Books
Media coverage of food system effects on climate change is improving slowly, study reports. Changes needed on individual, business, government levels, but actions unlikely without public support that begins with knowledge as 'floor.' Obstacles: Experts' lag on highlighting problems; lack of reportable data; framing food, nutrition as 'lifestyle' story; lag in advocacy interest; under-the-radar industry approach.
By Karla Cook
The Food Times 2008-07-07 (entry)
Some of Britain's top chefs return to land. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, of River Cottage Canteen, grows his own food -- saddleback pigs, old breeds of chicken -- and revives techniques for curing, preserving food. Ideally, diner is grower, or grower's neighbor. Food-blindness, he says, is part of postindustrial alienation. And: Newest installment of River Cottage cookbooks (click 'See also').
By Henry Shukman
The New York Times 2008-11-30 (entry)
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The point of this year's best cookbooks is to get into the kitchen, tie on that apron and cook. Or, with apologies to two campaigns that put "kitchen-table" issues front and center this year: Dinner first! Can we cook it? Yes, we can!
By T. Susan Chang
National Public Radio/Weekend Edition 2008-11-23 (entry)
Personal connection to food must be added to calculus of investing, since air, water, soil are new currencies, says investor. Approach, he says in new book, could change current societal systems that accelerate climate change or mortgage-related debt crisis and also could link back to Main Street from Wall Street.
By Carleen Hawn
Ode magazine 2008-11-01 (entry)
A portion of the UNESCO map, 'Groundwater Resources of the World.'
New map (click 'See also') reveals underground aquifers that hold 100 times the volume of fresh water that flows down rivers and streams around the world at any time. Many water sources stretch beneath borders. Map illuminates declining water tables as agricultural interests pump water out, as well as need for international water-sharing accords.
By Catherine Brahic
New Scientist 2008-10-24 (entry)
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For home cooks, there are two standout books this season: 'A16: Food + Wine,' a road map to food, wine at San Francisco's A16 (named for southern Italian road); and 'Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life,' that celebrates garden of formerly Naked Chef. And: Bad economy increases cookbook sales, reduces dinners out (click 'See also').
By Amy Scattergood
Los Angeles Times 2008-09-17 (entry)
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Kitchen scientists Lily Binns, Patrick Buckley (an MIT grad) and friends (click
'See also') co-opt kitchen for home lab, then release new book, 'The Hungry Scientist Handbook.' Projects include Edible Undies, Wonton Origami, Pomegranate Wine, heat-sensitive coasters. Caution: Resin, like bacon grease, will clog drain.
By Jennifer Hillner
Wired magazine 2008-09-22 (entry)
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New York state restaurant critic, companion beaten in parking lot of restaurant. Critic had announced plans on his blog to attend new restaurant's preview dinner. Whether the attack was premeditated or random is under investigation, police said. No arrests have been made.
By Jimmy Vielkind
Times Union (NY) 2008-10-19 (entry)
Association of Food Journalists
The San Francisco Chronicle was among the food sections cited for excellence.
The Hartford Courant, The Kansas City Star, and the Los Angeles Times named best food sections by trade group (click 'See also'). Rebekah Denn, Seattle Post-Intelligencer; Charles Passy, The Palm Beach Post; and Russ Parsons, the Los Angeles Times, and others, honored for feature writing. Andrew Schneider, Seattle Post-Intelligencer; Brandon Bailey, San Jose Mercury News; and Mark Chediak and Vicki McClure, Orlando Sentinel honored for food news reporting.
By Jim Romenesko
Poynter Online 2008-10-20 (entry)
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Culinary memoirs, an increasingly popular genre of autobiography, are filled with personal truths, narrative, menus, recipes and celebrated names sprinkled along the path of food history. And: Marcella Hazan's memoir, reviewed (click 'See also').
By Kathie Smith
The Blade (Toledo, OH) 2008-10-14 (entry)
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After routinely creating culinary language of molecular gastronomy at El Bulli, Ferrán Adrià agrees to shop in Chinatown, then prepare a simple meal to publicize his book: fish with passionfruit and saffron, scrambled eggs with burrata cheese. But he was available only on Yom Kippur, day of fasting, atonement and contemplation for Jews. What's a writer to do?
