Books About Food Challenge

This Challenge has now ended.

2009-04-06T05:50:00.003-04:00

This Challenge has now ended. Sadly I was not able to finish my own challenge. Too much homework from college I think. That and also the fact that I could never find any interesting book about food to read. The coffee book I was planning to read, turned out to be not so interesting. Oh well.

Review: Julie and Julia

2009-03-31T14:39:00.003-04:00

Julie and Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen
by Julie Powell

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Pub. Date: September 2006
ISBN-13: 9780316013260
Pages: 320

Julie and Julia is a product of an almost-thirty government drone worker who decided to find her way in life by cooking every dish in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and simultaneously blogging about it. Her blog, which tracked her successes and failures, was a hit in the emerging blogosphere and Julie was subsequently featured in various newspapers, magazines, and new shows that culminated with this book.

This book is an interesting combination of Julie's quest, her marriage, her friendships, and her fictionalized take on Julia Child. It's Julie's honest voice that makes the story work. It is her ability to admit her faults with grace (and sometimes without) and her humor that drives the narrative of the book. Boiled down, it's a simple story of a woman trying to make sense of her life by doing something a little nuts (and a little ballsy--I put up boiling calf hooves as evidence).

I enjoyed her imaginings of Julia and Paul's relationship. That love story pairs nicely with Julia and Eric's more modern marriage. What didn't work was when the narrative strayed to Julie's friends. I'm sure they are all amazing people, and some characterization is necessary as they do feature in the story, but I really don't need the nitty gritty details of her girlfriends sex lives. I just really don't. Knowing that they are good friends is enough to understand the sacrifice they make in the name of friendship when they eat Julie's aspic creations.

Overall, its a quick and enjoyable read. It makes me want to get up and do something crazy--like cook all of Rachel Ray's 30-minute meals (not really, but I'm trying). It also makes me want a husband like Eric. I give it a 4 out of 5.

2 Books to Complete the Challenge

2009-03-31T09:16:00.001-04:00

I am squeezing in two short book reviews to complete the Books About Food reading challenge today. Interestingly, both books are centered around green beverages: green tea and absinthe. The first book, "Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto", by Victoria Abbott Riccardi (NY: Broadway Books, 2003), recounts the author's year spent in Kyoto, Japan, learning about the art of kaiseki. Kaiseki is the traditional and highly ritualized series of foods to accompany green tea ceremonies and involves a series of small dishes of exquisitely prepared and garnished foods.

Riccardi lands in Kyoto without much knowledge of Japanese culture or language, but is fortunate to have some friends of friends to stay with until she finds other lodging, enrolls in language classes and snags a coveted spot in a prestigious tea kaiseki school where there is an American ex-pat to help her navigate the new culinary and language challenges she faces.

The kaiseki banquets she studies sound exquisite; they evolved from Buddhist monastery traditions into highly formal social dining banquets in which tastings of thick and thin whipped green tea are interspersed with samples of the freshest, seasonal dishes, exquisitely garnished. She also provides interesting glimpses of Japanese home cooking and ordinary restaurant fare, and includes many recipes easily adapted to Western kitchens.

Though this book is but a glimpse into a highly complex Japanese culinary tradition, it was a mouthwatering introduction and I will be referring back to it when attempting my own forays into Japanese cooking.

The concluding book for this Books About Food reading challenge is actually about a distilled spirit, and one which not only does not provide any nourishment butwas historically considered quite deadly in large doses. The spirit in question is Absinthe, that green spirit made from wormwood and the favorite tipple of many an artist, writer and dreamer in 19th century Europe, including Toulouse-Lautrec, Baudelaire, Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine.

The fascinating history of this often-outlawed beverage is fleshed out in "Absinthe: Sip of Seduction: A Contemporary Guide", by Betina J. Wittels and Robert Hermesch (Golden, CO: Speck Press, 2008). This revised edition is an entertaining look at the rituals of drinking this bitter spirit, which involve diluting it with water and straining it through an absinthe spoon and sugar cube to produce an opalescent, cloudy cocktail. Absinthe was perhaps the most vilified alcoholic beverage during the temperance movement that swept the West over the last century, associated as it was with the excesses of the bohemian lifestyle, but it has since become legal to imbibe in the United States and Europe again.

The book contains a wealth of illustrations of Art Nouveau posters, postcards, absinthe drinking paraphrenalia and photographs of Absinthe fans from Aleister Crowley to Johnny Depp, so this makes for an entertaining foray into the lore and truths about this infamous beverage.

This concludes my reading for this short but sweet Books About Food Reading Challenge. In addition to the two books reviewed succinctly above, I also enjoyed reading:

The Language of Baklava: A Memoir, by Diana Abu-Jaber

A Bowl of Red:The Classic Natural History of Chili Con Carne with Other Delectable Dishes of the Southwest, with Recipes and a Guide to Paper Napkin Restaurants by Frank X. Tolbert

Stealing Buddha's Dinner, by Bich Minh Nguyen

My original list of Books About Food was changed to suit my mood, but all were enjoyable and recommended reading. Now I am primed to read some more science and classics books. Off to the couch!

Review: The Omnivore's Dilemma

2009-03-30T12:30:00.004-04:00

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by Michael Pollan

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Pub. Date: August 2007
ISBN-13: 9780143038580
Pages: 464pp

I started this book back in October of 2008 and I never truly finished it, I gave up in the home stretch. I just knew if I didn't put it down for good, I'd never finish this challenge. It's not that the book was bad, in fact it was really enlightening. I've even changed a lot of the things I eat because of this book. I'm eating much more organic food, albeit industrial organic, and trying to cut back on my intake of reconstituted petroleum products. Nothing grosses me out more than thinking about eating oil.

This book actually went along very nicely with my previous food book on Twinkies. It complemented the discussion on how our food is actually made and processed. This book has a clear bias against industrialized food process, and although I'm not going to go out and fact-check, I'm reasonably certain Pollan has it right. Much of this information gelled with what I read in Fast Food Nation. And despite how it grosses me out, its better to know, then I can start eating actual food instead of processed nonsense. Organic has stopped meaning "yuppie" started meaning "smart".

