Posts Tagged ‘ food ’

Watching Others Cook

Collins, Kathleen. (2009). Watching What We Eat: the evolution of television cooking shows. New York: Continuum. ISBN: 0-8264-2930-0

I’ve learned so much about food and cooking from watching cooking shows on television. As a teenager I would watch and long to be able to make the kinds of recipes being shown; dreamed of having a fancy kitchen, a professional mixer or food processor. Kathleen Collins has made a very detailed study of how those shows have changed over the decades of television history, and how those shows have influenced those of us who like to cook and eat.

The history of television cooking shows is much longer and richer than I could have imagined. Some of the earliest shows sound like some of the crazy Food Network shows on now. And it is interesting that throughout the entire history of cooking on television, here has been a voyeuristic quality and also a vicarious quality. In other words, we love watching others cook thins we know we will never cook ourselves. And yet I think a regular viewer of these shows learns about cooking and technique, much like watching someone cook in a kitchen , but because television cooking shows are such controlled and “chopped up” presentations, they do not teach how to plan a meal, how to cook a whole meal or party so all the food is ready at the same time. They never teach you about cleaning up, or planning your shopping and menus so you don’t have a lot of waste.

Food is entertaining becuase it is part of all of our lives, and have used the cooking shows to help live out and shape our fantasies of the ideal life. Collins does a great job of showing how these shows have excelled at that and captured the moving target of the American Dream over the last fifty years.

Putting Your Life On a Green Diet

Uliano, Sophie. (2009). The Gorgeously Green Diet: How to Live Lean and Green. New York: Dutton. ISBN: 978-0-525-95115-5.

The title implies a diet book, but it is much more than the typical diet book. It has the usual suspects: eating plans, nicely exercises, allowed and not allowed foods. But the book expands the idea of dieting and shows that most of us need to put more than our bodeis on a diet. The pantry and refrigerator are prime targets, and we can move out from there.

Uliano’s plan has a basic, but thoughtful, beginning: figure out what you really want before you begin. How many times have I jumped into a plan of self-improvement in excitement after reading a book or seeing something on television?

And this book does inspire, It connects what we eat with the ecological and environmental movements we are all thining about. It offers three different levels of being green to show that living better is possible for all of us. And she lists many websites and company names that sell the kinds of healthy foods and products recommende in the bookthat makes it easy to do further research on the specific topics that appeal to you. ( )

Author’s Website: http://www.gorgeouslygreen.com

Connected. A greener life, rural or not

Dickson Wright, Clarissa & Scott, Johnny. (2005). A Greener Life: the modern country compendium. London: David & Charles. North American edition. ISBN: 978-0-7153-2750-0.

One of the perennial appeals of the country lifestyle is the sense of living simpler, healthier, more in tune with the planet. The idea of self-sufficiency holds great appeal for those of us who live in a world of ever-increasing specialization. Not only does this world of expertise leave us unbalanced as human beings, it takes away our power of how the things we do and consume affect the planet and even ourselves. While quite useful as a direct guidebook to all aspects of rural living, this book offers far more to people who never intend to live a rural lifestyle.

The wonder of this book is that it encompasses both the lure of the country for nostalgic reasons while offering the idea that country living can be the cure to advancing the way we live in the future. In its practical how-to explanations of the parts traditional-based, rural living, it offers explanations of why these practices have lasted so long. It also compares them quite favorably with their modern counterparts in terms of health and satisfaction.

For instance, in the section on gardening, a description of almost every kind of vegetable is given with growing instructions and cooking suggestions, but greater is the context and commentary for each that explains how contemporary large-scale farming methods often fall short.

Because of technologies like the automobile, computer, internet and such, many of us can live anywhere we like. Cities have their benefits, of course, and this book is not saying everyone should or could live in a rural area and make their own soaps and butter. Rather, the book is useful even for people who never even dream of wanting to grow their own vegetables because we all need an understanding of the context of the foods we eat and the products we buy. This is how I feel the writers draw us toward the future, by saying we should all be more aware of the choices we make.

This bit of criticism of the automatic way most of us live is softened and made more palatable by the style of Clarissa Dickson Wright, familiar to many of us as half of the Two Fat Ladies cooking team from the 1990s. Her personal feelings against supermarkets, American commerce and carrots are (except for the carrots) fully justified in facts and presented in a straightforward and entertaining manner.

This is a perspective that is not always easy to come by in the American media. We tend to focus on commerce, and nutrients and fat and cholesterol and pollution, but not on questioning the foundations of the way we live. It sounds like a lot for a manual on how to live a country life, but this book really is a worth look at by urbanites and suburbanites for its eye-opening perspective if nothing else.

Do you eat food?

Pollan, Michael. (2008). In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. New York: Penguin. ISBN: 978-1-59420-145-5

How much actual food do you eat? That is the somewhat disconcerting premise that underlies this book. Michael Pollan suggests that, because of the great many processed food products with many additives and the policies of seeking to make more food at a lower cost, much of the food in the American diet today is not actually real food.

