I read this a few days after "The Omnivore's Dilemma", and began it the day after picking up "In Defense of Food". I loved the former, thought the latI read this a few days after "The Omnivore's Dilemma", and began it the day after picking up "In Defense of Food". I loved the former, thought the latter was thin and a resaying of what he'd already said. This book was a beautiful book, though not the tome that O.D was, it's beautifully written. It also sets the stage nicely for O.D.
Here, using apples (with their amazing capacity to evolve based on seeds that don't grow true to the parent), tuplips, cannabis and potatoes Pollan sets out plainly the case that Richard Attenborough made several years before: that both humans and the foods they eat co-evolve. In the final chapter, he begins to describe the connundrum of monoculture that he deals a death-blow to in O.D (in that anyone who reads it will understand for once and for all what a death-blow to humanity monoculture is).
Pollan's writing is wonderful, he opens up this subject like sucessive leaves on a head of lettuce, peeling back leaf after leaf and exposing more andPollan's writing is wonderful, he opens up this subject like sucessive leaves on a head of lettuce, peeling back leaf after leaf and exposing more and more of what's inside. I first read his treatise in the New York Times that appears in the beginning of the book back in 2001, and didn't realize that it was the same author.
I'll be thinking about this book, its ideas and revelations, for a long, long time.
this book looks like it begins with a philosophical treatise on meat eating followed by an inspection of where we raise and butcher animals before it this book looks like it begins with a philosophical treatise on meat eating followed by an inspection of where we raise and butcher animals before it ever gets to recipes. Looks very interesting. The first few pages are available in the amazon view....more
This is by far my favorite cookbook. Which is odd, because I loathe the William Sonoma store itself. Not the things inside, which tend to be quality iThis is by far my favorite cookbook. Which is odd, because I loathe the William Sonoma store itself. Not the things inside, which tend to be quality items, but the whole fu-fu overpriced model of it (I do buy their overpriced martini glasses, some of them are beautiful).
Regular family favorites from this book are: Chicken Curry, Baked Beets in Cream, roasted chili peppers in cream with shallots and basil, chicken with sage and calvados and a few others. I really need to keep trying new recipies in this because everyone I've tried is a winner. One note on the chicken curry -- I started with his recipe, but now I add onions, garlic, ginger and use more hot curry than he recommends. I tend to make an additional curry sauce that is very hot from a paste that I can add to mine....more
This is my favorite cookbook. From it, I learned to pan-roast vegetables to the most delicious flavor. Try the mushrooms, the asparagus ... almost anyThis is my favorite cookbook. From it, I learned to pan-roast vegetables to the most delicious flavor. Try the mushrooms, the asparagus ... almost anything in this book is instantly obvious, not overly step oriented and delicious....more