The Omnivore's Dilemma is split into four parts that delve into the economics of various times of meals: fast food, organic, hunted, and gathered. The most interesting parts are the fast food/industrial and the organic sections. Learning about how animals are processed for food is really enlightening, whether you are an animal activist or not. I personally don't have any moral dilemmas killing animals for food, they are so delicious, and I'm glad that I don't have to do it for myself. But, I also think the way we currently run industrial feedlots, etc., is not only inhumane, but terribly disgusting and inefficient. The way in which the animals are forced to wallow in their own feces is just unspeakable, especially when you consider that you'll be eating that animal. Would you eat from a jar of peanut butter than was sitting in a pile of dog poop? (That analogy isn't the greatest, but it think about it: Could you ever be certain that in cleaning the jar and then eating from it that you didn't miss any disease-ridden microbes? No you can't, just like you can't be certain that animals wallowing in their own feces don't spread disease throughout the factory's supply as they are being cleaned and processed.)

Then the part that discusses industrial organic against local organic and grass-fed is even more helpful. It made me long for the day that I can afford to purchase meat and produce from a self-sustaining grass-fed farm. It's not economically viable for most people (nor is it geographically viable) so industrial organic is your best bet. At least you know that you're consuming foods without pesticides and petroleum additives.

The last part of the book bored me so much I couldn't finish it. It just doesn't have the same attention-holding power because I know that there is no chance I'll be hunting or gathering anything ever.

I gave this book 3 out of 5, mainly because I had such a hard time finishing it. But it is definitely a must read for those interested in food processing or organic foods.

Food for Free

2009-03-07T17:04:00.005-05:00

Food for Free by Richard Mabey

Synopsis from Amazon.co.uk:
'Food for Free by Richard Mabey was first published in 1972, since then it has been reprinted 11 times. An all-colour, revised version produced in 1989 has sold over 30,000 copies in the trade. A guide to over 300 types of food that can be gathered in the wild in Britain, Food for Free explores the history and folklore of the foods as well as explaining how we identify them and the best ways to cook and eat them...(it) is designed to inspire us to take more notice of what is around us, how we can make use of it and how we can conserve it for future generations.'

This is a fascinating book.
Who knew that there were so many food in the wild, just free for the picking or gathering.
Some of them you will know - like wild berries, mushrooms and nuts.
But others plants, flowers and even sea weeds are eye opening.
The history of these foods is explored, and then there is a season by season guide to collecting and preparing these foods.

Although I'm not sure I'd try all the plants etc. in the book, It has certainly encouraged me to collect some of the more unusual fruits such as rowan berries to make jelly, and rosehips to make syrup.
I'm also going to try out dandelion leaves and wild garlic leaves in salads, as well as making sure I go nut gathering in the autumn.
I'm not sure about the seaweed though!!!

Great, interesting book. One I'm going to buy.

This completes this challenge for me.
The books I read for this challenge were:
1. Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking 17/2/09
2. The Coffee House 8/1/09
3. The Book Of Tea 10/11/08
4.Foods for free by Richard Mabey 7/2/09
5. Her Fork in the Road 27/1/09

Loved this challenge - many thanks for hosting ;0)

American Fried

2009-03-03T19:40:00.003-05:00

American Fried: Adventures of a Happy Eater

Calvin Trillin

HarperCollins, 1974

All of us are eaters. Calvin Trillin claims to be a happy eater. I think he's more than that. Based on this book, I'd say he is an Eater-Extraordinaire. Whether he is on the road, in a neighborhood in his home city of New York or his old hometown of Kansas City, he finds and know the best food around.

His tastes in eating are very American, which means he loves all sorts of cuisine. And, he is tenacious in finding it. Here are some of the things he describes: a search for the perfect Cincinnati chili, a crawfish eating contest in Louisiana, his Sunday stroll for bagels, cream cheese and salmon, and his search for authentic hickory-smoked barbeque in unknown towns.

Although I know that his writing is meant to be humorous (and it is very funny), it seems more like a report of what seriously happened. For instance, Trillin describes a trip he and his friend Fats Goldberg made to their hometown of Kansas City. They spent most of the airplane ride talking about special barbeques and hamburger places that by the time they got off the plane they were very hungry. So, here is what they said:

"Mario's!" Fats said. "What Mario's? When I come into town, I go to Winstead's from the airport."

"My grandfather is waiting. Fats," I said, "He's eighty-eight years old. My sister will scream at me if we're late."

"We could go by the North Kansas City Winstead's branch from here, get a couple to go, and eat them on the way to whatisname's," Fats said. He looked desperate. I realized he had been looking forward to a Winstead's hamburger since his last trip to Kansas City five or six months before -- five or six months he had endured without eating anything worth talking about.

That is how Fats and I came to start the grand [food] tour . . .

It's been over thirty years since this book was written. Many of the places he talks about are gone or have new ownership. That's okay because it's not meant to be a guidebook. It's a commentary, a remembrance of good eating. The book is timeless and I recommend it to fellow readers who love good eating.

This is book number five for the Books About Food Challenge. This completes this challenge for me. I've enjoyed this challenge and really hate see it come to an end. But I'll still keep reading Books About Food. How about you?

Beth's Wrap Up Post

2009-02-24T07:34:00.002-05:00

Here is the list of my challenge books, with my rating. Click on the link to read my review.

Salt by Mark Kurlansky (B-)
Heat by Bill Buford (A)
House of Mondavi by Julia Flynn Siler (A)
French Lessons by Peter Mayle (B+)
More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin (B)

I liked all five books. Salt took me around the world and back in time, as I learned about salt's role in trade routes and kingdoms. Heat focused on Buford's journey to become a restaurant chef by following in Mario Batali's footsteps. I read about the soap opera life of the Mondavi family and Robert's influence on the American wine industry in House of Mondavi. And I finished up the challenge with two memoirs: Mayle's essays in French Lessons related his experiences at a variety of French food festivals, and Colwin's essays in More Home Cooking had a more personal touch.

Thanks to Historia for hosting this great challenge.

Reveiw: More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin

2009-02-19T06:40:00.003-05:00

My Summary and Thoughts: More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen is a collection of essays first published in 1993. Colwin wrote novels, but she also wrote articles for Gourmet magazine. She died suddenly at the age of forty-eight, and although she put the collection together and wrote the introduction, the book was published after her death.

My copy of More Home Cooking is a first edition, which I bought right after it appeared in the stores. I'm not sure why I never read it, because I liked Colwin's first collection of food essays, and I loved reading her column in Gourmet. The book is still in print and readily available.

Colwin's food memoir was compiled just when some segments of the American public began to change their way of eating and when people's lives seemed to be getting busier. Several essays touch on these points, such as how to find time to make dinner for friends and how to figure out what to serve when guests have to watch what they eat. She also notes changes in how we celebrate holidays and wonders about the fate of the traditional family dinner.

