A coffee table art book, this seems to be a Charlotte Knox book of beautiful illustrations that needed text to fill it out and Knox asked friend Jane Grigson write the filler. Written in 1988 shortly after the newer refrigerated containers spread produce worldwide, "exotic" means new to the local non-ethnic British store. Articles range from "what is this" Wikipedia-style squibs; hearsay of Knox asking questions from a British museum expert that responded that he didn't know; fond memories of Grigson having the ingredient as a child; researched history following use in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome from a significant dietary item, to neglected weeds, to modern comebacks; ingredients that are world-wide with a different name everywhere with different customs of cooking; and some of Grigson's favorites that she's had been using for decades. Many articles read like a collection of notecards with no transitions, using alternate names for the ingredient in each paragraph and another version in the recipes.
Recipes are presented in several styles: how to pick at the market then cut and peel; this ingredient must be good if harvested today, but by the time it travels to a British market and you must try it, then sauté in some butter; mentioned in the text to make the text longer; and standard cookbook recipes with title, list of measured ingredients, and preparation instructions. Some recipes are Grigson's, some credited to other authors, some modified to British tastes.
Warning: despite the book's title, most of the recipes are meat heavy. ( )