He suggests that if we made it a point not to eat any foods or food products that our great grandmothers would not recognize as food, we would go a long way to helping world ecology and our own health (p.148). He says we should also avoid ingredients that are unfamiliar, unpronounceable, and products with more than five ingredients. He says we should also avoid high fructose corn syrup. Pollan is quick to point out that these things by themselves are not necessarily bad for us, “but all of them are reliable markers for foods that have been highly processed” (p.150).

Great detail is taken in this book to explain all the nasty details of why corporate food manufacturing, contemporary farming practices and government policies have conspired to make the things we eat not as healthy and nutrient rich , plus more harmful to the environment, than in the past. He explains why the various traditional and aboriginal diets are good models to copy, because these cultures discovered over a long period of time what food combinations work well together in terms of health and longevity. Contemporary and nontraditional foods have not been tested by time, and their effect on our bodies cannot be measured.

The book outlines eating guidelines that are basically a balanced approach, and common sense: eat more plants, especially leaves; eat meals rather than snacks (preferably at a table and not alone), eat slowly, and don’t look for magic quick solutions to dietary issues.

In addition to the practical advice, the book is an eye-opening view at the way our thinking about food has shifted from food itself to the nutrients food provides, and how we have begun trying to replicate these nutrients with synthetic substitutes. Pollan paints a picture where the cult of nutrition has taken over and allowed us to be jangled around by marketing claims of health issues that may or may not be true.

His argument against nutritionism is worth considering and his practical points worth beginning to implement.

Brian’s Red Beans and Rice

Recipe: Red Beans and Rice

Ingredients

1 pound (2 cups) dried red kidney beans or small red beans, rinsed and picked through
1 ham bone, excess fat trimmed but spare meat left untrimmed (or 2 smoked ham hocks)
4 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, choppped
1/2 cup scallions, including most of green part, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (Tobasco)
3 tablespoons parsley
2 cups long grain, white rice
6 cups water, to cook rice
Up to 1 cup low-sodium chicken stick, or additional water, to add to beans during cooking if needed

Instructions

Soak the beans (1 pound to 6 cups cold water) overnight, or at least 6 hours.
Once the beans have soaked, drain the liquid off into a large measuring cup. Add, if needed, enough low-sodium chicken stock or water to equal 4 cups liquid total.
Melt butter in a heavy 4 to 5 quart pot.
Add onion, celery, scallions, garlic, and green pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until all are soft and transcluent but not browned.
Stir in the beans and their liquid. Add the ham bone, black pepper, bay leaves, and parsley.
Bring to a boil ove rhigh heat, then reduce to low and simmer, partially covered, for 2 hours. Throughout the cooking, check the pot occasionally; if beans seem dry, add up to 1 cup water or low-sodium stock , a few tablespoons at a time.
After 2 hours, add the Worchestershire sauce, oregano and Tobasco. Simmer at leat another hour, covered, with the heat at low as possible.
During the last 30 minutes, stir pot frequently to mash a few of the softest beans into the sauce.
When the beans are soft, use tongs or a slotted spoon to remove ham bone to a plate to cool.
When bones are cool enough to handle, cut away the meat from the bone. Dice the meat, returning it to the pot while removing bay leaves. Be sure to dsicard any skin, fat or gristle.
Also during the last 30 minutes of cooking, cook rice in 6 cups boiling water with a small pinch of salt. Drain in a colander when rice is tender, and fluff with a fork.

Cooking time (duration): 3 hours plus 6-12 hours soaking time

Culinary tradition: USA (Southern)

My rating:4.0 stars

Recipe by Brian Tomlin.
Microformatting by hRecipe.

Unpretentious Cookbook that is Healthy and Elegant

Valenti, Tom (with Friedman, Andrew). (2009). You Don’t Have to Be Diabetic to Love This Cookbook: 250 Amazing Dishes for People With Diabetes and Their Families. New York: Workman Publishing. ISBN: 9780761155508

New York chef Tom Valenti gives us food that is appealing, healthful, unpretentious and easy to prepare. The book opens with 16 pages of full-color photographs of recipes from the book, a great inspiration when you don’t know what to buy or cook, and easy to find at the front of the book.

The Introduction explains all the basics of the diet diabetics need to follow, and it isn’t that different from the way the rest of us should be eating. The Introduction also discusses, in plain terms, the science behind diabetes.

The recipe chapters give basics presented elegantly from a gourmet chef but food real people will want to make and eat.All the nutritional information is provided for each recipe, along with the traditional diabetic dietary exchanges. It is a book I would definitely want around if I were diagnosed with diabetes. As it is, I have found many great basic recipes to add to everyday menus.

The fish chapter is probably the best: 35 recipes for the most popular kinds of fish and shellfish we all love. The recipes add just the right flavors to complement the fish, making it taste great without complicated procedures. The salsa and relishes chapter is also a great resource.

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