In each short piece, Colwin conveys her understanding of food and family, but throughout we are also treated to her sense of humor. For example: "When I gaze at Norman Rockwell's enchanting Thanksgiving picture, why do I suspect that the grandfather drinks more than he should?" In another essay she talks about the "cooking of the refined slob" and offers shortcuts for those of us who no longer have time to spend four hours making dinner.

Almost every chapter touches on the link between food and those we love and food and memories. And many chapters include a recipe; some are complete recipes and others are more like ideas, along the line of take a little of this and add a little of that.

Just about half of the forty-five essays focus on a particular food, such as biscuits, beets, coffee, and duck. Here is a snippet from the tomato chapter: "One of the joys of summer is to go roaming through the garden, pulling ripe tomatoes off the vine, and biting in. Juice and seeds drip all over your nice white shirt, but who cares?"

In other essays, Colwin contemplates holidays, picnics, vacations, jet lag, and dinner parties.

I was pleased to discover that most of Colwin's work still holds up, even though it has been more than fifteen years since the book was published. This is not necessarily a book to read all in one sitting. In fact, I think it'd be grand to read a chapter each afternoon while taking some time to enjoy a cup of coffee—one of Colwin's and my own personal addictions.

With this book I have finished the Books about Food Challenge. I'll write up a summary post in the next week or so. This review was cross-posted to my blog Beth Fish Reads.

More Home Cooking at an Indie

Published by HarperCollins, 1993, 2000
ISBN13: 9780060955311
Rating: B

Taste: The story of Britain through its cooking

2009-02-18T14:25:00.002-05:00

Title: Taste: The story of Britain through its cooking
Author: Kate Colquhoun

This book really is the history of Britain told through it's food.
From Celtic and Roman times when bread was the staple food, to modern 60's dinner parties, Kate Colquhoun paints a wonderful picture of Britain's food and culture.
Well written and readable, you'll be turning the pages in no time.

Here are just some examples of the interesting facts in the book:
* Monks of Norman times were influenced in their cooking by Tacunia books which told them of certain properties of foods for example whether they were warm or moist. This lead to serving sauces with food which had complementary health properties, e.g bread sauce with birds, mint sauce to counteract the richness of meat.
* In th 13thC sugar was introduced from Lebanon and Palestine to replace honey.
* The oldest completed culinary manuscript to survive is from Richard 11's time in the late 14thC - a handwritten 196 page manuscript known as 'The Forme of Cury' (Cury = to dress food)
* In Tudor times pastry became important and the first raised pies were made - often works of art.
* In Henry VIII's time pumpkins were introduced to Britain from France, and used as pie fillings. The Founding Fathers then took this recipe over to the US
* In the mid 17thC coffee, tea and cocoa were introduced to the UK and became increasingly popular.
* In the mid 19thC industrialised factory workers were often poorly fed. Read Gaskell's novels for examples. In Mary Barton (1848) she writes that babies were often given opium to stave off their hunger.
* In the late 19thC canning began to be used to reserve food.
* Queen Victoria preferred simple food while her son loved big banquets.
* IN Edwardian times picnics became increasingly popular for the rich (while the poor were short of food). Picnics like the one Ratty organises in 'Wind in The Willows' were common!
* Between the food shortages of WWI and WWII new domestic gadgets were introduced such as the aga, whistling kettle, electric grill..

The book is a fascinating read for anyone interested in domestic history or food.
Recommended.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

2009-02-12T12:36:00.002-05:00

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver

HarperCollins Publishers, 2007

I'm so glad I finally had a chance to read this book. I'm a big Barbara Kingsolver fan and when I heard she had written about this project, I had to read it. Plus my family and I along with other friends did something similar to this back in the 1970's during that era's Back To The Land movement. I was curious to see what her experience was like.

For those of you unfamiliar with her project let me explain. Ms. Kingsolver, her husband and two daughters set in motion a plan to live one whole year eating only what they grew themselves or what was grown within their local area. It was not an experiment to save money.

"We had come to the farmland to eat deliberately. . . . We only knew, somewhat abstractly, we were going to spend a year integrating our food choices with our family values, which include both "love thy neighbor" and "try not to wreck everything on the planet while you're here."

They were both deliberate and resourceful. Starting in late winter/early spring, they scoured the area (southern Appalachia) and found a local farmers market and from there they found sources for good quality (mostly organic) vegetables, meat (turkey sausage and lamb), eggs, chicken and fruit. This helped until they were able to get their own garden, orchard, turkeys and chickens producing.

The book is organized into chapters which follows along with what is happening each month. Ms. Kingsolver wrotes the majority of the book but her husband and eldest daughter have good addition. Her professor-husband, Steven Hopp, added essays primarily about the effects of industrial agriculture. Her daughter, Camile, wraps up most of the chapters with interesting stories, some excellent recipes, and a sample week's menu of what they ate that month.

Because of my experience I wanted to know how they handled the months of harvest. To me, those are the killer months in a project like this. Those are the times when the tomatoes and zucchini and beans and corn are growing faster than you can preserve them. At the hottest time of the year you have to be back and forth between the hot sunny garden and the hot steamy kitchen. Those days, and weeks, seem endless and are exhausting. It's an easy time to give up. But the Kingsolver family did not. They pushed right on through it and put away enough produce "to last comfortably till the abundances of June."

After reading this book I'm still a Kingsolver fan. Most of it read like one of her novels. There were parts that could be called "preachy" but the Kingsolvers are very passionate about this subject, and have good reason to feel that way. Some parts of the book stand out for me: her discussion of heirloom seeds, her experience with her turkeys and her tomato harvest (the chapter called Life in the Red Zone). And, if you don't read anything else, read the last chapter. This is her "heart" chapter in which she talks about what she might do differently and her plans for the future. It has something we can all take away and adopt even if we don't have access to the kind of farmland Ms. Kingsolver has. I've already recommended this book to several people. In my opinion this is a should-read book for those concerned with healthy and responsible eating.

Book Review: Stealing Buddha's Dinner, by Bich Minh Nguyen

2009-02-11T13:15:00.002-05:00

There's another helping of book review to serve forth for my Books About Food Reading Challenge, having read the delightful memoir, "Stealing Buddha's Dinner", by Bich Minh Nguyen, NY: Viking, 2007). The first book I read for this event was another memoir about growing up in an American immigrant family, Diana Abu-Jaber's "The Language of Baklava". This book had similar themes about straddling two cultures and finding one's own adult identity, though the main characters switched from being an American Arab to being a Vietnamese refugee.

