The Complete Language of Food by S. Theresa Dietz REVIEW

The Complete Language of Food by S. Theresa Dietz

3.93 out of 5 Stars

 

***Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group -- Wellfeet Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review***

 

Goodreads Description: Awaken both your inner foodie and your inner yogi as you journey into the consciousness of everyday foods, from their origins in myth to modern interpretations today. 

 

This was a really kinda cool book to check out! It is a very well organized series of quick facts about a very wide variety of herbs and plants with a handful of other guides about foods in dreams at the end. I was expecting some more illustration ~pages~ based on the description, but the ones that were there I thought were gorgeous, and I loved the style of art alongside each plant.

I think what I liked most about the book was that it was incredibly organized. It is indexed and cross-referenced, so you have the ability to look things up by scientific name, common name, or the spiritual property you are looking for. I think without this, I would have thought the book was a lump of dense material that would be impossible to navigate. But, because of how organized it is, it is so very easy to use, which is wonderful.

In terms of what is slightly off about this book for me is that I can't tell who the exact audience is. I imagine if someone wanted to use the book as a legitimate guide as to how these plants are used, there would need to be a little more information for each plant. For example, if plant is denoted as to having medicinal purposes, there could have been some guidance as to how to use said plant for the medicinal purposes. Yet, if it is meant to be more of a coffee table book, I would think there needs to be more pictures and less information. As it is, the book is sort of straddling those two audiences. 

Who would like this book ...  Honestly, I think there's a good amount of people who would like this book. Anyone who is a deeply immersed foodie, people interested in wellness and spiritual connections, people looking to fill out their collection of kitchen books, those who want an interesting centerpiece -- I imagine with enough creativity you could even get this book to mesh into some sort of seasonal decoration. It's pretty cool, and I definitely thought it was interesting. Plus, it looks like it's part of a series, alongside The Complete Language of Flowers, The Complete Language of Herbs, and The Complete Language of Trees  (exp. pub. 2023). So if you really want to get a whole set like this or gift someone a set like this, you could.

Thanks for reading!