For being a fairly random collection of recipes from many different contributers, I've never had a recipe in here that I made and didn't like. Maybe there's just enough so I can pick the good ones.

Also has lots of personal accounts of travel to parts of the world with far more scarcity than many of us in the States are used to experiencing. The accounts come off as pretty genuine though. ( )

The cookbook draws on recipes developed or collected around the world by Mennonite missionaries. The recipes tend to use fresh ingredients, are mostly simple to prepare, and are faithful to their cultural origins. Perhaps reflecting their origins from many different families, the directions are not always consistent from one recipe to another, but are not hard to follow. Accompanying the recipes are proverbs, meditations, prayers, and stories about how food is viewed in other cultures or how people use food to build community and bridge cultural gaps. We cook from this cookbook frequently. ( )

This is not actually a vegetarian cookbook, but I added that tag, as it includes a very large proportion of vegetarian recipes.

Tasty, mostly simple recipes using lots of vegetables, grains and beans--vegetarian friendly and affordable cooking suggestions from around the world. ( )

This is one of my favorite cookbooks, not only for the recipes but for the stories and prayers that give a glimpse of life in other parts of the world. I have given MANY copies of this book as wedding presents. ( )

Easy recipes, fool-proof, tasty, won't require hard to find ingredients ( )

This is my favorite cookbook EVER. Every time I see my mom I thank her for giving it to me.

Aside from having interesting recipes from around the world, it contains many small stories regarding how different cultures and different individuals approach their relationship with food.

The recipes are largely the foods that the poor of the world eat: simple, (generally) nutritious, use local ingrediants (nothing terribly exotic, however), and clearly highlight how different cultures have solved the problem of "what can I eat today... that I can afford?"

I've gotten "stuck" on a few of the recipes and have probably only made 30-40 of the choices within: I end up tweaking the recipes constantly or using them as a launching point for something similar--exactly what happens in "real life."

In a world of pre-packaged food and a society that gives, in general, little thought to what and how they eat, paying attention to this book can be a profound experience. ( )

This book is along the lines of More-with-Less and contains international recipes that wisely use food resources. Not as good as MWL, but still quite a valuable reference. ( )