Nguyen's book starts with her earliest memories of being a toddler in a cold and drafty house in Grand Rapids, Michigan, living with her extended family of her father, older sister, grandmother and five adoring uncles. We find out early on that the family fled Vietnam during the Fall of Saigon in 1975, but we don't know what happened to the girls' mother until much later in the book. Her father works long hours at a pillow factory and sleeps with a ceremonial sword on the downstairs sofa to protect his family. His mother, Noi, is a devout Buddhist who cares for the girls and cooks the meals, and is the quiet matriarch in the family.

The uncles provide comic relief and spoil the Nguyen girls with sweets, rock and roll music and toys. The uncles' lairs throughout a succession of moves are a nostalgic morass of Seventies pop culture: shiny rayon clothes, ABBA albums, leather recliners, elaborate hi-fi setups, silver wallpaper. They easily turn off the switch from work to play when they come home from their factory jobs, unlike Nguyen's dad, who spends his few off-hours tensely smoking on the porch or playing cards and billiards with his Vietnamese friends, marinated in lots of booze.

The family is enlarged when Nguyen's father marries Rosa, the socialist teacher and daughter of Mexican migrant workers. She brings her daughter Crissy with her and the family now has to figure out how to integrate this new mother and cook. Rosa is pursuing college and post-graduate studies throughout the book, so her cooking time is precious and limited to a few standard meals that the Nguyen bunch stoically eats without much relish. The author, however, through the lens of adult insight, has a great empathy for her stepmother and insightfully shows her isolation from the rest of the family when they go to Vietnamese parties on the weekends. There, the tall and curvacious Rosa is left to herself, separated by age, gender and language from the cliques of poker-playing men, the TV-watching children and and extended sessions of gossip and deep-frying among the slender women of the kitchen.

Young Binh doesn't want "weirdo" Vietnamese food made from exotic ingredients from the Asian grocery, nor does she savor Rosa's timesaver, budget meals bought with coupons and made from generic cans and boxes. Instead, she covets American junk food: Pringles, a chocolate rainbow of candy bars, Dairy Cones with strawberry dip, McDonalds burgers and buckets of fried chicken. She wants to eat what her conservative, Christian, primarily Dutch heritage neighbors and schoolmates eat so she can fit in, but finds this a constant struggle. As she points out, coming of age in the Seventies and Eighties was to grow up before being ethnic was cool, before phrases like "multiculturalism" and "diversity" were embraced. And Nguyen is unable to become popular like her two pretty (her author photo says she's a knockout too), more gregarious older sisters.

She finds solace in reading and the titles of many of the classic juvenile books she hoards in her special bookcase and which she nests among her bedclothes, will appeal to all those who came to bibliophilia early in life. While her sisters spend their spare change on banana lip gloss and Pat Benatar records, the author buys (and racks up huge library fines) for books outlining the adventures of her friends Encyclopedia Brown, Ramona Quimby, Charlotte the Spider, the March family, Harriet Welsch, and the entire Ingalls clan.

Slowly, though, she comes around to appreciate her grandmother's daily offerings of fruit, (first offered to Buddha on a lacquered salver) carefully peeled and sliced; her Pho slippery with noodles and slices of oxtail; and even Rosa's holiday tamales. Though she may still covet "regular" American foods, she finds greater appreciation for her family's spicier tangle of comfort foods.

"Stealing Buddha's Dinner" does not mix in as much wit as "The Language of Baklava", but was as enjoyable for its detailed and sensual evocations of time and place. Foodie readers will enjoy the Bacchanalian descriptions of Vietnamese holiday feasts and Seventies' spreads at "Ponder Rosa" (the Ponderosa steakhouse chain), while others will delight in the way the Nguyen family changes and grows during their years in America. The author explains a lot about traditional Vietnamese and Buddhist culture and how aspects of both clash against against modern American culture.

Recommended reading for foodies, fans of biography and memoir, social history and the American immigrant experience.

Book Number 3 for this challenge completed! Next up: A Glutton for Punishment: Confessions of a Mercenary Eater by Jay Jacobs. Should be interesting and perhaps, unappetizing!

Book Review: A Bowl of Red by Frank X. Tolbert

2009-01-29T15:34:00.005-05:00

A Bowl of Red: The Classic Natural History of Chili Con Carne with Other Delectable Dishes of the Southwest, with Recipes and a Guide to Paper Napkin Restaurants, by Frank X. Tolbert, Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing Company (1988), reprint.

This book is a reprint of the classic chilihead bible, originally published in 1953. Tolbert was a born-and-bred Texan, first, and a journalist and founder of the World Chili Championship held each November in Terlingua, Texas. The book swaggers with lots of outsized Texas bravado about how hot a proper chili should be, how a classic bowl of red would eject any attempts to throw beans into it, and some interesting profiles of cowboy chuck wagon cooks.

"A Bowl of Red" is a little dated, with all of its references to period film stars and celebrities, and some non PC references to various ethnic groups, but it does contain great information about Southwestern culinary history and will make your mouth water for something spicy. He lists some of the many chili aficionados of the day, including humorist H. Allen Smith, Lady Bird Johnson and LBJ, Jack Benny and trumpet virtuoso Harry James, who notes "Next to jazz music, there is nothing that lifts the spirit and strengthens the soul more than a good bowl of chili".

Tolbert's book explores the various permutations of chili (suet or no, tomatoey and garlicky or vegetable-free) and then examines some other Texan specialties, including son of a bitch stew (an extravaganza of cattle organ meats), tamales, enchiladas and burritos. He has the highest regard for the humblest of chili chefs, from diners, jailhouse kitchens and those like Early Caldwell, the Tamale King, who hunts down prime corn shucks and other ingredients and steams up vast quantities in his home kitchen to sell every other day at a prime corner in Athens, Texas.

The book is very entertaining and a great look at a chunk of American food history. I would definitely seek it out as a gift for any chili heads in your life.

2009-01-29T00:52:00.003-05:00

Comfort Me With Apples: More Adventures at the Table

Ruth Reichl

Random House, 2001

A few months ago I read and thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires. This one is equally as good, although, of course, the story is different.

