Book excerpt: The uniqueness of Chile's geography, stretching along the Pacific Ocean through so many latitudes, has yielded a remarkable array of seafoods and agricultural produce. To these native products has been added a diverse lot of immigrant cooking techniques reflecting many backgrounds. The result is a cuisine unlike any other in the world. Umana-Murray has written an easy-to-follow cookbook that aims to attract North Americans to typical Chilean home cooking. The book offers reproductions of everyday Chilean dishes that don't rely on ingredients unavailable off the South American continent. Recipes here have an unassuming air typical of all good home cooking. Currently a U.S. resident, Umana-Murray recognizes the limitations of North American kitchens, so she suggests practical substitutions that echo Chilean foods rather than rigorously reproducing originals. Useful for public library international cookery collections. - Mark Knoblauch-