Extending the Table: A World Community Cookbook

I purchased this cookbook to get an idea of how people around the world cook in a frugal manner. I work with my church as a Provident Living specialist, teaching classes on how to live within ones means and how to expand those means in prudent ways and I have found this book to be an exceptionally helpful resource. The recipes in this book are surprisingly accessible despite their diversity. Modern and 1st world cooking methods are described alongside traditional cooking methods. It is an older book so it describes how to find ingredients which are now commonly in the ethnic aisle of most grocery stores.Most than just recipes, however, there are many anecdotes, indigenous proverbs, and scripture verses that illustrate tremendously heart warming humanity. I've learned more about the spirit of hospitality and generosity in reading this book than from any other source in my life. Some stories will wrench your heart. Others will make you laugh. Still others will change how you see some things in your life for the better, and that's truly saying something about the quality of the content in this book. I'm nearly finished just reading the whole book like a novel.Buy this book if you are interested in ingenious ways to cook in a frugal manner, if you are looking for hope concerning the human condition, or if you like good and accessible recipes.

My husband and I cook almost exclusively from this cookbook and its companion, More with Less. But I love this one! A few of the recipes are too spicey for me, but by and large it's taught me whole new ways to "do" food that I never would have thought of.It's important to us to live lightly on the earth and not overconsume, so we are delighted to have this resource to help us eat "low" on the food chain while also saving money and eating some of the tastiest dishes we've ever made! I really like that it's a cookbook not just about eating, but about everything from farming and environmentalism to poverty and hunger to fellowship and sharing to energy use in cooking. It really helps us make conscious choices about our cooking - after all, food is a moral choice.But most of all, the recipes are all delicious, hearty, nutritious, inexpensive, and easy to make, even for a cooking klutz like me!

Every recipe I've tried so far has been very good, and they have more variety and flavor than the ones in More-With-Less, but the sidebars can be annoying. Some of them are interesting cultural facts, but a lot of them are about how people in the US are more greedy, less hospitable, and in every way inferior to people in practically every other country on earth. As somebody who has lived in other countries I appreciate the cultural information, but as somebody who has met plenty of generous and hospitable people in the US who are very careful to live simply, I get a little tired of the same old refusal to find anything at all of value in the United States. So, five stars for the recipes, minus one star for the preaching.

I use this cookbook more often than all of my other cookbooks combined. I have had it for years now, and I love to pass along copies as gifts. Almost everything I've had out of here turns out marvelously, and it's pretty easy to alter recipes based on my style of cooking / what ingredients I have without comprising the taste. I am well traveled, as are many of my friends and everyone who I have cooked for using this book has appreciated the flavor profiles that this book captures, without too much difficulty / requiring too many different ingredients. Great buy! I would recommend to anyone with a desire to expand their tastes / who loves a wide range of ethnic foods.

Great book, I found one at a thrift shop and was pleased to find I could order more. Part cookbook, part a world wide tour of ethnic cuisines. The author gives us a little background on fascinating markets all over the world, often illustrated with charming stories about local residents. Then she gives recipes from each locale which are simple authentic. There are meat based recipes, but plenty of vegetarian and vegan recipes as well. By the way, I don't really like to cook, but I like these recipes.

Practical recipes from around the world.

I love this cookbook! Affordable recipes, interesting recipes from all over the world, most very simple to do. The cool thing is that the recipes are adapted to North America grocery stores for the most part, meaning some recipe from a far off country will have been adapted so you can buy the ingredients in a regular grocery store and/or in the international food aisle. They also give the North American name and the International name of the recipe along with a little explanantion about the recipe. Check out the other cookbooks this Mennonite group puts out, I also have 'More With Less' and "Simply in Season.'

I received this book as a wedding present, and LOVE IT. The variety of recipes, with many staples from other countries, gives me scope for creativity as well as a framework of healthy basics to work with. If I was forced to choose only one of my many cookbooks to keep, this would be the one. By the way, consider purchasing the spiral bound version -- I find it makes preparation easier.

lots of meat free recipies that have common ingrediants

I've just quickly flipped through the book. I really enjoy the stories. They add something to it that is normally missing in cookbooks. Trying the first recipe tonight for supper.

it was a great gift!