Both are memoirs but Comfort Me With Apples covers the time of her life when her food writing career begins to soar. The reader is taken from her life in a commune in Berkeley to her job as restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times.

Although Ms. Reichl is very knowledgeable when it comes to good food, she takes advantage of the many opportunities she has to learn even more. For example, she is introduced to Thai food and immediately arranges a food tour through Thailand.

She describes this amazing food trip as well as others to China, Paris, and Barcelona. She is also right in the center of the changing food world in California and has the opportunity to meet some remarkable people: Alice Waters, M.F.K. Fisher, Wolfgang Puck, Marion Cunningham, and even Danny Kaye. She is right in the middle of their kitchens, studying their techniques and philosophies and, yes, getting their recipes which she shares in the book.

Woven into the story about food is the story of her personal life. It is not dull. She is very open about her love affairs and the disintegration of her first marriage, as well as other events that are both heart breaking and heart warming. Ms. Reichl's philosophy about sharing food along with her private life is mixed in with a conversation she has with her boss at the Times.

"Haven't you noticed that food all by itself is really boring to read about?" I asked. " It's everything around the food that makes it interesting. The sociology. The politics. The history."

The author makes her food interesting with her writing style. When she describes food she doesn't say things like "its salty" or "this is yummy". She describes the food in such a way that your senses know what she's talking about. Here's an example: "The oysters were cold, with that deep, mysteriously ancient flavor they have when they first come out of the ocean." Can't you just feel and smell and taste those oysters?

I hated for the book to end. I'm ready for her first book, Tender To The Bone. I seem to be reading in reverse order. I recommend this author for those who love Books About Food.

Her fork in the road by Lisa Bach

2009-01-27T16:47:00.002-05:00

Amazon Product Description:
'Women's relationships with food are passionate and obsessive, embracing and comforting, complex and frustrating. This savoury sampling of stories - by some of the best writers in and out of the food and travel fields - journeys to the heart of these age-old relationships, taking readers from the familiar kitchens of contemporary America to the far reaches of the globe. In France, an over-enthusiastic waitress serves M. F. K. Fisher the lunch of a lifetime to sustain her on a walk to Avallon. In Tunisia, Ruth Reichi dines at the home of a local, where the meal is eaten with the hands and a dash of sensuality. And in Fiji, where the women are big and beautiful and walk like royalty, Laurie Gough encounters food as a grand and constant celebration. The lively, literate tone of "Her Fork in the Road" makes it both an enduring read and an ideal companion for the kitchen or the road.'

A wonderful book - scrumptious tales of women's travel and food, which make your mouth water just reading them.
Insipring to anyone who wants to cook, feast or travel.
A must read
Recommended.

The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber

2009-01-15T12:01:00.001-05:00

The Language of Baklava: A Memoir, by Diana Abu-Jaber (NY: Pantheon, 2005).

"The Language of Baklava" is my first book read and reviewed for this Books About Food Challenge and the second book pick for the new foodie book club, Cook the Books, that a couple of blogger friends and I have organized. What a fantastic book on so many levels. It is a book full of food memories and recipes, a devastatingly funny collection of crazy family scenes and dialogue, and a writer's memoir, full of interesting
remembrances about how keenly she observed and sensed things throughout her unique childhood. She perfectly captures the buzzing level of energy I remember having as a child and the easy acceptance most children have of new friends and situations.

It is also a funny and perceptive lens on the American immigrant experience of her Jordanian-born father, "Bud" (originally Ghassan), whom we learn is the descendant of Bedouin sheiks and has at least four other wild and crazy brothers who joined him in trading their desert homeland for the Syracuse area of upstate New York. Arid desert winds are swapped for six months of snow and wind that no longer stings from sand but from ice.

Bud was raised Syrian-Orthodox but turned into a "mild" Muslim when he was an adult and struggles with being a gregarious immigrant with high hopes in an American culture that fools and disappoints him often. He marries a tall, American goddess, Abu-Jaber's quiet teacher mother, a retiring figure in the book that quietly accepts moves back to dusty Jordanian compounds when Diana is a pre-schooler and then gets ready for another move when she is a rebellious adolescent. She seems to mutter and slowly fold her objections down inward with each of Bud's new schemes or impromptu dinner parties and I kept wondering why she was so retiring and such a surprisingly minor character in this book. I understand why she was attracted to Bud, a larger-than-life host who can even charm nuns with his spicy special rice and pontifications about religion and philosophy, but I wonder why she never voices any misgivings or argues. She is a very passive character and yet I sense hidden passions and strength.

We learn more about Diana's maternal grandmother, a disdainer of men, in a hilarious Chinese restaurant scene. Never has self-confidence (Gram) and acute adolescent self-anguish (Diana) clashed so mightily as when Gram blunders her way through a conversation with a highly cultured Chinese waiter about the "Chinese opera" she had just taken Diana to see (it was actually Madama Butterfly, a Puccini opera about a Japanese heroine).

Gram's a larger-than-life match for Bud's personality as well. After enduring a bossy father, a scalawag husband that abandons her, and the Great Depression ("brought about by men"), she tries to stanch the burgeoning romance between her daughter and Bud by inviting him over for a bright pink and glistening ham (Muslim taboo), followed by a second dinner of shrimp which Bud thinks are giant insects. Abu-Jaber further defines the difference between them in terms of their cooking styles:

"The problem seems obvious to me: Gram is a baker, Bud's a cook. Cooks are dashing, improvisational, wayward, intuitive; bakers are measured, careful, rational, precise. Gram can follow a recipe, but the drama for spice isn't in her bones. "Oh, rosemary," she says to me dismissively as we discuss a chicken recipe. "Rosemary is for show-offs."

Bud is a restless figure, always wondering whether he should move his family of three daughters back to Jordan to keep them as "good Arab girls" and switching them from suburban to rural real estate around Syracuse as restaurant dreams ebb and flow. As a result, young Diana has to "re-create" herself with all these moves to fit in with new circles of friends. I was especially interested in her comment that American food tasted of "sugar, stone, and chemicals" when she returned from an extended stay in Jordan.

Then, there are the recipes! They sweeten the end of each chapter and I have already tried two of them, Magical Muhammara ("a dip or spread for when you want everyone to quit running around and come to the table") and "Start the Party" Hummus, and can say that they are as sumptuous as Abu-Jaber's writing.

I read Abu-Jaber's second novel, "Crescent", last year and was delighted when "The Language of Baklava" was selected as the second Cook the Books title. It is a book that I can't wait to read it all over again soon.

