SPUDS! DULSE! FIDDLEHEADS!: A COOK'S GUIDE TO MARITIME FOODS. Comfort, Judith. Halifax, Nimbus Publishing, c1986. 84pp, paper, spiral bound, $9.95, ISBN 0-920852-55-6.CIP Grades 7 and up Reviewed by Joan M. Payzant Volume 15 Number 1 1987 January This is the kind of book that you pick up idly in a bookshop because of its catchy title and attractive, mouthwatering cover. A hasty glance inside and you are smitten. You leave the shop with one copy for yourself and two for Christmas gifts. Judith Comfort's previous book, Some Good, was an instant success and Spuds! Dulse! Fiddleheads! promises to be another winner. Written with Maritimers in mind, its forty-seven recipes, in these days of frozen fiddleheads and seafood, really have no geographical limitations. Even if one never tried the recipes, Comfort's short prose pieces make her book a joy to read. There are tips about where to find the wild products mentioned and where to go for various festivals such as the Mackerel Snappers Picnic at Graves Island, Nova Scotia, the Poutine Râpée Festival, St. Antoine, New Brunswick, and the Blueberry/Maple Festival in Elgin, New Brunswick. The book is divided into five sections of recipes: fruits, vegetables, seafood, game, and traditional flavours. There are short notes about many of the ingredients, such as this one regarding pan-fried oysters: Shucking raw oysters is about as easy as pulling hen's teeth. Cheat a little. Tranquilize them with a little steam so they will relax enough to let you get a knife in between top and bottom shells. The book is beautifully designed, with spiral binding. The black-and-white drawings and maps are both decorative and instructive. A bibliography and index are included . Recommended. Joan M. Payzant, Dartmouth, N.S.