This is a great addition to any kitchen. It provides with just enough ideas on making your meals delicious and healthy. I love the idea of having one book that is handy with all of these substitutions so that I do not have to do all the hard work.

I have tried some of the suggestions and they are great.

Highly recommend this book for anyone who is looking for that perfect cookbook.

Macleod provides handy tips to assist the cook decide which food substitute would be best for their recipe, such as simple nutritional information and budget factors. The imperial measurement system is referenced throughout this book, hence making it more difficult to quickly reference for readers who use the metric measurements system.

The handbook is a “no frills” book, presented in black and white print with no photos or illustrations to make it more aesthetically appealing to the reader. A small introduction by the author to explain why she wrote the book, would have provided a more personal nuance to the book.

However, MacLeod’s book delivers what she intended and is truly a comprehensive food substitutions handbook.

This is a great premise for a book. Lots of substitutes for daily use items or how you can make a similar product. This is a handbook everyone should have on their shelf.

Thank you Books Go Social for this ARC.

This is a really useful book, clearly outlining many different substitutions for foods that you may not have readily available. My only disappointment was that, living in a country where many healthy foods are not available, many of the substitutes were also not available. I would hav elites to have seen more really basic substitutes for some of the items I looked for. Otherwise a great book that certainly does offer many substitutions.

I'm blown away by how comprehensive this gem of a reference book is. There is a wealth of substitutions for well-known ingredients and foods as well as a great deal that I've never heard of. Definitely a book I'd like to keep in the kitchen with my cookbooks for those days when you read a recipe and are disappointed you don't have the required ingredients or don't recognise an ingredient. Layout was easy to read with ingredients listed alphabetically. Gratitude to Netgalley and publisher for allowing me to review in exchange for an honest review.

Love this book! Awesome book for any questions about what you can substitute different foods for healthier ones. It has it all the different categories of a meal you could be on. Will definitely use this when meal planning!

If you are looking for an ingredient substitute that is NOT included in this book, I'm not sure what it could be.  The author has included everything from substitutions for different cuts of beef to jackfruit - not to mention tons of different butter substitution options.  Does your recipe call for jalapeño jelly, hummus, brazil nut butter or truffle butter?  Well, the author has included recipes for these and many other items.  Did you run out of dark brown sugar or decorating sugar?  Does your recipe call for demerara sugar (what the heck is demerara sugar anyway?) or turbinado sugar?  Have you been watching The Great British Baking Show and can't find any golden baking sugar?  Fear not, this book has literally pages upon pages of sugar substitutions!

The Complete Food Substitutions Handbook is sorted alphabetically, making it is very easy to find any ingredient that you may be in search of.  A very complete bibliography is included at the end for reference.  I'm planning to hit the bookstore to check out her other titles.  A fantastic reference guide for any kitchen.  5 stars!

(NetGalley ebook -  I received a complimentary advanced reader copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Its literally a list of food substitutes. Its more like a dictionary and gave me like an advance grocery list feel.
The information is great but i wish it was more pleasing to read.

This book is set up like a dictionary: alphabetical, with short definition on foods you may not know. This is a great reference tool as you are cooking and don't have something. And this books covers pretty much any food substitution you can think of. In fact, there were many i had never heard of.
As for learning about substitutions, this isn't the book for that. I would have liked to see a sections about different types of substitutions. Like id you want to cut out dairy or meet. Even an index that put you reference the page numbers.

“For Elizabeth and Pamela, for which there are no substitutions” what a touching and clever tribute!

Anyway, this book is a one-stop shop for literally everything you’d ever need to make something yourself or find a substitution that fits your unique dietary needs/restrictions (vegan, dairy free, low fat, soy free, etc..)
It’s organized alphabetically making it incredibly user friendly!

Truly a must have in every kitchen!

What a super book, really useful! It’s American so have to remember the American terms for some foods or think about cups and pounds for measures more.

Here are thousands of substitutions ranging for the most common ingredients to the most exotic. Definitely a hand book to have in the kitchen.

An extremely comprehensive reference volume, which will be helpful for cooks who find themselves short of an ingredient for tonight's dinner, or anyone trying to work around food allergies. Exhaustive alphabetical list with multiple alternative suggestions for most items. As someone who lives in a rural area where obscure ingredients aren't available at local stores, this will be very handy!

This was not what I was expecting, however the title describes it perfectly. I was expecting some recipes, but it really is a listing of food substitutions.

