Ever have food fantasies in a truly international vein--an appetizer of feta cheese and roasted pepper spread, an entrée of spinach ravioli and steaming coq au vin, with a side of bulghur wheat and parsley salad, topped, finally, with a dish of cool gelato di crema (vanilla ice cream) and chocolate souffle for dessert. Well, fulfilling food fantasies that read like the menu in the UN cafeteria is now entirely possible. With Cooking All Around the World All-in-One For Dummies, you'll be introduced to the cooking styles and recipes from eight of the world's most respected cuisines, experiencing, in the comfort of your own kitchen, the fabulous variety of foods, flavors, and cultures that have made the world go round for centuries.

With a roster of cooking pros and all-star chefs, including Mary Sue Milliken, Susan Feniger and Martin Yan, Cooking All Around the World All-in-One For Dummies includes some of the most popular recipes from Mexican, Italian, French, Greek and Middle Eastern, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai cuisines, revealing the cooking secrets that have made these recipes so winning and, in some cases, such a snap. Inside, you'll find:

• The essential ingredients and tools of the trade common to each cuisine
• The basic cooking techniques specific to each cuisine
• How to think like an Italian or Chinese chef
• What the inside of a French, Greek and Middle Eastern, and Japanese kitchen really looks like

And once you become familiar with the new world of spices and ingredients, you'll be whipping up tasty, new exotic dishes in no time! Page after page will bring you quickly up to speed on how to make each part of the menu--from appetizers, entrées, to desserts--a sparkling success:

• Starters, snacks, and sides--including Gazpacho, Tuscan Bread Salad, Leeks in Vinaigrette, Falafel, Spring Rolls, Miso Soup, Chicken Satays with Peanut Sauce
• The main event--including Chipotle Glazed Chicken, Lasagna, Cauliflower au Gratin, Lamb Kebabs, Grilled Tandoori Chicken, Braised Fish Hunan Style, Shrimp and Veggie Tempura
• Sweet endings--including Mexican Bread Pudding, Biscotti, Chocolate Souffle, Yogurt Cake, Mango Ice Cream, Green Tea Ice Cream, Coconut Custard with Glazed Bananas

With over 300 delicious recipes, a summary cheat sheet of need-to-know info, black-and-white how-to illustrations, and humorous cartoons, this down-to-earth guide will having you whipping up dishes from every part of the globe. Whether it's using a wok or tandoori oven, with Cooking All Around the World All-in-One For Dummies every meal promises to be an adventure, spoken in the international language of good food.

Helene Siegel is the co-author with Mary Sue and Susan of City Cuisine, Mesa Mexicana, Cooking with the Too Hot Tamales, and Mexican Cooking For Dummies. She also is the author of The Ethnic Kitchen series and 32 single subject cookbooks in the best-selling Totally Cookbook series. Her articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Times Syndicate, Fine Cooking, and on the Web at cuisinenet.com.

Italian Cooking
Cesare Casella was born in a small town outside Lucca, Italy. He grew up in and around his family's restaurant, called Il Vipore. As a young chef, he transformed Il Vipore into a world-class establishment, earning a well-deserved Michelin star. Since 1993, Casella has been working as a chef at several leading Italian restaurants in New York. He is the coauthor of Diary of a Tuscan Chef and Italian Cooking For Dummies.

Jack Bishop is the author or coauthor of several books on Italian food, including The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook, Pasta e Verdura, Lasagna, and Italian Cooking For Dummies. He is the senior writer for Cook's Illustrated and writes for various national magazines and newspapers. He has studied cooking in Italy.

French Cooking and Greek and Middle Eastern Cooking
Tom Lacalamita (Long Island, New York) is a best-selling author of five appliance-related cookbooks. Nominated for a James Beard cookbook award, Tom is considered a national authority on housewares and has appeared on hundreds of television and radio shows across the country. With a passion for food, cooking, and all sorts of kitchen gadgets, Tom is a spokesperson for various food and housewares manufacturers. He is the author of Slow Cookers For Dummies and Pressure Cookers For Dummies.

Indian Cooking
Heather Dismore began her career as a well-traveled, highly productive restaurant manager. She left the industry to devote time to her family and her love of writing. In a publishing career spanning over a decade, her work has impacted some 400 titles. Dismore resides in Naperville, Illinois, with her husband, who is a professional chef, and their two daughters. She is the owner of PageOne Publishing, a freelance Web content development company with a focus on the hospitality industry.

Chinese Cooking
Martin Yan, celebrated host of more than 1,500 cooking shows, highly respected food and restaurant consultant, and certified master chef, enjoys distinction as both teacher and author. His many talents are showcased in over two dozen best-selling cookbooks, including Martin Yan's Feast: The Best of Yan Can Cook, Martin Yan's Invitation to Chinese Cooking, and Chinese Cooking For Dummies. Yan is the founder of the Yan Can International Cooking School in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yan Can Cook has received national and international recognition, including a 1998 Daytime Emmy Award, a 1996 James Beard Award for Best TV Food Journalism, and a 1994 James Beard Award for Best TV Cooking Show.

Japanese Cooking
Dede Wilson, CCP (Certified Culinary Professional), is a self-taught chef who loves making appetizers and organizing parties. She has worked professionally for more than 17 years as a restaurant chef, bakery owner, caterer, recipe developer, radio talk-show host, and frequent television guest. Dede is also a frequent contributor to Bon Appétit magazine and a contributing editor to Pastry Art and Design magazine and is the food and entertainment expert for CanDoWoman.com. Dede has written three other cookbooks, including The Wedding Cake Book (Wiley, 1997), which was nominated for an IACP Julia Child Cookbook Award. She also authored Christmas Cooking For Dummies and Appetizers For Dummies.

Thai Cooking
Joan H. Moravek left the Securities Industry in 1990 and decided to pursue a career in the food service industry. The last 12 years have led her to explore some of the many facets of the culinary profession. A lifelong resident of Chicago, Joan has traveled extensively and continues to educate herself by researching, cooking, and "eating her way" through the cuisines of many countries.

Kristin Eddy is the Food Writer for the Chicago Tribune and also covers Travel and Health stories for the paper. During 17 years as an award-winning writer, Eddy has worked for the Washington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, covering everything from news and health stories to restaurant reviews and the 1996 Olympic Games. As the daughter of a diplomat, Eddy was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and lived in Aleppo and Damascus, Syria; Istanbul, London, and Paris. She has traveled widely on assignment for the Tribune, reporting food stories from around the U.S. as well as Istanbul, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Jamaica. Eddy has had 14 years of experience in writing about food, developing, testing, and editing recipes for various newspapers.