About the Author Michael Bateman has been writing about food for 35 years; his first book in the 1960s, Cooking People, was about a dozen leading food figures of the day including interview with, and recipes from, Elizabeth David, Robert Carrier and many more. As an editor on the Sunday Times Magazine he launched a year-long Real Bread campaign which changed the face of British bread retailing. With his wife Heather Maisner, who also collaborated with him on The World of Spice, he compiled The Book of Real Bread including recipes and interviews, which was published by Rodale in the UK and became a bestseller. On the Sunday Times Michael also launched a year-long healthy eating initiative based on world figures for heart disease and cancers, which resulted in another book, the World’s Best Food. Joining the Independent on Sunday in 1989 as Food Editor, Michael wrote a study of UK health and food issues, Good Enough to Eat, which was shortlisted for the prestigous Andre Simon Awards. Continuing the theme of healthy eating around the world he also published Round the World in Recipes in 1993. He has written for food magazines including the US Saveur and, in the UK, Waitrose Food Illustrated, Food and Travel and Conde Naste Traveller – for which publication he won the Glenfiddich Food Writers’ Award in 2000 for a piece on the food of Brazil. His book Street Food Brazil was published in the UK, the US and France.
Michael has been shortlisted for no fewer than six Glenfiddich Food Writing Awards, a Guild of Food Writers Award, and has won a New Zealand Meat Award. He was also the Dairy Crest Cheese Writer of the Year in 1998. His overiding passions are food and travel and he has circled the globe to seek out cooks and food producers who represent the great food cultures in both East and West. The World of Spice is the fruit of this pilgrimage.
"A well-researched book by a distinguished food writer... a clever selection of recipes, traditional and modern." -- Daily Telegraph, September 03
"An essential reference work... beautifully produced... very special photography... short-listed for our Food Book of 2003." -- Food & Wine Magazine, Ireland, Dec 03
"Fab dishes and great photographs." -- Antony Worrall Thompson, Saturday Express (Dec 03)
"It's hard to tell which is the most appetising part... the 200 recipes or the almost lickable photography." -- The Party Magazine, March 04
"The sheer scope and breadth of this book makes it a must for any culinary collection." -- Aer Lingus Inflight, Autumn 03