Now that days are short there's more time for inside activities. Cold weather makes a warm kitchen that much more enjoyable. Why not try a new dish? It used to be ingredients featured in international recipes were hard to come by. A surprising number of exotic spices and international flavorings are now available in our local grocery stores. We have hundreds of cookbooks in the HRLS collection; dozens feature cuisines from other countries. Looking for a new pasta sauce? Korean BBQ? Real Irish food? Asian wraps and rolls? African Flavors? German baking? Mexican favorites?

Where to start? One book I have enjoyed reading is The Foodlover’s Atlas of the World (641.3 Sue). This book doesn't have recipes but rather tells of the cuisine of countries and regions, typical ingredients and main dishes. If I was traveling to a country I would definitely want to consult it to get names of dishes I may want to eat (or not) while visiting. Since a regional food item is defined and the name of the dish is provided you can use the local name to search for recipes in cookbooks.

While you're looking to expand your culinary horizons, remember we also have cookbooks featuring healthy options such as the Mediterranean Diet, low sugar and diabetes cookbooks, and vegan cookbooks. We also subscribe to food magazines: Bon Appètit, Clean Eating, Cooks Illustrated, Eating Well, Food Network and Rachel Ray. Other magazines such as Diabetes Forecast, Good Housekeeping, Prevention and Southern Living feature recipes along with other topics. The magazines shown in bold can be accessed digitally using the RBDigital app that you can use for free with your library card. A nice feature of e-magazines is that you don't have to return them; they are yours to keep!