<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I got such a huge response from my post about "The Gluten-Free and the
Gluten-Unfree," that I decided to post the information about my favorite
cookbooks onto the Celiac list.

These cookbooks are based primarily on the cuisines of Asian, African, Middle
Eastern, and American Native/Mexican cultures.  A good many or even a
majority of the recipes in these books are GF, but some of them will include
wheat flour.  Don't freak out; simply ignore that recipe--or, if you're
adventuresome, experiment by substituting a GF flour mix for the wheat flour.
 I find that this works well with most everything but breads...  but you
already knew that...

I forgot to mention this:  an advantage of "anthropological" eating is that
you don't already have a set idea of what a dish is "supposed to" taste like.
 That means the flavors/textures are new and you're less likely to feel as if
you're depriving yourself of something, or that you're somehow "missing"
something.

I've purchased these books in England, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and
the United States.  Try libraries or used bookshops.  You can also try online
bookstores like Amazon Books (www.Amazon.com) or BH Blackwell's
(www.blackwell.co.uk/bookshops) if you're having trouble finding them where
you are--they ship internationally.   If you can't find these specific books,
visit a good bookstore with a large cookbook section, then browse through the
books on African, Asian, and Native American cookery.  Look at the
ingredients:  the simpler, the closer to the original food, the better.  If
you can cook the majority of the dishes by shopping in the produce, meat, and
herb/spice sections of your supermarket, supplemented by salt, oils, eggs,
unadulterated dairy, and plain packages of ordinary rice, or beans, then
that's the sort of cookbook you're looking for.  Here's the list:

 _Eastern Vegetarian Cooking_, by Madhur Jaffrey.  1990
ISBN 0-09-977720-7
The 531 pages of recipes are from China, Nepal, India, Korea, Japan,
Indonesia, Iran, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, Armenia, The Philippines, The
Middle East, etc.  They range from starters/appetizers to main/entree dishes
and desserts.  I *highly* recommend this book, whether you're a vegetarian or
not, as Jaffrey gives careful instructions, includes line drawings:  rolling
sushi, making your own tofu [bean curd] or paneer [fresh cheese]; she even
tells how to prepare seitan [wheat gluten used in some Eastern dishes], but
you can ignore that...).  She gives the background for traditional menus
using the various cuisines--and the food tastes great, too!

_Authentic Mexican:  Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico_, by Rick
Bayless with Deann Groen Bayless.  1987 ISBN:  0-688-04394-1.
The authors of this 384 page book ran a successful Mexican restaurant in
Chicago.  Includes recipes for GF tortillas, wonderful sauces, meats, soups,
moles, rice, beans, vegetables.  It includes a glossary of Mexican
ingredients and equipment, and gives guidance on how to find the ingredients.
 *Highly recommended.*

_American Indian Cooking and Herb Lore_, by J. Ed Sharpe and Thomas B.
Underwood, 1973.  ISBN:  0-935741-05-4
This is a little paperback book (32 pages), but very interesting, and *highly
recommended*.
Order it from Cherokee Publications, P. O. Box 256, Cherokee, NC   28719.
 Amazon Books sells it for $3 plus $2.?? shipping and handling.  Delicious
recipes for vegetables and wild plant foods, wild meat/game dishes,
beverages, soups and broths.  There are two "breads" made by cooking the
ingredients wrapped in  corn husks:  a GF corn-chestnut bread and a  GF
corn-shuck bread that's a lot like polenta.  The recipes are deceptively
simple--so few ingredients, yet amazingly delicious (try the baked
cucumbers...).