By Allen Salkin
The New York Times 2008-10-12 (entry)
Physician, fighting losing battle with extra 35 pounds and stymied on questions his patients asked about diet, goes to cooking school, eats better, loses weight. His new book, he says, blends the art of cooking quick, easy restaurant-quality food with the science of medicine to prevent, and, in some cases, help treat disease.
By Liane Hansen
National Public Radio/Weekend Edition 2008-09-14 (entry)
In year-long exhibition, Philadelphia museum celebrates Maurice Sendak's contribution to children's literature, including his foodscapes and how he uses food to express love, power, and desire. And: The author has written more than 100 books (click 'See also').
The Rosenbach Museum and Library 2008-05-06 (entry)
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Food Network Magazine, featuring the network's celebrity chefs and recipes, to debut in October. The test publication is a joint effort of the television network and Hearst Magazines. 'We saw an opening in the epicurean field for a unique product,' says Hearst publishing director. Magazines formed from partnerships have had uneven success.
By Lucia Moses
Mediaweek 2008-09-08 (entry)
Twelve years ago, would-be writer finds that his tomato seedlings have outgrown his fourth-floor Brooklyn walkup so he returns to Pennsylvania roots to grow Black Krims, Cherokee Purples and Green Zebras, and chefs seek them out. His book tells the tale. And: Tim Stark figures he must be the only Princeton grad who sells tomatoes (click 'See also').
By Melissa Block
National Public Radio/All Things Considered 2008-08-08 (entry)
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In her latest book, journalist Felicity Lawrence takes an engaging, restless look at Cargill, Unilever and others who decide what we eat and how they persuade us to buy in the name of choice, health and, increasingly, the environment. If there is a flaw in the book, it's not getting close enough to genius of capitalism - how it makes us want what it has to sell.
By Fred Pearce
The Guardian (UK) 2008-07-05 (entry)
Hillary Carlip as one of her characters drawn from discarded grocery lists.
Performance artist finds discarded grocery lists from all over the world - and in them, inspiration for stage, book, possibly TV. The lists, she believes, are like little memoirs. Everything - items, handwriting, Prozac stationery - reveals something, and so a goth boy, a therapist, an online date - are born.
By Alex Cohen
National Public Radio/Day to Day 2008-07-29 (entry)
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'The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken' is feast for mind, heart,
palate, says reviewer. Acclaimed author's book is examination of
life's big themes, exhaustive study of ravioli. Conclusions are
unsentimental and unexpected. And: Search for great-grandmother's
recipe takes author to Italy, builds bridges (click 'See also').
By Peg Tyre
Newsweek 2007-11-23 (entry)
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Fuchsia Dunlop's new book, 'Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper,' is robustly wrought memoir full of deft, elegant and accurate descriptions, destined to become a classic of travel writing and a fine guide to China for Olympics attendees. And: Metric recipes aside, book shows that food is potent shaper of cultural identity (click 'See also').
By Paul Levy
The Observer (UK) 2008-02-24 (entry)
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In 'Hungry City,' architect Carolyn Steel works to help people think more about the links between their food and how they live, how food shaped the development of cities and urban living and how cities must change. And: Steel's book is exuberant, provocative and irritating, says reviewer (click 'See also').
By Pamela Buxton
Building Design 2008-07-04 (entry)
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Through food, recipes and personal stories of the players, Pretoria-based chef and anthropologist Anna Trapido explores life of Nelson Mandela in 'gastro-political biography.' Food - making it, smelling it, eating it - helps people remember the broader political context, she says.
By Donna Bryson
The Associated Press; Seattle Post-Intelligencer 2008-07-05 (entry)
Overhauling seafood industry begins with asking questions and expecting more from market fishmongers and restaurant chefs, says author of new fish book. More solutions: Remove subsidies for fuel and for ships; stop high-seas trawling; create green, no-fish reserves. Meanwhile, canned sardines, mackerel, herring and fresh mussels are ethical dinner choices; skip imported farmed seafood, shrimp and domestic farmed salmon.
By Nicole Pasulka
Salon.com 2008-04-29 (entry)
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In his travelogue of a vanished place, John Gimlette, in 'Panther Soup,' writes redeemingly of appetites for war and peace, for food, sex and human comfort. His chapters, named for foods, fanciful and real, retrace the odyssey of American soldiers in 1944 with an American veteran of the campaign.
