484799 Wed Jan 30 16:43:53 -0800 2008 5 31 Home Cooking 0 3350083 i'm looking for recommendations for spainish cookbooks, preferably with historical backgrounds for the cuisine. the only thing i have so far is 1080 recipes, which is wonderful, but lacking those stories of origin needed for the well informed understanding i'm hoping to attain. Wed Jan 30 16:43:53 -0800 2008 161230 bear blanc 1 3350754 The New Spanish Table has a good amount of background info. I've found other books at a chain 'used book store', things like 'Culinaria Spain'. Also Google has an extensive previous of 'Traditional Spanish Cooking', Janet Mendel http://books.google.com/books?id=HyzqyAfCH9kC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:Janet+inauthor:Mendel&sig=zp_0f9D2O-fBxl7nfWSGn0fC9ZI#PPA224,M1 Wed Jan 30 21:03:42 -0800 2008 3350083 12139 paulj 1 3350971 Discovering Spain: An Uncommon Guide by Penelope Casas This is meant more as a travel book than a cookbook, but it talks a lot about history and food. If you click on Search Inside, you can read an excerpt that gives you an idea of what the book is like: http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Spain-Uncommon-Guide-Updated/dp/0679765697/ref=pd_bbs_sr_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201764367&sr=8-6 Wed Jan 30 23:29:13 -0800 2008 3350083 81468 jjones21 1 3352502 Paul Richardson's A Late Dinner might also be of interest, travel/history. Excellent book. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=mB6aKnaqChMC&dq=a+late+dinner&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=sHCZ4psFnT&sig=83kyXEiss76PImeYMyv0vseHu20 Thu Jan 31 11:21:16 -0800 2008 3350083 13709 buttertart 1 3353087 Claudia Roden (Book of Middle Eastern Food) is working on a definitive cookbook for Spain (according to the New Yorker), but it's not out yet. Penelope Casas's The Food and Wine of Spain still seems to be the gold standard in English. I found that the Spanish tourism agency gives good information about local specialties in their booklets on the 20+ autonomous regions and their provinces. They provide the brochures for free. Thu Jan 31 13:35:52 -0800 2008 3350083 17184 TNExplorer 1 3353892 Colman Andrews "Catalan Cuisine" doesn't cover all of Spain, but does a nice job of addressing the traditional and modern(ish) foodways of Catalonia and the rest of the "Països Catalans". http://www.amazon.com/Catalan-Cuisine-Europes-Culinary-Secret/dp/1558321543 "To the Heart of Spain: Food and Wine Adventures Beyond the Pyrenees" by Ann and Larry Walker is an...ahem...easily digestible food travelogue that hits on many regions of Spain, though it's not by any means an in-depth historical treatment of Spanish cuisine. http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Spain-Adventures-Beyond-Pyrenees/dp/0965377407/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201829670&sr=1-5 The introductions of Joyce Goldstein's "Sephardic Flavors" and "Saffron Shores" are worth looking at for some information on pre- and post-diaspora Jewish cuisine. There's not a ton of information, so you might see if you can just borrow them from a local library. http://www.amazon.com/Sephardic-Flavors-Jewish-Cooking-Mediterranean/dp/B000A3WW0I/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201830231&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Saffron-Shores-Cooking-Southern-Mediterranean/dp/B000B16SRW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201830379&sr=1-1 Thu Jan 31 17:47:48 -0800 2008 3350083 86822 hohokam