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Much more than a cookbook, ZARELA'S VERACRUZ is also a mesmerizing travelogue and an absorbing portrait of Mexico's most exuberant state. With two celebrated restaurants and two highly acclaimed cookbooks to her name, Zarela Martínez is considered one of America's foremost authorities on Mexican cooking. In this book, the companion to her thirteen-part public television series, Zarela takes us on a tour of the Mexican state of Veracruz, a lush, skinny strip of land bordering the Gulf and home to some of Mexico's most accessible and inviting dishes. There is a wealth of little dishes that involve nothing more than some seafood, olive oil, and garlic with a handful of seasonings: wonderful soup-stews, fresh fillets stuffed with seafood mélanges, appetizers such as Shrimp Salad in Avocado Halves and Garlickly Stir-Fried Shrimp, and the state's most famous dish, red snapper a la veracruzana. Veracruz's strong Caribbean orientation and powerful Afro-Cuban legacy offer plenty of choices for cooks who want kitchen adventure. She provides more than 150 dishes that are perfect for parties or even ordinary suppers: Crab and AvocadoSalad, Orange-Flavored Chicken, Wild Mushrooms in Vinaigrette, and Coconut Layer Cake.