Essays Books - Page 15

Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America

Harvey Levenstein

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great Book 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I had to read this for my class, but it is a very interesting. If you are into the history of the American diet I would highly recommend this book.

Editorial Review:

A wide-ranging social history of food and eating in America reveals the economic, political, and cultural factors that have influenced the American diet since the Great Depression. By the author of Revolution at the Table.

Real Women Eat Chiles

Jane Butel

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Really great! 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Calling all real women! If you love good food with ingredients that will contribute to your health and give the dishes a bit of a kick, Real Women Eat Chiles by Jane Butel is definitely a cookbook you'll want to own.

Real Women Eat Chiles is not just a cookbook. It features profiles of women who regularly include chiles in their diet. For those people who are curious and enjoy information of any kind, there is an intriguing section about the origins and curative properties of chiles.

Each recipe is accompanied by an approximate cooking time and dietary explanation. The reader is given the per serving calorie count, protein, carbohydrate grams, fiber content, saturated fat amount, cholesterol and sodium content. This information alone makes the book worth the price.

Real Women Eat Chiles is published by Northland Publishing in Flagstaff, Arizona. They publish some of the finest and most beautiful books I read. And Real Women Eat Chiles is no exception. The photography is stunning. It gives the book an art-book feel.

But the recipes themselves are scrumptious. I had no idea that chiles could be used in so many delectable dishes, including desserts. I'm a convert. While I don't like to cook, I love to eat and I am using this cookbook and having so much fun.

Some of my favorite recipes are: Chicken Rice Salad with Halapeno Lime Cream Dressing. The name says it all. The Beef Enchilada Bake takes about twenty minutes and is simply delicious. The Chicken Chilaquiles con Salsa is my new favorite dish. It's scrumptious, fast and looks so appealing. My husband thought I'd spent hours in the kitchen. I'm sticking to the story.

There's a vegetarian section that meat eaters will also gravitate to. And check out the Breakfast Wrap. For all of us who are "on the run," it's perfect.

But it is the dessert section that made my heart go pitter-pat. Yes, desserts with chiles! Oh, there are so many! The Banana Oatmeal Cookies, Berry Blast, and the Spicy Broiled Pineapple are to die for! But, if you want a treat, try the Spicy Hot Chocolate Mousse because real women eat chiles, but they also eat chocolate.

Armchair Interviews says: Real Women Eat Chiles is a must-have, must-use cookbook.

Editorial Review:

Real women who love to eat chiles to say healthy and spice up their lives are celebrated in this distinctive cookbook. Jane Butel, the Queen of Chiles and founder of a uniquely American cuisine, has created more than 120 delicious, low-calorie recipes s

Sex and Bacon: Why I Love Things That Are Very, Very Bad for Me

Sarah Katherine Lewis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

It’s said that how we eat is reflective of our appetite in bed. Food and sex: two universal experiences that can easily become addictive and all consuming. You don’t need to look far—The Food Network, billboards, TV spots to name just a few—to witness firsthand the explosive combination of food and sex.

In Sex and Bacon: Why I Love Things That Are Very, Very Bad for Me, Sarah Katherine Lewis is a seductress whose observations about the interplay between food and sex are unusually delightful, sometimes raunchy, and always absorbing. Sex and Bacon is a unique type of lovefest, and Lewis is not your run-of-the-mill food writer.

A lusty eater who’s spent the better part of her adult life as a sex worker, Lewis is as reckless as she is adventurous. She writes of eating whale and bone marrow as challenges she was incapable of resisting. With chapters that hone in on the categorically simple—fat, sugar, meat—Lewis infuses even the most quotidian meals and food memories with sensual observations and decadence worthy of savoring. Sex and Bacon is exuberant—a celebration that honors the rawness and base needs that are central to our experiences of both food and sex.

Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light

Mort Rosenblum

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The delectable journey into the world of chocolate--by the award-winning author of Olives Science, over recent years, has confirmed what chocolate lovers have always known: the stuff is actually good for you. It’s the Valentine’s Day drug of choice, has more antioxidants than red wine, and triggers the same brain responses as falling in love. Nothing, in the end, can stand up to chocolate as a basic fundament to human life.
In this scintillating narrative, acclaimed foodie Mort Rosenblum delves into the complex world of chocolate. From the mole poblano (chile-laced chicken with chocolate) of ancient Mexico to the contemporary French chocolatiers who produce the palets d’or (bite-sized, gold-flecked bricks of dark chocolate) to the vast empires of Hershey, Godiva, and Valrhona, Rosenblum follows the chocolate trail the world over. He visits cacao plantations; meets with growers, buyers, makers, and tasters; and investigates the dark side of the chocolate trade as well as the enduring appeal of its product. Engaging, entertaining, and revealing, Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light is an intriguing foray into this “food of the gods.”

