The edible species dealt with in this work include to a larger extent  lesser-known, wild and underutilized crops  and also common and widely grown crops that are consumed as fruits, vegetables,  culinary herbs, pulses, cereals, spices and condiments, root crops, beverages, mushrooms, edible oils and stimulants.

All relevant available and up-to-date information collated are provided in a comprehensive referenced format  accompanied by copious coloured images to assist in the  identification of the edible plant and plant parts.

Topics covered include: taxonomy (botanical name and synonyms); common English and vernacular names; origin and distribution; agro-ecological requirements; edible plant part and uses; plant botany; nutritive and medicinal/pharmacological properties, traditional medicinal uses and up-to-date research findings; other  non-edible uses; and selected/cited  references for further reading.

 Each volume covers about a hundred edible species arranged according to botanical families, and species in alphabetical order. Each volume has  a separate  index for scientific and common names and separate scientific and medical glossaries The first few volumes focus on edible fruit crops used as food followed by those used as vegetables.

Volume 1 covers edible fruits in the families: Actinidiaceae, Adoxaceae, Anacardiaceae, Annonaceae, Apocynaceae, Araceae, Arecaceae, Averrhoaceae, Betulaceae, Bignoniaceae, Bixaceae, Bombacaceae, Bromeliaceae, Burseraceae, Cactaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Caricaceae, Cuppressaceae and Cycadaceae.