The New Yorker 2008-04-21 (entry)
Despite food crisis, hedonism dominates food media. We assume readers want window to epicurean life, and we linger over fast rewards, not strategic planning. But food revolutionaries and their followers believe that industrially produced cheap food is not cheap. The time is right for mainstream voices to marry pleasures of the table with reality, to recommend less packaged food and less meat.
By Sara Dickerman
Slate 2008-04-16 (entry)
Paul Johnson's book on sustainable fish choices took honors at a culinary professionals' conference.
Cookbooks on fish, pastry, breads and Japanese cuisine among winners at culinary industry convention. For list of food journalism awards, click 'See also.' The awards were created by the International Association of Culinary Professionals, in part, to expand awareness of culinary literature.
International Association of Culinary Professionals 2008-04-18 (entry)
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To change school lunches, reformers must build coalition that links child nutrition to agriculture, food policy, and social welfare, says Susan Levine, author on new book that explores National School Lunch Program. The endurance of this social welfare program, she says, hints at central role of food policy in shaping American health, welfare and equality.
Newswise 2008-04-08 (entry)
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In 'A Short History of the American Stomach,' Frederick Kaufman irreverently probes our obsession via eating contests, a lab that is genetically engineering Chesapeake Bay oysters, an underground raw milk coven, and rabbis who inspect grocery items for kosher-worthiness. And he wonders: What about those diet gurus who promote the live-forever diet and die young?
By Peter Smith
The Christian Science Monitor 2008-03-11 (entry)
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In 'Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond,' author Brad Lancaster advocates small-scale strategies for capturing abundance of rainwater in the form of a peach, a pomegranate, an apple, wildlife habitat and beauty, and creating oases where water runoff was once a problem. First investment: a shovel.
By Renee Montagne
National Public Radio 2008-01-09 (entry)
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Embracing 99-cent philosophy requires innovation, acceptance of unknown brands and the ability to ignore misshapen or discolored boxes. The payoff? High-style meals and low, low grocery bills, says cookbook author, who adapted many recipes from culinary classics including 'Joy of Cooking' and the 'Moosewood Cookbook.'
By Alex Cohen
National Public Radio 2008-03-21 (entry)
In 'A Late Dinner: Discovering the Food of Spain,' author Paul Richardson writes of living on matanza time, when routines and rhythms of normal life cease during traditional pig slaughter. Making chorizo, flavored with mashed garlic and Pimenton de la Vera, the matanceras were 'up to the elbows in meat, their arms stained an unfeasible shade of radioactive orange.'
By Paul Richardson
The Times (UK) 2007-08-12 (entry)
In "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles," Jennifer 8. Lee examines enduring popularity of Chinese food. Regional and universal, foreign and familiar, it's a way for Americans to dabble in exoticism. Thanksgiving, she writes, is the only slow day at Chinese restaurants, so waiters and cooks use that day to get married. To see Ms. Lee on 'The Colbert Report,' click 'See also.'
By Jennie Yabroff
Newsweek magazine 2008-03-10 (entry)
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Southern author finds inspiration for novel in good-natured culinary rivalry with her husband. In 'Deep Dish,' Kathy Hogan Trocheck (aka Mary Kay Andrews) tells the story of two chefs who heat things up as they compete for a single programming slot on the mega-successful Cooking Channel.
By Jill Vejnoska
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (may require subscription) 2008-02-28 (entry)
Michelin hires Japanese restaurant judges, showers Tokyo with stars, and sells 290,000-plus copies of its restaurant guide, but Japanese food critics, magazines and the governor of Tokyo question the choices and ratings. They say that outsiders don't know them or their cuisines, and that ranking restaurants offends sensibility against bragging and putting others down.
By Martin Fackler
The New York Times 2008-02-24 (entry)
Though most of us can't ignore hunger, writing grants and scooping soup won't solve policy problems, Mark Winne writes in "Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty." It's time, he says, to get our heads above the plate and look at the bigger frame. 'We need to say very clearly: We want to end hunger. That will mean a real paradigm shift.'
By Susan Campbell
The Hartford Courant 2008-01-03 (entry)
Nutrient-rich matter that sustains most of our food and supports life is eroding and disappearing, mostly because of modern agricultural practices, says author of "Dirt." Some farmers advocate no-till planting instead, which leaves crop stubble as erosion barrier and ready-made rows for new planting between the stubble.
