
Couscous and Other Good Food From Morocco
by Paula Wolfert
William Morrow Cookbooks; 1st Perennial Library Ed edition (paperback)
ISBN-10: 0060913967
ISBN-13: 978-0060913960
The out of print book title in my subject header, Good Food From Morocco from Ms. Wolfert is called Couscous and Other Good Food From Morocco in the United States. I have the British edition of the book, published by John Murray (Publishers) Ltd, hence the different title. Not having the Couscous book, I don’t know what changes might have been made, so my comments on the book are based on this edition, published in 1989. I never comment on books that I don’t personally own, or editions that either precede or supercede the book that I’m talking about, although, in using the “Look Inside” feature of Amazon.com, there seems to be little difference. I’ve posted information and a photo of the American edition but sadly don’t have a photo of the cover of the edition that I own. If you are interested in the British edition that I own, keep reading. Well, keep reading regardless…
Paula Wolfert has written extensively about “Mediterranean food”. No, this doesn’t mean Italian, which is what people usually mean by that term. She has a book on Southwest France, a book on Mediterranean clay pot cooking, a book on Eastern Mediterranean cooking (I’ll be spotlighting this book in a future post) and has written other books on the subject; in fact, she seems to studiously avoid Italian cuisine and tries to focus on under-served parts of the Mediterranean like Greece, The Balkans, Cyprus, etc.
She’s a cultural anthropologist, a hungry traveler, a historian and a natural storyteller all rolled up into one. If your only exposure to Northern African food is couscous, you will have a new world of vibrant hot-climate flavors opened up to you. From preserved lemons to Bisteeya (squab pie), she’ll have you incorporating new flavor profiles into your cooking in no time. You can almost feel the heat of the desert and the smell and bustle of the souks as you page through her book.
I normally don’t give links to purchase sites. However, in this case, I only found one place that had the British edition that I own. Heck, I couldn’t even find a picture of the cover. So,for those who like the odd edition of a book that nobody else has, one lucky reader has the chance to purchase this book on the spot by going here:
http://tinyurl.com/Good-Food-From-Morocco
If you go there and find that it’s already been purchased, check eBay from time to time. I’m sure that a copy or two will turn up eventually. Alternatively, just buy the American edition. In the meantime, check out some of Paula’s other works. Some of this book is covered in some of her more sweeping compendiums of Mediterranean food.