This book is also the first book read for my portion of the Books about Food challenge, which is headquartered here.

French Lessons by Peter Mayle

2009-01-14T06:41:00.003-05:00

My Summary: Most people know Peter Mayle from his delightful memoir A Year in Provence, which describes the British author's adjustment to living in the French countryside. In French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew, Mayle travels throughout his adopted country to savor a selection of typical French fare.

With his usual charm and self-deprecating humor, Mayle takes us from his first Parisian meal (of upscale fish and chips) to a frog-leg festival, a mass held in honor of truffles, wine-tasting opportunities, and a look behind the scenes of the Michelin guide. Among other adventures is a trip to Normandy to learn about pungent cheeses and delectable ciders. Throughout, we are treated to a sense of a culture just a step removed from the modern frenzied pace.

For example,

Lunch progresses at an unhurried pace, as all good lunches should. People eat more slowly on Sundays, and drink a little more wine than usual. They forget to look at their watches. Two hours slip by, often more. Eventually, with appetites satisfied, a drowsy calm comes over the room as the plates are cleared away, the tablecloths are brushed, and coffee is served. A lazy afternoon lies ahead: a book, a doze, a swim. The chef makes a ceremonial tour of the tables, gathering compliments, happy to share with you one or two favorite recipes. Curiously, these dishes never taste quite the same at home, no matter how carefully the recipe is followed, no matter how talented the cook. There is something about Sunday lunch in a French country restaurant that goes beyond food (p. 19).

My Thoughts: This is must-read for all Mayle fans. If you're new to the author, start with A Year in Provence, the best (in my opinion) of his memoirs. Rating: B+

Cross posted to my blog Beth Fish Reads.

My Reading List for the Books about Food Challenge

2009-01-12T17:49:00.001-05:00

The Language of Baklava, by Diana Abu-Jaber
A Bowl of Red by Frank X. Tolbert
A Glutton for Punishment: Confessions of a Mercenary Eater by Jay Jacobs
Stealing Buddha's Dinner, by Bich Minh Nguyenn
We Are What We Ate: 24 Memories of Food, edited by Mark Winegardner

I read a lot of cookbooks and foodie novels for escapism, but I would like to know more about the social history of food, hence this challenge for myself. I have just finished Diana Abu-Jaber's book above for the Cook the Books club, and I will be posting a review of that here and on my book blog, The Book Trout, in the next few days. Then, off to read about chili madness with "A Bowl of Red" by Frank X. Tolbert.

Lovely to have found this group.

The Coffee-House: A Cultural History by Markman Ellis

2009-01-07T07:33:00.002-05:00

The Coffee-House: A Cultural History by Markman Ellis

'They have in Turkey, a Drinke called Coffa, made of a Berrt of the same name, as Blacke as a Soot, and of a Strong Scent, but not Aromaticall; Which they take, beaten into a powder, in Water, as Hot as they can Drink it; And they take it, and they sit in thier Coffa-Houses, which are llike our Tavernes. This Drinke comforteth the Braine, and Heart, and helpeth Digestion'
Francis Bacon - Sylva Sylvarum: or a Naturall Historie (1627)

This is a fascinating book about the rise of the Coffee-House in the UK.
As the Preface states 'Caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world ...(it's) value...surpassed only by oil' (pxi)
The book traces the history of the coffee-house from George Sandy's discovery of them in Constantinople in 1610, to Thomas Hodges opening of the first coffee-house in London sometime before 1654, to modern coffee chains like Starbucks and Costa.
It describes in detail the height of the coffee-house era in the 17th and 18th centuries when men would gather and socialise, conduct business, and philosophise about life. How coffee houses were often located close to areas frequented by 'ladies of pleasure'.
In the 19th century coffee-houses were in decline in the UK, Henry James noting in 1877 a lack of 'cafe society' which was still thriving elsewhere. In fact it is at this time that the British taste for tea became more popular, especially as it was easier to brew.
Only after the second world war did coffee once again increase in popularity in the UK probably, the author suggests, due to the fact that it had been rationed for so long. With the introduction of the first espresso machines from the continent, new coffee houses spread throughout the country in the mid 50's, once again providing meeting places for people of all ages.
The book concludes with the recent rise of coffee chains such as Starbucks, Nero's etc., and how these have become part of our every day lives and language.

Well written and researches, this is a fascinating book, not only about coffee but about British social history too.

American Pie:Slices of Life (and Pie) From America's Back Roads

2008-12-16T12:58:00.003-05:00

American Pie: Slices of Life (and pie) From America's Back Roads

Pascale Le Draoulec

Published by Perennial, 2002

American Pie is the story of a quest for pie. But as in most quests, the seeker finds more than pie. The book is part travel journal, part personal history, a little philosophy, and lots ordinary people and their recipes. What pulls it all together is the story of pie.

For we Americans, this may be our signature dessert, but making pie from scratch is becoming a dying art. The author's goal was to capture the stories of pie bakers and sample their pies. Pascale Le Draoulec succeeds in her goal. She managed to meet people in the various parts of the country and was able to find those regional and family specialties. There are about 40 different pie recipes and the stories of how she got them.

There are two things I like best about the book. One is her descriptions of the various people she meets and how they just open up and talk to her when they find out about her quest. The second thing are all the tips and secrets about great pie baking that various people gave her. I also enjoyed her writing style. I felt as if I were along with her on her trip. Even if you are not a pie connoisseur, this is a fun book to read. For my complete review visit me at http://joyfullyretired.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/american-pie.

House of Mondavi by Julia Flynn Siler

2008-12-15T13:56:00.004-05:00

Here is a summary of my review; for the full review, please visit my blog (here).

The story of the Mondavi family and its wineries spans three generations and is the stuff of mini-series or novels: greed, jealousy, sibling rivalry, extra-marital affairs, male chauvinism . . . it's all here. Julia Flynn Siler's well-researched, well-documented history is a fascinating look at the Mondavi family and its lasting influence on the U.S. wine industry.

If this book were a novel, then the main themes would be fathers vs. sons, brothers vs. brothers, and the subjugation of women. Readers follow the Mondavi men from Old World to New and back again, from courtroom to vineyard, and--in some cases--from wife to wife. The women, whether wives or sisters, were generally relegated to the kitchen or reception desk but were expected to be gracious and stylish hostesses when required.

