The 660 recipes, extensive appendices & "Cook's Workshop" include more than 20,000 American & metric weights & measures, each one checked twice in double-blind kitchen tests to assure accuracy & ease of cooking. The author, who comes from a family of gourmet chefs, spent six years in India researching the work & concluded that India's vegetarian cuisines spring from a vision of cooking as yoga, as a spiritual practice meant to purify & uplifts the soul.