By Tom Paulson
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) 2008-01-22 (entry)
The Penn Cove Select, beauty contest winner at Elliott's Oyster House in Seattle.
Salty, mineral, mossy, smoky or metallic, the taste of an oyster is a reflection of the water it filters. Some fans dip them first in the classic vinegar-based mignonette and use cocktail forks, but author Rowan Jacobsen compares eating them to "kissing the sea on the lips," and likes them naked.
By Melissa Block
National Public Radio 2007-11-13 (entry)
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In his new book, "The Warmest Room in the House," Steven Gdula examines the kitchen and its meaning throughout the 20th century. Though its conclusions are warm-hearted, they are wrongheaded; this largely unused room is the coldest in the house.
By Dominique Browning
The New York Times 2007-12-30 (entry)
"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
In his Eater's Manifesto, author Michael Pollan asks us to abandon nutritionism, to think of food as a relationship and not a thing, and to join a movement that encompasses avoidance of disease as well as happiness, pleasure and community - factors ignored in studies or marketing plans or by government agencies.
By Susan Salter Reynolds
Los Angeles Times 2007-12-30 (entry)
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Within an astonishing number of food-related books, the season's best for gift-giving (or keeping) meld entertainment with enlightenment and offer an extra-big helping of history, geography and cookery.
By Nancy Leson
The Seattle Times 2007-12-12 (entry)
From the pleasures of pecans and the passion for ingredients, to the sweets of Italy and easy Indian favorites, a compendium of the year's best books on food and cooking.
By Bonnie S. Benwick
The Washington Post 2007-12-05 (entry)
In the group of guidebooks to New York City, a primer for those who like their food Latin-style, top places for tea and all the lingo, and then another on the 600 spots that celebrate - and serve - foods that fit with the Slow Food movement.
By Fareed Mostoufi
Time Out New York 2007-11-29 (entry)
From cozy to worldly, from a chef's knowledge to environmentally sensitive farm specialties, a collection of the year's noteworthy books on cooking and food.
The New York Times 2007-12-02 (entry)
Lunch with John Thorne is a bowl of pickle soup, rye bread with butter and German beer, after a glass of buttermilk with black pepper and chopped chives. Essays from 25 yeaars of his "Simple Cooking" newsletter have been gathered into books; his newest - and most accessible - is "Mouth Wide Open: A Cook and His Appetite."
By Jonathan Levitt
The Boston Globe 2007-11-28 (entry)
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In compilation of essays, Calvin Trillin writes about meals and foods that have delighted him. In this Q-and-A, we learn that he yearns for food that's available somewhere else, and, when in a new town, he seeks out restaurants that aren't for special occasions.
BY Andrew Z. Galarneau
The Buffalo News 2007-11-06 (entry)
For Aristotle and Plato, life, or at least the palate, was sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Years later, Auguste Escoffier invented veal stock while Kikunae Ikeda analyzed seaweed broth - and both found umami, the ultimately yummy flavor found in meat, in aged Parmesan, in soy sauce and in a sun-ripened tomato.
By Robert Krulwich
National Public Radio 2007-11-05 (entry)
In this fine memoir of a culinary journey, we learn that the food books Judith Jones has edited form an impeccable curriculum of world foods - rigorous, responsible and delightfully authentic, with a gutsy connection to the land and water. But we long to learn more of the struggle, the disappointments and self-doubt that must have come along.
By Dorothy Kalins
The New York Times 2007-11-04 (entry)
In "Scent of Desire," author's clunky prose detracts, but she does explain that though senses of smell and taste forever are entwined, it's really the nose, with its 20 million olfactory receptors, that starts the whole experience. Without a sniff, there would be no "Remembrance of Things Past."
By Bunny Crumpacker
Washington Post 2007-10-28 (entry)
In "The Food Snob's Dictionary," David Kamp and Marion Rosenfeld have compiled a pocket-size paperback both as a defense in dealing with such a person and as a primer for those aspiring to lord their knowledge over others, but the reference section isn't quite complete.
By Jill Santopietro
The Boston Globe 2007-10-24 (entry)
In "Manifestos on the Future of Food & Seed," a book of essays collected from Slow Food's Terre Madre festival, Carlo Petrini, Michael Pollan and others contemplate production farming, biodiversity, taste and nutrition.
