Cape Breton Tastes: Recipes from Cape Breton's Best Restaurants.

John Abbott is a professor of history at Laurentian University’s Algoma University College. He is the co-author of The Border at Sault Ste Marie and The History of Fort St. Joseph.

Cape Breton Tastes presents but a sample of the food available on the island of Cape Breton. Featuring restaurants from all over the island map—from Ingonish to Arichat—this book is your guide whether you are looking for a bowl of chowder and a homemade biscuit or a hearty meal of lamb, pork, or roasted goose. This book features twenty-eight different restaurants from around the island, and includes recipes for starters, soups, meat, seafood, pasta, and desserts.

As a Cape Bretoner, Gary Walsh is perhaps too familiar with the area’s best restaurants. Thinking like an outsider might have led him to include some context and background to the recipes in this collection. Regrettably, it is an opportunity missed. Cooks who are interested in local culinary cultures, or who wish to learn the stories behind the 28 featured restaurants, are sure to be disappointed. Though the book has lovely photography and old-fashioned charm, it will appeal mainly to cookbook collectors.