Food Plants Of The World

A comprehensive survey of the plants that provide food, beverages, spices, and flavorings, this book will serve as an invaluable reference to gardeners, ethnobotanists, nutritionists, culinary professionals, dieticians, and food enthusiasts. This scientifically accurate guide will allow them to identify all the major plant-derived foods and flavors, research culinary uses, and understand their dietetic and nutritional properties. Introductory chapters cover the various categories of plant use, including cereals, pulses (legumes), nuts and seeds, fruits, vegetables, culinary herbs, sugar plants, beverages, spices, and flavorings. The core of the volume is an encyclopedic description of more than 350 food and flavor plants in use worldwide, with over 1000 color photographs. This accessible, pictorial guide is a concise source of practical information, not readily available elsewhere, and should be on every food enthusiast's bookshelf.

Plants and plant-derived products make up the bulk of what we eat and drink every day.... This scientifically accurate photographic guide provides quick and colourful answers. Food Plants of the World is a comprehensive overview of the plants that provide us with food, beverages, spices and flavours. It is written in easy language but gives accurate scientific information on the plants and their uses. Cover, page [4]

Tropical fruits such as banana, mango, papaya, and pineapple are familiar and treasured staples of our diets, and consequently of great commercial importance, but there are many other interesting species that are little known to inhabitants of temperate regions. What delicacies are best known only by locals? The tropical regions are home to a vast variety of edible fruits, tubers, and spices. Of the more than two thousand species that are commonly used as food in the tropics, only about forty to fifty species are well known internationally. Illustrated with high-quality photographs taken on location in the plants’ natural environment, this field guide describes more than three hundred species of tropical and subtropical species of fruits, tubers, and spices. In Tropical Fruits and Other Edible Plants of the World, Rolf Blancke includes all the common species and features many lesser known species, including mangosteen and maca, as well as many rare species such as engkala, sundrop, and the mango plum. Some of these rare species will always remain of little importance because they need an acquired taste to enjoy them, they have too little pulp and too many seeds, or they are difficult to package and ship. Blancke highlights some fruits—the araza (Eugenia stipitata) and the nutritious peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) from the Amazon lowlands, the Brunei olive (Canarium odontophyllum) from Indonesia, and the remarkably tasty soursop (Annona muricata) from Central America—that deserve much more attention and have the potential to become commercially important in the near future. Tropical Fruits and Other Edible Plants of the World also features tropical plants used to produce spices, and many tropical tubers, including cassava, yam, and oca. These tubers play a vital role in human nutrition and are often foundational to the foodways of their local cultures, but they sometimes require complex preparation and are often overlooked or poorly understood distant from their home context.

Plants of the World is the first book to systematically explore every vascular plant family on earth—more than four hundred and fifty of them—organized in a modern phylogenetic order. Detailed entries for each family include descriptions, distribution, evolutionary relationships, and fascinating information on economic uses of plants and etymology of their names. All entries are also copiously illustrated in full color with more than 2,500 stunning photographs. A collaboration among three celebrated botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Plants of the World is authoritative, comprehensive, and beautiful. Covering everything from ferns to angiosperms, it will be an essential resource for practicing botanists, horticulturists, and nascent green thumbs alike.

The food plants of an area provide the material basis for the survival of its population, and furnish inspiring stimuli for cultural development. There are two parts in this book. Part 1 introduces the cultural aspects of Chinese food plants and the spread of Chinese culinary culture to the world. It also describes how the botanical and cultural information was acquired; what plants have been selected by the Chinese people for food; how these foodstuffs are produced, preserved, and prepared; and what the western societies can learn from Chinese practices. Part 2 provides the botanical identification of the plant kingdom for the esculents used in China as food and/or as beverage. The plants are illustrated with line drawings or composite photographic plates. This book is useful not only as a text for general reading, but also as a work reference. Naturally, it would be a useful addition to the general collection of any library.

"This beautifully illustrated book reviews scientific and technological information about the world's major food plants and their culinary uses. An introductory chapter discusses nutritional and other fundamental scientific aspects of plant foods. The 100 main chapters deal with a particular species or group of species. All categories of food plants are covered, including cereals, oilseeds, fruits, nuts, vegetables, legumes, herbs, spices, beverage plants and sources of industrial food extracts. Information is provided on scientific and common names, appearance, history, economic and social importance, food uses (including practical information on storage and preparation), as well as notable curiosities. There are more than 3000 literature citations in the book and the text is complemented by over 250 exquisitely drawn illustrations. Given the current, alarming rise in food costs and increasing risk of hunger in many regions, specialists in diverse fields will find this reference work to be especially useful. As well, those familiar with Dr. Small's books or those with an interest in gardening, cooking and human health in relation to diet will want to own a copy of this book."--Publisher's web site.

There has been growing academic interest in local food plants. This is a subject that lies at the frontiers of knowledge of various areas, such as environmental sciences, nutrition, public health, and humanities. To date, however, we do not have a book bringing these multi-disciplinary perspectives to bear on this complex field. This book presents the current state of knowledge on local Brazilian food plants through a multidisciplinary approach, including an overview of food plants in Brazil, as well as comprehensive nutritional data. It compiles basic theories on the interrelationship between biodiversity and food and nutrition security, as well as ethnobotanical knowledge of local Brazilian food plants. Additionally, this title provides various methods of learning and teaching the subject, including through social media, artificial intelligence, and through workshops, among others.