If Jean B MacLeod who can stand against her?! I was interested in this book, but having looked at it, I confess that I'm wasn't sure how to review it. The problem isn't that there is anything wrong with it, it's that the book is quite literally what the title says. It is the complete book of food substitutions! It is an alphabetized list of a huge number of food items, many of which I have never heard of, with alternative items that you can replace them with in recipes, if you don't have the original or if you want to change it out for whatever reason. The book covers the globe with entries from literally every continent except Antarctica, which admittedly isn't known for its vegetable or meat products!

So without tasting a significant sampling of the recipes, all I can say is that the author has done some serious work here, and that from the substitutions I recognize, it looks like they will work just fine. That's not to say a substitution is always meant as an exact replacement. Sometimes the substitution is so close to the original that it's an obvious replacement and shouldn't really affect anything, but other times the replacement food is different or even quite different, so the aim is more to replace the texture or effect of adding this particular ingredient rather than replace the taste. The thing is that this book gives you choices so you can maybe find a cheaper ingredient, or one you're not allergic to, or one that fits your dietary requirements. The choice is yours! And that's the point! Most items have several options, so you can readily play with them to find something you will like.

Once again, I think the book was designed as a print book because there is very little use made of electronic linking. It's in alphabetized sections, so you can tap the letter in the contents and go to the start of that particular letter's entries, and you can tap from that same letter header for any section to return to the contents page, but one thing I noticed is that quite a number of items in the list will say something like BITTER ALMOND OIL See OIL OF BITTER ALMONDS, and there is no link to tap to go there. That would have been a nice feature.

Given that people sometimes put fake entries into lists like this so they can prove it if someone copied their list, I half wondered if, under 'FIG LEAVES' it might say, 'See LOIN CLOTHS', but it didn't! I was a little disappointed in that, but fig leaves are a legitimate food item here, so that would have meant missing an entry and thereby making the book rather less complete! So I understand, really I do! Maybe the author has an even more sneaky one hidden away somewhere else!

But overall, I liked this book, and I commend it as a complete food substitutions guide.

The Complete Food Substitutions Handbook by Jean MacLeod is like a dictionary for food substitutions. The book gives instructions how to substitute or make your own ingredients. In many instances the author will explain the origin of the ingredient (i.e. Mango Powder is an Indian souring agent) The amount of research in this book is incredible. If you are a person who loves to cook and can't always find the ingredients you need or want to make your own ingredients like almond paste, this book will become your new best friend. This book, to me, is essential to have in any cooks kitchen. How many times have your started a recipe and realize that the ingredient you thought you had is nowhere to be found. The substitutions here are from the exotic to the basic. This is a wealth of information needed in anyone's kitchen who love to experiment with food and enjoys cooking. Well Done!

The Complete Food Substitutions Handbook is a comprehensive listing of ingredients with substitutions for the every-day cook, the baker and even the more culinary inclined. Here are thousand of entries from commonplace ingredients like cornstarch to the more exotic ingredients like Brillat-Savarin. It’s a handy guide to keep in the kitchen. I found the substitutes for sweeteners, spices, flours and thickeners most useful. If you or someone you know has food allergies or would like to make a dish with hard-to-find ingredients, this book is useful. I took one star off since many of the substitutes are simply nearly the same item as that which is being substituted (example: Broccoli. Substitute with broccoflower or Romenesco broccoli. I would think if you don’t have broccoli, you definitely would not have broccoflower or Romenesco broccoli). Other substitutes are quite useful such as the recipe for almond paste.

Very interesting and informative book that really does cover all those little details not covered by other cookbooks. Whether you need a quick substitution for allspice or need creme fraiche in a recipe, this book has the answers to keep you out of hot water. Great resource for those who prefer a little healthier way to add spice to your life!

A difficult book to review since I didn't sit down and read it in its entirety. I browsed through, the book, choosing random items to read and basically the book does what it says in the write up "Thousands of replacements for common, uncommon, and hard-to-find ingredients" and I came to the conclusion that this would indeed be a welcome addition to my cookery book shelves.

No matter what your cooking skills, there are always times when you want to find a healthier, leaner or simply a cheaper alternative and this book seems to have an endless list.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a preview e-copy.

An excellent book that everyone should have a copy of in their kitchen. This book has substitutions for everything you could think of. It is written as a reference book which I really appreciate, instead of a book that you have to sit down and read to understand. The substitutions are written out clearly and concisely. I think this book would be especially helpful for people who have food allergies.

Thank you to Netgalley, Jean B. MacLeod, and BooksGoSocial for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.