effort" (The New York Time). It received not one, but both major cookbook awards the year it was published.

And now, they're done it again. That depth of passion and experience and the unique ability to convey richness of place and taste that the authors brought to Flatbreads and Flavors, they bring to Seductions of Rice: an essential book about the world's most essential food.

Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid traveled to the major rice-eating regions of the world and experience firsthand dozens of varieties of rice with unimaginable subtleties of taste, as well as the staggering array of foods that traditionally accompany them. In Seductions of Rice, they bring it all home--hundreds of delectable dishes from the world's greatest rice cuisines, illuminated by stories, insights, and photographs. Chinese stir-fries served with steaming rice, smoky Carolina low-country pulaos, Japanese sushi, Indian thorans, Thai salads, Turkish pilafs, Italian risottos are shared not just as recipes, but as time-honored traditions.

But Seductions of Rice is more than a collection of fabulous recipes surrounded by a wealth of precious information. It is more than an enthralling journey with photographs--taken by the authors--of peoples and places, many of which we can barely imagine. It is a "new" way of putting food on the table that is as old as the ages.

You will marvel at how food this simple can taste this good and be so satisfying--Thai sticky rice with grilled beef salad, Indian basmati with curry, Cuban black beans and rice, Louisiana gumbo, Persian kebabs with saffron-tintted rice, Spanish paella, Mexican rice pudding. Hundreds of recipes from around the world attest to the adaptablilty of this endlessly appealing food. Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid understand our yen for these vibrant flavors and have writtten a book that satisfies our every craving.

From the James Beard Cookbook of the Year Award-winning authors of Flatbreads and Flavors and Hot Sour Salty Sweet comes the paperback edition of what Cookbook Digest calls the perfect book on rice. It is a beautiful, comprehensive, and altogether fascinating overview of this ancient grain.

With a depth of passion and experience and an ability to embrace and convey richness of place and taste, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid embarked on an excursion to find the world's most essential and satisfying food. Along the way, they experienced firsthand dozens of varieties of rice that offer unimaginable subtleties of taste, as well as a staggering array of foods to accompany them, all providing simple ways to get flavor and variety on the table.

Seductions of Rice is the glorious result: two hundred easy-to-prepare dishes from the world's great rice cuisines, illuminated by stories, insights, and more than two hundred photographs of people, places, and wonderful food.

A New Way to Eat - The Rice Way

After leafing through these pages, it seems inconceivable that we haven't been eating this way--the rice way--all our lives. Here is a stunning book that takes us on an extraordinary adventure, and on the way it just may change forever--happily and healthily--the way we cook.

With a depth of passion and experience, and an ability to embrace and convey richness of place and taste, the authors of the groundbreaking Flatbreads and Flavors and the later award-winning Hot Sour Salty Sweet embarked on a far-reaching excursion to find the world's most essential and satisfying food. Along the way, they experienced firsthand dozens of varieties of rice, offering unimaginable subtleties of taste, as well as a staggering array of foods to accompany them, all providing a simple way to get flavor and variety on the table.

Seductions of Rice is the glorious result: two hundred easy-to-prepare dishes from the world's great rice cuisines, illuminated by stories, insights, and more than two hundred photographs of people, places, and wonderful food. Cherished dishes--Chinese stir-frys, Spanish paellas, Japanese sushi, Indian thorans, Thai salads, Turkish pilafs, Italian risottos--are shared not just as recipes, but as time-honored traditions.

Seductions of Rice will change the way we eat, the way we prepare and appreciate our food. It's as easy as putting a pot of rice on to cook!

Jeffrey Alford is the author, along with Naomi Duguid, of six award-winning books on food and travel: Flatbreads & Flavors, HomeBaking, Seductions of Rice, Hot Sour Salty Sweet, Mangoes and Curry Leaves, and Beyond the Great Wall. In stories, recipes, and photographs, the books explore daily home-cooked foods in their cultural context.

Alford now lives in northeastern Thailand, just near the Cambodian border. He plants rice in May each year, and harvests by hand in late November. He writes, gardens, grows orchids, and cooks, and he's learned to love the taste of red ant eggs, crickets, grasshoppers, and leguminous tree leaves. Nowadays, Jeffrey seldom photographs a person he doesn't know.Naomi Duguid is the author, along with Jeffrey Alford, of six award-winning books on food and travel: Flatbreads & Flavors, HomeBaking, Seductions of Rice, Hot Sour Salty Sweet, Mangoes and Curry Leaves, and Beyond the Great Wall. In stories, recipes, and photographs, the books explore daily home-cooked foods in their cultural context. Her newest book, Pinch of Turmeric, Squeeze of Lime, is a collection of recipes and travel tales from Burma. 

Naomi Duguid, traveler, writer, photographer, is often described as a culinary anthropologist. She is a contributing editor of Saveur  

Beginning with Rice

- With the Rice Dictionary

The World of Rice

- Cultivating and Harvesting

White Rice, Black Rice, Congee

- The Chinese Way

Jasmine, Sticky Rice, Thai Red

- The Thai Way

Gohan, Sushi, Mochi

- The Japanese Way

Basmati, Gobindavog, South Indian Red

- The Indian Way

Chelo, Polo, Pulao

- The Central Asian and Persion Ways

Pilaf, Paella, Risotto

- The Mediterranean Way

Yassa, Mafe, Diebou Dien

- The Senegalese Way

Hoppin' John, Rice and Peas

- The North American Way