Plants and plant-derived products make up the bulk of what we eat and drink every day, and people often wonder where their favourite food or drink comes from. This scientifically accurate photographic guide will help to provide quick and colourful answers. Food plants of the world is an overview of the plants that provide us with food, beverages, spices and flavours. It is written in easy language but gives accurate scientific information on the plants and their uses. The title includes - descriptions of more than 350 food and flavour plants and their close relatives. For each plant, the following information is given - plant description, origin, history, cultivation, harvesting, properties and culinary uses. More than 1000 photographs, showing the plants, flowers and actual plant parts used. Introductory chapters on each of the various categories of plant use - cereals, pulses (legumes), nuts and seeds, fruits, vegetables, culinary herbs, sugar plants, beverages, spices and flavourings. Interesting facts about the historical and contemporary uses of the various plant-derived products.
A quick guide and checklist of more than 800 of the most important and well-known food plants of the world, listed according to scientific name but giving the common names, family name, region of origin, plant parts used, and major nutrients.

Ben-Erik van Wyk is a professor of botany at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. His scientific field of interest is in plant classification, ethnobotany, and useful plants. Michael Wink is a professor of pharmaceutical biology and a director of the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He is an authority on secondary metabolites of plants and their pharmacological effects.