Amazon.co.uk Review
Jenni Muir's brisk, businesslike guide to serious food sites on the Web should prove invaluable to food lovers. Although relatively brief, it packs a lot of information into its 120-odd pages. It covers not only general food sites (such as those for Dean and Deluca, the great Manhattan food emporium, the Slow Food Society or the daily recipe service World Wide Recipes), but culinary stars (Raymond Blanc, Claire Macdonald and the food uber-tycoon Martha Stewart), restaurant guides, ingredients, world cuisine, vegetarian cookery, online shopping and, finally, a miscellany of sites concerned with food but otherwise uncategorisable. All the sites have been chosen primarily for quality, but also with other considerations such as ease of use in mind. A summary table for each gives key information: category (e.g. e-commerce or information), frequency of updating, and ratings for navigability, readability, reliability and overall site speed, together with an overall rating. Even this book's brief survey gives a clear idea of the sheer heady variety of information available. Moreover, it's encouraging to see that many of the best sites are not those run for profit, but maintained by enthusiasts keen to share their information and love of food. Jennni Muir concedes that to publish a guide to a medium as protean as the Web is like trying to catch water in a sieve: the book therefore includes a CD-ROM giving access to the Good Web Guide Web site, where regular updates are promised. At the time of reviewing, the site did little more than reproduce the contents of the book, but no doubt in time it will develop into a very useful resource. --
Robin Davidson
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
This updated edition of the successful hardback picks the best of both new and established websites relating to food. Targeting equally the amateur food enthusiast and the seasoned restauranteur, the Guide takes the frustration out of dredging through countless randomly selected webpages and gives concise and informative reviews on a vast range of gastronomic topics. Areas covered include such gourmet delights as details on exotic ingredients and world cuisine, reliable restaurant guides and where to find delectable recipes. The book also reviews safe and simple Web shopping sites, online chatrooms for foodies and gateways to information on specialist diets and nutrition. All the websites in the first edition have been revisited and re-rated as necessary, and new foodie websites have been added to bring the guide up-to-date.
