The+Library

In addition to working my way through James Beard's __Theory and Practice of Good Cooking__, I will also read books related to food and write reflections on them.

__[|My Year of Meats]__ by Ruth L. Ozeki is fiction but it incorporates a lot of facts about the meat industry, somewhat like a modern day __The Jungle__. This novel jumps back and forth between Jane, a Japanese-American documentary filmmaker and Akiko, a Japanese housewife. Akiko's husband, "John" is the ad agency salaryman working with the company that produces Jane's documentary called "My Year of Meats." "My Year of Meats" is sponsored by BEEF-EX and is an attempt to market excess meat from factory farms in America to Japanese housewives. As Jane films more episodes of "My Year of Meats", she becomes curious about meat and begins to dig deeper, discovering the darker side of the meat industry. Akiko struggles against both an eating disorder and her abusive husband. As Akiko overcomes her eating disorder, she gains the courage to leave her husband. Both women stuggle with issues of fertility as Akiko's eating disorder progresses to the point where she is no longer fertile and Jane's mother took [|DES], a dangerous chemical once thought to help pregnant mothers, when she was pregnant with Jane. As Akiko trys to break free from her husbands hold, she grows closer to Jane, her only contact in America. Not only is the story of these two women who unpredictable bond compelling, __My Year of Meats__ teaches much about the meat industry in the process.

__[|The Foie Gras Wars]__ by Mark Caro is an explanation of the controversy over [|foie gras], the fattened livers of force-fed ducks or geese. It was refreshing because most books written about issues within the meat industry try to shove their point of view down your throat. I have read my share of books whose only purpose is to convince the reader to be a vegetarian; but __The Foie Gras Wars__ is relativley objective: it observes, quotes and reports without insisting that you agree with the author. It actually made me want to taste foie gras because I've never had it before and after reading Caro's book, I want to know what the big deal is. It seems to me that foie gras is much like any other component of the meat industry: some farmers are going to be more responsible than others and some farmers will treat their livestock more humanly than other animals but just because some farmers are irresponsible and unhumane, does not mean that all farmers are like that.

__[|The Face on Your Plate]__ by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson promotes [|veganism]. Quite strongly. It's too much for me and I tend to read some pretty radical books. According to Jefferey Moussaieff Masson I suffer from "[|splitting]", the psychological defense in which I catagorize some farms as "good" farms and other farms as "bad" farms and justify my meat-eating habits with the excuse "it came from a good farm". This is coming from the same man who claims that eating an egg is worse than eating a chicken because of all the suffering [|layers] go through. Which just drives me crazy because I know [|my chickens] are happy and I realize that [|factory-farm chickens]are not always treated humanely but most importantly, I realize there is a difference.

[|Under the Table] is the story of Katherine Darling's experiences at the [|French Culinary Institute]. Katherine leaves her cushy office job as a magazine editor to persue her dream job as a chef. While culinary school is much harder than she expected, she perseveres and graduates first in her class. Interspersed among her story are several recipes from her cooking days. Now I really want to go to cooking school instead of trying to find a job and work my way up, apprentice style. Oh well, I still have a few years to think on it.

__[|The Jungle]__ by Upton Sinclair is the well known [|muckraking] novel that led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. After hearing about it in history class and reading __My Year of Meats__, __The Jungle__ was not nearly as graphic as I had expected. The descriptions of the meat industry were not nearly as appalling as the descriptions of the poor immigrants. I guess I expected it to be an anciet __My Year of Meats__, when it was more an ancient __Nickeled and Dimed__.

[|Heat] by Bill Buford is the intertwined stories of Mario Batali and the author. After a briefly introducing [|Mario], Bill jumps into the restaurant business. Bill Buford works in Mario's kitchen before going to Italy for several apprenticeships. A hilarious description of both the food industry and the life of a kitchen slave.

