Forum

No I'm sorry we haven't changed the way that books are linked so that Notes across different editions can be shared.  It is quite a major piece of development work and we have had many other features that have been a priority.  We do still want to do it - it isn't imminent though.

Glad you mentioned the Ottolenghi books because I just got the US edition of Jerusalem.  I know a lot of USians probably ordered the UK versions of Plenty and Jerusalem because they came out significantly earlier than the US version but even taking that into account my guess is that at least a thousand of each of those books are actually US or Canadian editions. Members' recipe Notes might be a big reason why people list the UK version on their Bookshelves regardless of what they actually have.

EYB did link (or simply bodily transfer? see next para) Notes on recipes common to the original Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and the new edition of VCFE that came out this year. If you're looking over your own or anyone's Notes via their profile, you'll see that any Notes on those recipes appear twice, one for each version. 

Edited to add:  Just added the page number to a note of mine on a recipe in original VCFE and I see that it doesn't (or at least doesn't immediately) show the change on the note on the same recipe in the new version.  In the case of a page number edit, that's probably a feature.  If it were an update that said something substantive about making the recipe, it would be IMO a bug.

I just finished indexing the updated version of New Food of Life by Najmieh Batmanglij.  What I learned from doing so is that the updated version is significantly different than the original version, probably because there are many more Persian ingredients available in America than when the original version was published.  In that situation, I would be concerned about a wholesale transfer of notes to both version, because the recipe results could really vary.  Not sure if that's the case with the revision of VCFE, but it would be interesting to consider...

Oh, TrishaCP, I'm so glad you identified yourself as the member who indexed a newer version of Food of Life! It's the only cookbook I'm determined to get before the end of this year (probably as a Christmas present). 

But I've been stymied by the question of which version I want.  Locally, I haven't been able to find a copy of any of them to look at -- even among my friends who have walls of cookbooks. Going to DC sometime between now and December will cure that, as I'm sure the newest version will be on view at one or more bookstores.

My understanding is that there are three big versions: 

1. the original Food of Life, which was successful enough to go through quite a few printings and maybe even a reissue or two.

2. New Food of Life, 1997, which was a thorough revision based on increased availability of ingredients and increased concern about lightness.

3. Food of Life (the newest), which is pretty much the same as New Food of Life but includes a significantly expanded section of Persian culture and history in addition to the recipes.  EYB links this 2011 version to version 1 above, which seems incorrect if my sense of the different editions is accurate. But I could easily have that wrong.

What are your thoughts?  And which of these did you index?

That is extremely helpful. Thanks so much -- both for indexing the new version, and for your reply here.

The weight of the 2011 book is part of what gave me pause.  But I think the update and extra material justify getting is as a reference.  I'll buy it on my trip to DC.

It's also clear now that the earliest version of Food of Life on EYB shouldn't be linked to the one you just indexed; if there's a big difference between 1997 and 2011, there must be very little overlap between the original edition and the new one.  I'll email info@EYB to ask them to be de-linked.

The early and latest editions of this book are now unlinked.  Thanks to you both for your input on this book.