Describes Soviet Georgian cuisine and shares traditional recipes for appetizers, breads, cheese, eggs, vegetables, salads, rice, pasta, soups and stews, fish, poultry, meat, sauces, and desserts Georgian cuisine by no means fits the stereotype of heavy, boring Russian food; although there are indeed many peasant-style dishes, they are flavored with cilantro and other fresh herbs, enlivened with hot paprika and special spices, often influenced by the Mediterranean cultures to the south. The author, a Canadian who now lives in Georgia with her Soviet-born husband, writes about the warmth of the culture, describes various essential ingredients, and presents an intriguing collection of traditional recipes. Specialized but appealing, this is recommended for most collections. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. Margvelashvili--a Canadian married to a Soviet Georgian- -divides her time between Vancouver and Tbilisi, Georgia, and has taken fine advantage of the opportunity to investigate the cooking styles, native spices, and culinary legends of this region rich in colorful and fragrant foods. The result is one of those highly readable cookbooks that convey the cultural context along with the food. As for the food, Georgian cuisine makes heavy use of eggplant, yogurt, wild greens, game, chicken, sour plums, pomegranate syrup, hot paprika, and coriander, both fresh leaves and ground seeds. There's also an ubiquitous paste made of ground coriander, garlic, walnuts, and marigold petals; a leaf called ekala, for which a recommended substitute is sarsaparilla or green brier; and a spice called utseko suneli, for which the closest substitute is powdered fenugreek petals. Since you can't get far without these ingredients (and even the substitutes are a little obscure), we'll be waiting for the list of mail-order sources to come in the finished book. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.