By Susan Salter Reynolds
Los Angeles Times 2007-09-30 (entry)
Excess sugar intake shown to encourage skin wrinkles and dullness, study shows; author recommends reading labels (a teaspoon of sugar equals 4 grams) and replacing the sweet stuff with more antioxidant-rich fruits, nuts, and vegetables, such as cranberries, walnuts, and red bell peppers.
By Karyn Repinski
Prevention magazine; MSNBC 2007-10-21 (entry)
In "Apples for Jam," new cookbook by Tessa Kiros, there are ample memories but luckily, there's an equal part of recipes, including those for the tasty Veal Involtini, scaloppine rolled up with a little ham and fresh mozzarella inside, browned and finished in a simple tomato sauce; and Whole Wheat Apple and Apricot Pie.
By Laura Vozzella
The Baltimore Sun 2007-10-24 (entry)
He writes, she writes, they do it together and write "Agnes and the Hitman," a screwball romantic adventure about a food writer, a mob wedding, a hit man and a dognapping attempt - and critics eat it up.
By Sara Pearce
The Enquirer (OH) 2007-09-09 (entry)
Laura Shapiro, in "Julia Child" writes about the chef who taught us how to think about food and understand it; Nancy Verde Barr's book, "Backstage With Julia: My Years With Julia Child," is full of endearing anecdotes.
By Dorothy Kalins
The New York Times 2007-08-26 (entry)
Long the designated caretakers of the poor and disenfranchised, religious communities find their interests growing toward farming and food production for reasons including humane treatment of animals, fair wages to workers and stewardship of the Earth.
By Joan Nathan
The New York Times 2007-08-22 (entry)
Running an organic garden is easy with a large staff, but techniques, detailed in "The Elements of Organic Gardening," by Prince Charles, are simple - good soil, black plastic, and keeping the chickens out.
By Charles Elliott
The New York Times (may require subscription) 0000-00-00 (entry)
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Three books, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life," "Plenty: One Man, One Woman and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally," and "Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future," explore the omnivore's dilemma, but only Bill McKibben, in "Deep Economy," looks at global problem.
By Laird Harrison
The News & Observer (NC) 2007-08-19 (entry)
In "The Last Chinese Chef," author Nicole Mones explores the territory of grief, food, cooking and the beauty of a wooden chopping block, two feet across, seven or eight inches thick, still ringed with bark, everything finished to a dull gleam.
By Nicole Mones
National Public Radio (entry)
Escoffier would be shocked, but Hugo Liu, computer whiz at the MIT Media Lab is shaking up the food world with blend of artificial intelligence and obsession, running recipes through deconstruction computer program and sorting them by emotion.
By Regina Schrambling
Los Angeles Times (entry)
A few new cookbooks for those with diet-related disease have words of wisdom for all of us: Adapt everyday cooking to healthy meals that can be prepared quickly, practice portion control, shop carefully and read food labels.
By Kathie Smith
Toledo Blade 2007-08-14 (entry)
Television cook Anjum Anand, dubbed "Indian Nigella," has a way with mangoes that is making her books about simple and delicious Indian cooking fly off the shelves faster than the young wizard can catch a golden snitch.
By JENNY RIGTERINK
Daily Mail (UK) 2007-08-11 (entry)
"The Zen of Fish," and "The Sushi Economy," offer lessons in how global economy works, dangers of over-fishing and how it thrives on demand, and why trout might not be the best choice for eating raw (think tapeworms).
By Stuart Biggs
bloomberg.com 2007-08-08 (entry)
In "Twinkie, Deconstructed," Steve Ettlinger describes the work of making unnecessarily complicated snacks; the book is the polar opposite (complete with smiley face) of "The Omnivore's Dilemma," Michael Pollan's frowny faced take on simplifying food.
By Chelsea Martinez
Los Angeles Times (entry)
Kamut, a heirloom wheat with a sweet, nutty flavor and high in nutritional qualities, once the darling of the Birkenstock crowd, has captured Italy carbohydrate-wise, and Saskatchewan, as well as Montana and Alberta, are profiting.
By Beppi Crosariol
The Globe and Mail (Canada) (entry)
