This series of practical but beautiful little cookbooks focuses on healthy ingredients or groups of foods. Each gives factual information about the food's history, production and nutritional and medicinal value, and provides at least 30 delicious recipes that use the food as a main ingredient, all tested and chosen for their simplicity of preparation. Garlic was one of the first foods for which prehistoric hunter-gatherers first foraged. Ever since, garlic and its close relatives, onions, leeks, chives and other alliums, have been indispensable flavouring ingredients in many parts of the world. Until a century ago, garlic was widely prescribed to treat a range of aliments, from wounds and infections to gastric conditions. It is stil valued for its effectiveness in reducing high blood pressure and levels of fat and cholesterol in the blood. The Goodness of Garlic is packed with information and has 30 delicious and simple recipes, from Thai garlic fried noodles to Greek beef stew. Illustrated with 35 specially commissioned watercolour paintings, it is the perfect companion to good eating and good health.