Tucked between the drama of the family's business and personal lives is the history of how Robert Mondavi's foresight, innovations, and persistence built one of the country's most successful and well-respected wineries.

Rating: A

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise

2008-11-17T12:30:00.005-05:00

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise

By Ruth Reichl

Penguin Press, 2005

This book was just plain fun to read. Ruth Reichl has the best job: she gets paid to go to fantastic restaurants and eat amazing food. This book is the true story of her years as the food critic for the New York Times.

Prior to actually starting the job, Ruth learns that her picture is hanging on the wall in all the restaurant kitchens in New York City. She knows she will get only the very best food and service if they know who she is. Her solution is to go in disguise. She doesn't just put on a wig. She becomes a different person. Or, in her case, she becomes many different people.

Her experience in restaurants as an ordinary person (Ruth in disguise) is quite different from her experience as the powerful food critic. Equally interesting is the politics on the job at the Times. A bonus in the book are some of the author's favorite recipes. The New York Cheesecake recipe is worth the price of the book alone. I recommend this as a good, fun read for those who love eating in nice restaurants. For a longer review of this book, visit my website at www.joyfullyretired.wordpress.com.

Heat by Bill Buford

2008-11-14T08:20:00.003-05:00

Here is a summary of my review for this book. For the full review, click here.

The subtitle of this book tells it all: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany. Bill Buford quit his job as a writer/editor for The New Yorker to learn to be a chef in the small kitchen of Mario Batali's restaurant Babbo.

In the fascinating story of how Buford goes from a carrot-chopping prep cook to a reliable line cook, we learn the inner workings of a restaurant and the tale of how Mario became . . . well, Mario. And we follow Buford to Italy, where he becomes a pasta intern and then a student of a famous butcher.

This is wonderfully written with laugh-out-loud moments while Buford relates his failures and triumphs as a cook and introduces us to the eccentric group of people who become his mentors. I recommend this book to anyone interested in food, Mario, Italian cooking, or restaurants. Don't miss out on Buford's story.

Rating: A

The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura

2008-11-10T17:58:00.002-05:00

The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura

This is a beautiful book, first published in 1906.

'Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday life' p3

The book describes the history of tea, it's origination's in China and it's adoption in Japan with the rise of the Japanese Tea Houses.
How in the 4th & 5th centuries CE 'leaves were steamed, crushed ina mortar, made into a cake, and boiled together with rice, ginger, salt, orange peel, spices, milk, and sometimes even onions.' p23
In those days you had the choice of this teacake, powdered tea, or seeped leaves, the latter being todays prefered method of choice!

The book goes onto tell us how the Japanese Tea Ceremony arose from Zen Buddhist rituals, and describes the art and beauty associated with the ceremony.

A lovely book. Beautifully written. Simple and delightful as a well made cup of tea itself.
Recommended.

Review: Twinkie, Deconstructed

2008-11-08T11:05:00.004-05:00

Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats
by Steve, Ettlinger

Stats:

Published by: Penguin Group
Pages: 282
ISBN: 9780641918926

Synopsis: When Ettlinger's young daughter asks him what polysorbate 60 is, he becomes determined to find the answer. This explains the processing methods and science behind the more than 25 ingredients in a Twinkie.

Thoughts: Ok, to give you an idea of what finishing this book was like, let's revisit the title: Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats by Steve, Ettlinger. Get the idea? Although, the information contained in these pages is interesting, by the time I got about 13 ingredients in, I was struggling to finish. Once Ettlinger explains the more basic ingredients such as wheat, corn, sugar, and eggs, the more chemical ingredients take over the book. And this is where I had a hard time finishing. It went from interesting processing methods to complicated chemical reaction science really quick and never looked back.

But there was a lot of interesting information about how the mass production process takes normal ingredients from your kitchen and changes them into basically unrecognizable ingredients for the sake of shelf life. In the end, that is what this story is about: increasing shelf life (and therefore profit).

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars. Recommended for food science fans.

2008-11-04T23:09:00.002-05:00

Thanks for letting me join the challenge. I love everything about food and reading so this is a good fitting challenge for me. Here's my list:

1. Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl

2. American Fried by Calvin Trillin

3. Something From the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America by Laura Shapiro

4. American Pie: Slices of Life (and pie) from America's Back Roads by Pascala Le Draoulec

5. Comfort Me With Apples by Ruth Reichl

6. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Climbing the Mango Trees - Book Review

2008-11-04T10:34:00.007-05:00

Climbing the Mango Trees
A Memoir of a Childhood in India
By Madhur Jaffrey
Knopf 2006
MP3 Interview - 6 minutes
Click the Runs 5.52 link and listen to a short interview.
Wikipedia
Interview June 2008

So WHO in this blogosphere has NOT heard of Madhur Jaffrey? The Indian actress who now lives in USA and is also an author of numerous books about Indian cooking. Madhur Jaffrey was born Madhur Bahadur in New Delhi, India in 1933.

This was an excellent book. Full of stories of Madhur growing up in India before and after India Independence (1948). Madhur lived through those tumultuous times. She saw Ghandi just before he was killed. She lived through the partition where Muslims and Hindis were killing anyone from different religions.

And during these times she grew up eating Indian foods, although she never learned how to cook them.

Madhur describes her days at school, her parents and siblings lives and she describes the food. She also describes how Tandoori came to New Delhi - it was brough to new Delhi by the large numbers of Punjabi families who were forced to flee the Muslim uprisings after the partition in 1948.

The book ends when Madhur turns 19 and goes to London, UK to enter the RADA academy to be an acctress.

IF you really want to know what life was like in India before and after the partition, this is an excellent book to read.

There are a number of Indian recipes at the end of the book, and lots of mentions of Indian foods scattered all through the book as well.

Inspiration

2008-10-29T14:00:00.001-04:00

This challenge has inspired me to write a report on nonfiction books about food for my Recent American Nonfiction class at George Mason University. I'm envisioning this as a sort of resource for readers interested in books about food. When I actually get it finished, I'll figure out a way to share it with all of you.

Lynda's 5 books

2008-10-28T13:41:00.003-04:00

Hi
Thanks for letting me join this challenge
.
My five chosen books are:

1. Eating Up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa by Matthew Fort
'In an epic scooter trip from the Ionian Sea to the foot of the Alps, distiguished food writer Matthew Fort explores the local gastronomy and culinary culture of a country where regional differences are still vibrantly alive.'

