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COLD SPAGHETTI AT MIDNIGHT by Maggie Waldron

COLD SPAGHETTI AT MIDNIGHT

by Maggie Waldron

Pub Date: Sept. 24th, 1992
ISBN: 0-688-09188-1
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

This odd compendium of ``revivers and comforters'' (bread pudding; the tripe hangover cure, menudo), ``feel-good foods'' (an alphabetical listing from apples to yogurt), ``healing herbs and spices'' (embracing chamomile and chili powder), and remedies (for acne, anemia, hypertension) combines a sophisticated range of simple ethnic recipes with rivers of eclectic chat on specific foods, nutrients, remedies, and ailments. The chat encompasses folk beliefs; gastronomic appreciations; historical tidbits about lemons, peppers, and what-have-you; and pronouncements based on current medical opinion. Unlike Jean Carper in her Food Pharmacy books, for example, Waldron doesn't cite medical studies to support her assertions, which can sound immoderate: ``Drink green,'' she advises, ``for your brain and immune system, as chlorophyll [is so like] human hemoglobin that it sometimes acts as a mini- transfusion.'' A harmless if uncertainly salubrious mix that could appeal to uncritical self-helpers.