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Totally self-effacing in the interests of her material, Elizabeth Schneider has written what may be the timeliest and most truly helpful book of the year. Uncommon Fruits and Vegetables (Harper & Row; $25) covers in detail all the exotic fruits and vegetables now appearing in produce departments across the country. In words and pictures she tells readers how to identify, buy, store, clean and prepare jicama, atemoya, daikon, nopales and calabaza, among dozens of others. Although some of the fruits and vegetables in this compendium are hardly uncommon to old-world chefs (celeriac, parsley root, arugula, broccoli rab and gooseberries, for example), they can be flora incognito to many new chefs. Not after this.
Near-amateur enthusiasts can provide valuable books on aspects of food dearest to their hearts and palates. Two cases in point: Linda Merinoff's The Glorious Noodle -- A Culinary Tour Around the World (Poseidon; $16.95) and Margaret Leibenstein's The Edible Mushroom -- A Gourmet Cook's Guide (Fawcett Columbine; $14.95). Merinoff, a journalist and caterer, is obviously beguiled by all things pasta -- Italian, Greek, Hungarian, Israeli, African, Alsatian or Asian. Her work brims with tempting dumplings, noodles in mild and spicy sauces, one-dish soups and stews bolstered with some form of wheat-, bean- or rice-flour noodles. Lore is easygoing, and recipes are explicit.
With so many strange new mushrooms popping up on produce counters, the Leibenstein book is a welcome little treatise. It covers buying, storing, cleaning and cooking all types of edible fungi from boletes to shiitakes, and the recipes range from appetizers through main courses. Most welcome of all is her promise that the book will not send readers scurrying to forests in search of wild mushrooms. The farthest destination is their local vegetable store, where the only thing paralyzing will be the prices.
Obviously personality has become a major ingredient of contemporary cuisine. These ten cookbooks prove how piquant that ingredient can be.