I must say that __[|Taste]__ by Kate Colquhoun was very thoroughly reseached. But after about 200 pages, no one can make the history of British cookery interesting. I did learn several things from this enlighting book such as not all Brittish food is bubble and squeak or kidney pie. And it was worth checking out just for the pictures on the cover. My sister and I had a bet about [|snipe], and there was a picture on the back cover. Yes! and several references to [|snipe] within the first 200 pages! However, one can not read a book for it's snipe references alone. And Taste was kind of lacking in other reasons to read.

__[|Animal, Vegetable, Miracle]__ by Barbara Kingsolver is the story of her family's year of living and eating locally in the Appalachian Mountains. We had started reading this last year in Enviromental Science and it was just as good as I remembered. The main narrative is told from Barbara Kingsolvers point of view. Then there are science-y sidebars on related topics by her husband Steven L. Hopp and recipe/menu sections at the end of each chapter by her eldest daughter Camille Kingsolver. I could never eat locally for a whole year and I applaud Barbara for her efforts. A lot of their experiences remind me of home. (Where else can you see chickens an asparagus patch?) I especially like [|Camille's inspiring recipes], I've already made sweet potato quesadillas and I can't wait to try 30-minute mozzarella.

I read __[|Building a Meal]__ by Hervé This in hopes of discovering the "perfect" recipes for hard boiled eggs, french fries, and chocolate mousse among other things. But I hadn't really looked at __Building a Meal__ too closely before I left the library. I just saw the author and knew I liked his other books (especially [|Kitchen Mysteries]) so I grabbed it. And then I realized that Building a Meal doesn't actually have any recipes. Although parts of the book were interesting (especially if you like science and food as much as I do) it definitely wasn't my favorite foodie book.

__[|Chew on This]__ by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson was captivating. I started it yesterday afterschool to avoid doing my chemistry homework and only put it down twice (eating dinner and then actually doing my chemistry homework). I finished reading around 11:30 and I was amazed. It was really easy to read, but the information was scary. So scary that I didn't eat any fries today. After Enviromental Science, I knew fast food was pretty bad, but __Chew on This__ spells out exactly how bad it is and why.

When I read __Chew on This__, I hadn't realized it was the kid version of __[|Fast Food Nation]__ by Eric Schlosser. Then I read __Fast Food Nation__ and thought //Deja vu!// and then I made the connection. All the other reviews seemed to be disappointed in __Chew on This__, but I prefered __Chew on This__ to __Fast Food Nation__. After reading __Chew on This__, __Fast Food Nation__ just didn't read as easily.

__[|Julie & Julia]__ by Julie Powell is her documentation of a year spent cooking every recipe out of Julia Child's __[|Mastering the Art of French Cooking]__. Which is quite a lofty goal. MAFC is a rather intimidating cookbook that I only use for basics, like stock. When I first started this class, I had never heard of J&J. But then the movie came out in August. And everyone I tried to explain my class to, said "Oh, like in that [|movie] about the cooks." So I quickly became familliar with the concept. Then I saw the book in my library and knew I had to read it. An interesting read, although I don't agree with Julie about everything.

Last night I made a J&J meal. My mom was going to be home late, so she told me to make dinner. And I couldn't find her usual potato soup recipe, so I used the one from MAFC. Which was the first recipe Julie made in J&J. And since it was my sister's birthday, I made Paul Prudhomme's Spiced Pecan Cake for dessert. Which Julie raves about in J&J. It was a really good cake but not that good.

[|Candyfreak] by Steve Almond discusses the various candy factories he has toured. Which is really cool if you are a complete candy freak. But if you're not, it is only mildly interesting. And kind of gross, when you consider how much sugar the author is consuming or how lax the health regulations are at the small candy factories the author is visiting. But still amusing, at least more amusing than my chemistry homework.

[|The Seasoning of a Chef] by Doug Psaltis is the story of his journey through the cooking world. It is not a book describing good food, it's a book describing good cooking jobs. Which is really interesting if you want to be a chef. And it made me realize how much harder I need to start working. It sounds like the life of a chef is hard but worth it if you love food.