Rusq vol. 9, no. (Winter 2019)

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Book Review: MLA Guide to Undergraduate Research in Literature
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Reference & User Services Quarterly · March 2020
DOI: 10.5860/rusq.59.2.7295
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142 
Reference & User Services Quarterly
SOURCES
International Cookbook of Life-Cycle Celebrations.
By 
Lois Sinaiko Webb, Lindsay Grace Cardella, and Jeanne 
Jacob. 2nd Ed. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2018. 768 
p. Acid-free $105 (ISBN 978-1-61069-015-7). E-book Avail-
able (978-1-61069-016-4), call for pricing. 
The first edition of this book was published in 2000, 
under the name 
Multi-cultural Cookbook of Life-Cycle Celebra-
tions
. The first edition had one author, (Webb) but the new 
edition has added two more authors. Webb died in 2012, and 
the new edition is dedicated to her. The preface does not say 
why the new authors felt a new edition was necessary, but 
perhaps it was in honor of the original author. The preface 
does state that there are a few new recipes and a couple new 
countries that are covered in the second edition.
There is not much that is noticeably different in the sec-
ond edition. The term 
life-cycle
to describe celebrations is 
meant to mean milestones, such as birth, marriage, death. 
The table of contents is rearranged, although the arrange-
ment is confusing in both editions. It would make more 
sense to this reviewer to have it by continent/region and then 
alphabetically by country. Instead the table of contents is by 
continent (Africa) and then by region (North Africa, West 
Africa) or by region (Asia and South Pacific) and country 
(Bhutan, Australia). For some reason Mexico moved from 
being under North America in the first edition to being 
under Central America in the second edition. The United 
States is the only country that is divided by culture, in this 
case, Acadian, African American, and Amish. 
After the table of contents, there is a section called “Get-
ting Started.” This section seems to be geared toward chil-
dren who have never cooked. For example, one tip is “don’t 
cook alone, have adult help”. Since the original author also 
wrote a cookbook geared towards students (
The Multicultural 
Cookbook for Students
), it’s possible this is a carryover from 
that book, but it seems out of place in this volume. 
Each initial continent or region listed has an introduc-
tion. Each country also has an introduction about each 
life-cycle celebration. For example, under Latin America, 
Ecuador, there is a brief history of the country along with 
a description of Andean and Catholic wedding ceremonies. 
Most recipes also have a description of the celebration where 
the food is eaten. The recipes are easy to follow and include a 
list of equipment that is needed to make the food. For more 
unusual ingredients, there is a suggestion within the recipe 
on where it may be found. For example, ground dried shrimp 
is available at Asian food stores. Spot checking several coun-
tries between the editions, it seems some recipes were kept, 
and some were swapped out. A handful of countries that did 
not have recipes in the first edition (Kuwait, Oman) now 
have a couple listed.
The volume ends with a bibliography that has more 
entries than the first edition and an extensive index. The 
cost of the second edition is over $100, which seems steep 
for basically a cookbook. If a library already has the first 
edition, there really is no reason to purchase the second as 
there is barely any new text information and only some new 
recipes.
—Stacey Marien, Acquisitions Librarian, American 
University, Washington, DC