On the surface, it is exactly that. The recipes seem fine and the photographs are very pretty, but that's where my positive remarks end.

The writing is unstructured and inconsistent. It hops from history to travel narrative without warning. The authors refer to themselves as I and sometimes We and it is never quite clear what's going on. The travel writing consists of small incidents which maybe you might tell a friend over coffee but are not substantial enough to put into a book. And anyway they have little to do with spices.

The information content is minimal.

I can't escape the impression that the book project was dreamt up as a way to pay for what was no doubt a fun trip around the world.

I was looking for a book written in an easy style with full information about the spices, good recipes and an interesting, well-written travelogue. "The Spices Routes" is not that book. 2 Stars for the pretty photos, but for me that wasn't enough...


A fascinating book showing how spices steered our history   September 10, 2001
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I recommend this book not only to people with an interest in food, but to those who love history. Our past is normally related according to how wars affected it, so it is very refreshing to read about history with a new insight, and to learn things such as why certain exotic spices have become commonplace, while others are still relatively foreign to us. Also, the photographs are stunning.