206 pp; 135 x 216 mm; 70 original drawings; paperback

ISBN 0 907325 955 £15.00

The critical thing to remember about the fish dishes of Laos is that the country is landlocked and that all the fish live in the Mekong river and its tributaries. That great stream runs from China in the north to the Falls of Khong to the south. It forms the border between Laos and Burma (Myanmar), and Laos and Thailand. The fish themselves are of great interest: none less than the giant catfish of the Mekong, weighing in at up to 200 lbs; or the climbing perch which naturalists have found wandering the highways of South-East Asia in search of fresh waters. The catalogue is of great use to those visiting the market of Laos, Thailand or Vietnam; the recipes are excellent for experiments here in Europe. As many more tropical fish are being imported to the West, it is possible to replicate these dishes with a fair degree of accuracy.

The late Alan Davidson (who sadly died at the end of 2003) was British Ambassador to Laos when he wrote this book, but retired from the diplomatic service shortly afterwards to take up writing about food. His studies of seafood (also published by Prospect) and his masterly 'Oxford Companion to Food' are significant contributions to the field and reason for the award to him of the Erasmus Prize in 2003. He, of course, was the founder of Prospect Books, and 'Petits Propos Culinaires'.