2. 'The Coffee-House: A Cultural History by Markman Ellis
This is a convincing and meticulous read, building an intriguing and engrossing picture of coffee's role in British society.'

3. The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura
'That a nation should construct one of its most resonant national ceremonies round a cup of tea will surely strike a chord of sympathy with at least some readers'

4. Sugar-plums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets by Laura Mason

5. Her Fork in the Road: Women Celebrate Food and Travel by Lisa Bach
'In France, an over-enthusiastic waitress serves M. F. K. Fisher the lunch of a lifetime to sustain her on a walk to Avallon. In Tunisia, Ruth Reichi dines at the home of a local, where the meal is eaten with the hands and a dash of sensuality. And in Fiji, where the women are big and beautiful and walk like royalty, Laurie Gough encounters food as a grand and constant celebration. The lively, literate tone of "Her Fork in the Road" makes it both an enduring read and an ideal companion for the kitchen or the road'.

Quotes from Amazon UK

The Amateur Gourmet Book Review

2008-10-22T21:21:00.008-04:00

The Amateur Gourmet
By Adam Roberts
Bantam Books 2007
Website

This is a very interesting book about a gay jewish law student in New York city who cooks his way through law school. Adam allows us to explore his world of food as he learns the ins and outs of being a chef and a food critic.

He meets a few famous people - such as Amanda Hesser (the author of my previous book review), Ruth Reichl (a well known food critic) and Korin (the Master knife Grinder from somewhere in the TriBeCa area of Manhattan). He tries out various foods, Korean, French, Italian, Jewish and visits various markets discussing how to choose good food. He also cooks dinner of his family on mothers day, and he cooks a feast for his friends to finish off the book.

This is a very good book to read. Only 210 pages with recipes in every chapter including RATATOUILLE (ra-ta-too-ee - remember the cartoon movie from last year?). I read this in one day. It is a book not to be missed.

A List Change, Already!

2008-10-20T17:18:00.003-04:00

Well, I went to the Green Valley Bookfair on Sunday and I purchased a book called Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger and I've just got to start reading it. Basically the author looks at different ingredients in packaged foods and uses the Twinkie label as a guide. So depending on how many I can get through in six months, here's another food book I'm going to read.

I also bought Julie & Julia by Julie Powell, so I'll probably read that too.

*Oh, and here's a list of nonfiction food books on goodreads.

Laza's List

2008-10-18T00:18:00.004-04:00

Hello all. I'm excited to start the challenge. I'll probably start reading one of these within the next couple of weeks.

Salt, Mark Kurlansky
The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan
In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan
Oranges, John McPhee
The Fruit Hunters, Adam Leith Gollner
Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, Fuschia Dunlop

Salt, by Mark Kurlansky

2008-10-14T07:18:00.006-04:00

Next time someone tells you to eat rocks, reach for the salt shaker. Yes, salt is a rock! Mark Kurlansky takes readers on a voyage of discovery into the economic, political, religious, and culinary world of salt -- from antiquity to our own times.

I recommend this book with some reservations (rating: B-).

For my full review, please visit my blog (here).

Salt was my first book for the challenge. I plan to read one book for the challenge each month, so my next review will be in November.

Cooking for Mr Latte - Book Review

2008-10-03T22:50:00.002-04:00

Cooking for Mr Latte
By Amanda Hesser
WW Norton & Co
2003

We almost didn't make it past the first phone call. A friend had set us up. I thought she might have mentioned that I wrote about food.

He wanted Merchants. Not the kind of place a food writer wanted to be seen in.

Aside from the meal, things were going rather well. He was witty, impossibly smart and very very funny. Until he told me that if he had to give up one of his senses he'd give up taste. I drank more Budweiser. Then he ordered a latte. After dinner.

Apparently, ordering a latte (thatever that is - although I beleive it is a variation of coffee) after dinner is a huge NO NO in the food writing business. I personally do not drink coffee. I can't stand the smell.

This book is the story of Amanda Hesser, a food writer for the New York Times, and her developing relationship with Mr Latte (as she calls him). She drops lots and lots of food names I have never heard of, and at the end of each chapter are a few recipes.

It is not until Chapter 18 that we learn that Mr Latte's real name is Tad. And in the last two chapters (36 & 37) Amanda goes into details about the wedding arrangements and the wedding dinner.

This is actually a very interesting biography set in an unusual background - food writing. I really really enjoyed it. The below book is the paperback cover.

I learnt a LOT about foods. I still dont know exactly what cippollini, cannellini, creme de casis, papardelle or arugula are. Oh and what is a scallion?

Amanda names many many different types of cheeses. Oh and did you know there are TWO types of lemons? Ordinary lemons and MEYER lemons? I didn't know that.

If you want some very interesting and different recipes, you must read this book.

Beth's Book List

2008-10-01T08:07:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Historia for coming up this challenge. I'm looking forward to reading the books on my list and to reviewing them. I'm hoping others will take up this challenge.

Here's my list:

The Apprentice, by Jacques Pepin
Heat, by Bill Buford
A History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Tom Standage
The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty, by Julia Flynn Siler
Salt, by Mark Kurlansky

I have a sister post for this challenge on my blog here.

Allowable Books

2008-09-14T09:44:00.000-04:00

I have been asked if you can read novels about food and chefs biographies. I'm going to say NO to novels and YES to chef biographies. Mainly because I would prefer to think of food as a NON FICTION idea. I must try and find a bio of Emeril Lagasse. He is my favourite chef.

This is the Food Blog for the Food Book Challenge

2008-09-12T10:04:00.000-04:00

From October 1st, 2008 to March 31st, 2009

I was thinking just 6 months from October 1st to March 31st and you have to read 5 books about food or drink. They can be recipe books with some history in them, they can be anything on the history of food or drinks. NO Health, Medical, Scientific or Diet books are permitted. Also NO novels about food either.

As an example, I have a book called COFFEE (About the History of Coffee) which I plan to read. And if there is book out there on Spices, I would like to find and read that as well.

Anything on cheeses, breads, vegetables, fruits, beers, anything you like. Foods from anywhere - any country - are acceptable. The more exotic the food, the more interesting.

Even Barbara Kingsolver's book - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - would be acceptable for this challenge as it is all about food. It is an excellent book BTW. I reviewed in July last year if you wish to read it. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

If anyone wants to join this food blog, in order to post their reviews, please email me at cesca_nz at yahoo dot com, send me your email address and I will add you to this blog. Otherwise you can post on your own blog and post a link in the comments.