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• Alford, Jeffrey and Duguid, Naomi

In 1995 Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dunguid published a cookbook that defined a new genre. "The first of its kind," raved The Boston Globe. "If you buy only one cookbook this year, make it Flatbreads and Flavors" (USA Today); "a certifiable publishing event" (Vogue); "a rich and rare effort" (The New York Time). It received not one, but both major cookbook awards the year it was published.

And now, they're done it again. That depth of passion and experience and the unique ability to convey richness of place and taste that the authors brought to Flatbreads and Flavors, they bring to Seductions of Rice: an essential book about the world's most essential food.

Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid traveled to the major rice-eating regions of the world and experience firsthand dozens of varieties of rice with unimaginable subtleties of taste, as well as the staggering array of foods that traditionally accompany them. In Seductions of Rice, they bring it all home--hundreds of delectable dishes from the world's greatest rice cuisines, illuminated by stories, insights, and photographs. Chinese stir-fries served with steaming rice, smoky Carolina low-country pulaos, Japanese sushi, Indian thorans, Thai salads, Turkish pilafs, Italian risottos are shared not just as recipes, but as time-honored traditions.

But Seductions of Rice is more than a collection of fabulous recipes surrounded by a wealth of precious information. It is more than an enthralling journey with photographs--taken by the authors--of peoples and places, many of which we can barely imagine. It is a "new" way of putting food on the table that is as old as the ages.

You will marvel at how food this simple can taste this good and be so satisfying--Thai sticky rice with grilled beef salad, Indian basmati with curry, Cuban black beans and rice, Louisiana gumbo, Persian kebabs with saffron-tinted rice, Spanish paella, Mexican rice pudding. Hundreds of recipes from around the world attest to the adaptability of this endlessly appealing food. Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid understand our yen for these vibrant flavors and have written a book that satisfies our every craving.