_Classical Afrikan Cuisines_, by Kudjo (Charles Ritzberg), 1993.  ISBN:
 1-879164-051.  Published by Afrikan World InfoSystems, 256 East 138th
Street, Bronx, New York 10451.  Available in African American/West Indian
bookshops in the USA or England, or directly from the publisher.  You'll
forget that there was ever such a grain called "wheat" with these recipes.
 Everything, from hot sauces (made from ~serrano~ peppers!), fish, meats,
vegetables, casseroles.  There are Ghanaian Dumplings made from rice and
cornmeal, or from cassava; bean cakes/dumplings from Egypt, Ethiopia, and
Nigeria...  Try the Somalian Lamb with Rice Casserole, or the Vegetables with
Coconut Sauce...  Includes lots of vegetarian as well as meat-based dishes.
 This book even includes recipes for wine and for sorghum-based GF beers.
 The recipes are from every region of Africa, as well as from the Bahia
region of Brazil, and Portugal.  *Highly recommended*, particularly since
African cuisine is among the most anthropologically GF of all the world
cuisines I've tried.

_Great Peasant Dishes of the World_, by Howard Hillman.  1983
ISBN:  0-395-32210-3.
Out of print, but worth searching for in libraries and used bookshops.
 Appetizers, Soups, Mains, and desserts--with a good selection of meatless
recipes, and recipes for foods that are popular with children.  When I was a
meat-eater, this was my favorite cookbook (and my copy looks like it!), since
it has recipes for everything from mofongo and choucroute garnie,  to osso
bucco and toad-in-the-hole.  The Jollof Rice (a West African rice dish with
chicken and lamb marinated in lemon juice, then simmered with fresh ginger
and thyme) will make you look forward to "brown bagging" your lunches.
 You'll be the envy of your friends!  They'll ask how they can get into this
celiac club, too!... just kidding...<g>
Even though this book contains many recipes with gluten ingredients, many
other recipes are GF, and some of those with wheat flour can be adapted by
using GF flour.  *Highly recommended*

_Culpepper Guides:  Cooking With Herbs_.  96 pages.  1988.  ISBN:
 1-85471-057-5
This is an amazing book.  *Highly recommended.*  It is British (but I've seen
it in shops in the States), and gives thorough details at the beginning about
the cooking herbs, their properties, their uses.  Then it seduces the reader
with recipes so inviting that one can almost smell their herb aromas in the
pages.  While technically not anthropologically GF, at least two-thirds of
the recipes are GF.  There are amazing first courses, soups, fish, meat,
game, vegetables.  The desserts are amazing.  Even more amazing are the
recipes for salads, candies, jellies, and desserts made of edible flowers.
 If every you feel that GF dietary restrictions are ruining your life, treat
yourself to a dish of scented-geranium ice cream or blackcurrant leaf sorbet.
  Then smile.

*******
These books I give honorable mentions:  they have recipes with gluten in
them, but one can easily make substitutions...

 _The Baghdad Kitchen_, by Nina Jamil-Garbutt.  1985.   ISBN:  0-434-98069-2.

Most of the GF recipes here are meat-based, but there are some vegetarian
dishes here, too.  While it's OK to salivate over these recipes, be sure to
read them carefully since many of them include breadcrumbs and flour.

_The Complete Book of Chinese Cooking_.  176 pages.  1987.  ISBN:
 0-671-08255.
Chinese (Cantonese) food is my at-home everyday food, and this book has a
recipe for most of the foods you'll find on a good Chinese restaurant
menu--and more.  This book, and another,
_Chinese Vegetarian Cooking_ (64 Pages, 1993, ISBN 1-85501-352-5), are my
favorite basic cookbooks.

_The Moosewood Cookbook_.  Mollie Katzen,  220+ pages, 1977 edition.  ISBN
0-913668-69-9.
This is the original edition of this famous vegetarian book.  I've heard that
there is a later edition with a greater percentage of vegan recipes, but I
haven't looked at it yet.  Try the Ratatouille, the Polenta Pizza.  You won't
feel as if you're missing anything.  There will be no wailing or gnashing of
teeth...

Thanks for being patient for the cookbook list.  I hope you've gotten some
inspiration from it...

Sue
(in Charlotte)