The Food of Spain Hardcover – Illustrated, June 7, 2011

Claudia Roden's breakthrough book, 'A Book of Middle Eastern Food' was not only a landmark work on one of my favorite cuisines, it was also a wonderful reminiscence of Roden's family history as Sephardic Jews who settled in Egypt. For Sephardic, read 'Spanish' and her credibility as a writer on this Mediterranean cuisine becomes clear. The first 120 plus pages contain a region-by-region overview of Spain's multi-ethnic food culture, ranging from signature agricultural products to 'bred in the bone' dishes. I very much agree with previous reviewers that the recipes she has selected accord well with what I have eaten and enjoyed during my travels in Spain. I also feel that this is the best overall book for a Spanish family (speaking English fluently) to select for their own cookbook. The great dishes, the expected dishes are here--from a homemade range of stocks through soups...well, to nuts! Famed convent-based recipes for egg and almond pastry 'bites' are here. We all have had them and we all have wished we 'knew how' to recreate them at home. Now we can! We can also share a thumbnail sketch of each region's history, their hopes for independence or autonomy or their roles in creating today's vibrant, modern Spain.Why only four stars? I cook seriously (as does Roden)but I may be a bit 'jaded', a bit more interested in 'knockout' recipe and flavor or texture ideas. This book is wonderfully traditional. Her prose is not as rigorously edited as it used to be and there are some repetitions that pall on the careful reader.Roden has also become a culinary 'goddess' by dint of her unremitting hard work and her text has acquired a bit of baggage: she is modest enough to feel she needs to recognize all the people in Spain who have helped her along the way and through the years. Notable names are dropped but there are also magic moments when she recognizes, for example, the president of a local gastronomic society of men, a man of humble origins but of enormous self-study and acheivement and a man of noble hospitality. 'Visiting' good people who love good food is one of the pleasures served up by this book; a pleasure seldom found elsewhere.Obviously, I had to add this book to my collection and I feel you won't be sorry to do the same. For those who are seeking something a bit less ambitious and a bit more path-breaking, may I suggest Jose Andres' works 'Made in Spain' or 'Tapas?' The dishes he offers make me want to get in the kitchen and cook something for dinner tonight!

I have almost all of Ms Roden’s cookbooks and marvel at the culinary scholarship that enhances all her works. This HUGE volume is a master work on the historical and regional influences on Spanish cuisine. The book is filled with interesting essays, interviews and recipes from famous Spanish chefs and gorgeous pictures. Her recipes are never overly complex. This is a serious book for serious cooks! Enjoy!

I bought this book for my daughter who teaches Spanish in a High School. During her college years, she took classes one summer in Madrid. I thought that this book was so much more than a cookbook! The pictures and commentary so enriched the recipes. I bought it as a future Christmas present but after receiving it, I couldn't wait that long to give it to her. She is always looking for new material and topics for her classes and I hope that she finds many new ideas!

I could not put this book down when I got it. This big book is a history, encyclopedia, culinary text as well as a cookbook. If you ever had, have or want to have any affiliation with Spain this book is amazing.

My most beloved cookbook texts by Claudia Roden have been Middle Eastern Food and The Book Of Jewish Food. I have loved ,read and cooked from them repeatedly. So I ordered Food of Spain and looked forward to the same same mind expanding experience. As I peruse, I am so deeply disappointed by the recipes which are uninteresting to me (and I think Spainish food can be one of the great melting pot cuisines) are esoteric in a way none of her other cookbooks have been, and leave me flat and uninsired (cookbook reading is one of my great joys) I look forward to her history of the various cuisines of Spain but this is a volume that is not worth the expense

Claudia Roden has long been my favorite cookbook author. Her books are well-researched, tasty travelogues, as well as cookbooks. I have thoroughly explored and cooked many of her recipes in Arabesque, The Good Foods of Italy, and The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. Each and every recipe works perfectly and tastes exactly like the dishes of the region tasted when I traveled there.I was thrilled to see that Roden recently tackled my favorite cuisine, The Foods of Spain. This massive tome of recipes and information is exactly what I would expect from Roden. The research and information is all-encompassing and the recipes thoroughly explore each region of Spain. So far, I have made a dozen recipes from its pages and they all have turned out beautifully and taste just like the Spanish food of my memory.Cooking from Roden's recipes is the next best thing to traveling to Spain and eating the fabulous food.This book is a must for any cookbook connoisseur, traveller, or Spanish enthusiast..all of which I am! The Foods of Spain is my new favorite cookbook, hands down...just narrowly beating out Roden's past books.Victoria Allmanauthor of: SEAsoned: A Chef's Journey with Her Captain

Book went above and beyond expectations

Love reading this book and it's many recipes. I've found them easy to make and delicious to eat.

Absolutely essential! The artistic level of the writing is just as good as the recipes.

Excellent cookbook and fantastic knowledge of the food history in spain. Chefs, get out your credit cards

I like that the recipes are fairly simple.I like the style of the book.I like the style of the writing.If you only have one book on Spanish cooking this should be it.