INDIAN CORN AND OTHER GIFTS

Lavine's survey of the lore of New World foods -- including beans, squash, maple sugar and peppers as well as corn -- mixes a few botanical facts with an intriguing range of North and Central American Indian lore and legends. Unfortunately the depth of Lavine's research doesn't match its breadth and alert readers will become impatient with the instant etymologies, half explanations (what were the many kinds of old world beans, as opposed to the ""common bean"" of the Americas?) and hastily summarized legends. Both Hays and Vernon's Foods the Indians Gave Us and Limburg's Story of Corn offer better balanced and organized recipes for school assignments.