Book Review

Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences 2020, 25(1): 48
DOI: 10.24200/jams.vol25iss1pp48
Reveived 07 Mar 2020
Accepted 11 Mar 2020

A Review of “Traditional Foods: History, Preparation, Processing and 
Safety” by Mohammed Al-Khusaibi, Nasser Al-Habsi and Mohammad 

Shafiur Rahman (Editors). Springer Nature, Switzerland AG, 2019. 
ISBN: 978-3-030-24619-8

Nejib Guizani, Reviewer* ( ) guizani@squ.edu.om, Department of 
Food science and Nutrition, College of Agricultural and Marine Scienc-
es, Sultan Qaboos University, P. O. Box 34-123, Oman.

Book Review

This 302 pages book covers a plethora of traditional foods from the MENA region (North Africa and GCC countries), the Mediterranean region as well as 
from India and China.  The book is divided in 10 chapters. 
Chapter 1 is a very short but concise introduction and 
overview of traditional foods around the world. Chapters 
2 to 8 deal with traditional foods form different parts of 
the word. Chapter 2: Arab Traditional Foods: Preparation, 
Processing and Nutrition. Chapter 3: GCC Traditional 
Foods: Preparation and Processing. Chapter 4: tradition-
al foods in Maghreb: Production and Research progress. 
Chapter 5: Chinese Traditional Foods: Preparation and 
Processing. Chapter 6: Indian Traditional Foods: Prepa-
ration, Processing and Nutrition. Chapter 7: Mediterra-
nean Foods and Human Health. The chapters also deal 
with a diversity of ingredients; vegetables, fruits, meat, 
fish and dairy products and a diversity of methods of 
preparation, such as cooking, drying, fermentation, and 
spices. Each chapter, with some variations,  talks about 
ingredients, preparation/processing methods, nutrition-
al values, custom of eating, and safety. Many traditional 
foods discussed in this book provide excellent nutrition 
from sustainable resources, with some containing nutra-
ceutical properties that make them not only a source of 
cultural and traditional value, but also valuable options 
for addressing the growing need for food resources.

What is novel about this book is that the concepts of 
safety, sensory properties and food laws and regulations 
are not omitted as the book dedicated 3 chapters to 
these topics. Chapter 8: Safety, Nutrition and Functional-
ity of Traditional Foods; Chapter 9: Laws and Regulations 
of traditional Foods: Past, present and Future. Chapter 9 
is supported with examples of legislations from the Eu-
ropean Union, the Middle East, Africa, China, South East 
Asia, and Latin America. Chapter 10 talks about the plea-
sure and excitement that traditional foods provide to the 
consumer.  This chapter also discusses the role of spices 
on the sensory attributes of traditional foods as well as 
the sensory aspects of selected traditional foods.

Information provided in each chapter is well refer-
enced. Most of the chapters are complemented by an 
illustration of the different foods and their preparation 
through colorful and attractive pictures. The contribut-
ing authors of the book are experts in food science and 

technology, food safety, food laws and regulations, and 
nutrition; they represent various regions of the world.

Even though the book is appropriately named, it gives 
the impression that it covers traditional foods from all 
over the world. Traditional foods from Europe, the 
Americas, sub-Sahara Africa and Oceania are however 
not covered in this book. The editors with their expe-
rience may consider the edition of a second book that 
includes traditional foods from the missing regions. 

This book is the first scientific reference that address-
es the importance of the traditional foods in the life of 
people in the covered geographical regions. It is an ex-
cellent compilation of information on traditional foods 
and may serve as a reference and a resource for food 
scientists and nutritionist in academia and the food in-
dustry. It may also be recommended as a supplementary 
reference book reference for graduate and undergradu-
ate in food science and nutrition, home economics and 
other social sciences fields.  It is also recommended for 
libraries or individuals having a special interest in foods.  
I enjoyed reading this book.