The Amateur Gourmet

Adam D. Roberts

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Editorial Review:

Self-taught chef and creator of the Amateur Gourmet website, Adam Roberts has written the ultimate “Kitchen 101” for anyone who’s ever wanted to enjoy the rewards of good eating without risking burning down the house! In this deliciously illuminating and hilarious new kitchen companion, Roberts has assembled a five-star lineup of some of the food world’s most eminent authorities. The result is a culinary education like no other.

Learn the “Ten Commandments of Dining Out” courtesy of Ruth Reichl, editor in chief of Gourmet magazine. Discover why the New York Times’s Amanda Hesser urges you never to bring a grocery list to the market. Get knife lessons from a top sous-chef at Manhattan’s famous Union Square Cafe, and much more. Packed with recipes, menu plans, shopping tips, and anecdotes, The Amateur Gourmet provides you with all the ingredients to savor the foodie lifestyle. All you need to add is a healthy appetite and a taste for adventure.

Dishing with the Kitchen Virgin

Susan Reinhardt

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"She's like a modern-day, southern-fried Erma Bombeck or Dave Barry." --Booklist

Is the brand sticker still affixed to your sauté pan? Is your wok used solely as a receptacle for potato chips? Does your blender only see the light of day when Baccardi or Tequila is involved?

If so, then welcome to the Kitchen Virgin Club. But don't despair--you're in the illustrious company of Susan Reinhardt: syndicated columnist, spokeswoman for skewed southern bellehood...and one truly lousy cook. In this cleaver-sharp new collection of food stories, culinary missteps, and recipes from yummy to yucky, Reinhardt comes clean--way clean--as the unapologetic product of a long line of talented, fascinating, funny women who have regular brushes with homicide by pot roast. From "The Toaster Oven is a Bee-otch" to "When Road Kill Makes it to Mikasa," as well as the titular tale of the socialite who shaved her fuzzy greens, these stranger-than-fiction accounts will have you laughing until milk spews out of your nose. And for those inspired to graduate from Kitchen Virgin to Kitchen 'Tute, there's "Bone Apple Cheat!"-- Reinhardt's own shortcut-to-real-food recipes. So next time you're tempted to make Taco Bell your last (okay, first) resort, crack open this book, have a laugh...and get cookin'.

"So engaging...so honest...will make you laugh out loud." --The Asheville Citizen-Times

"Like hanging out with your bluntest, most mischievous friend, the one who never fails to crack you up." --Chicago Sun-Times

"Funny and touching...Reinhardt is not afraid to put it all out there." --The Pilot (N.C.)

"Susan Reinhardt takes the naked, honest truth and sets it on fire in a blaze of laughter... will have you holding your sides the whole time." --Laurie Notaro, Autobiography of a Fat Girl

"She can break your heart in one sentence and leave you laughing till you're breathless in the next." --Julie Cannon, True Love & Homegrown Tomatoes

Hot Sun, Cool Shadow: Savoring the Food, History, and Mystery of the Languedoc

Angela Murrills

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Delicious Reading 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Essential reading for anyone planning a trip to the Languedoc. Part guidebook, part history, part culinary journey, part cookbook, it's also the story of a couple who actually did what many of us dream of doing: finding a second home somewhere warmer, sunnier and more relaxed, with, in this case, better food.
Angie Murrills is a vivid writer with a keen eye, a warm heart and an insatiable appetite for food and food history. Each chapter ties a food - cassoulet, confit, anchovies, cheese - with a Languedoc town or region, illustrated with small, charming ink drawings by Peter Matthews.
I dare you to read this and not start planning a lazy trip boat trip down the Midi Canal, or a trip to the Camargue, to see a bloodless bull fight in Stes. Maries de la Mer.

Editorial Review:

Hot Sun, Cool Shadow is the story of one couple's discovery of the Languedoc--a region of France near the Mediterranean coast and the Pyrennes--and their quest for a new home where they could have a simpler life and where they could "live to eat."

Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony

Madeleine Pelner Cosman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Medieval - It's Not 1 out of 5 stars.
15 of 15 people found this review helpful.

Although this book claims to be a historical reference about 1500c cookery it is not an accurate reference. The recipies are not historically accurate, and the book does not provide the original recipes. [bad], "exploitive", "fantasy" are words that my wife (a food historian) uses to describe this book.

Recommend anything by terrance scully.

Editorial Review:

Foods are cultural insifnia. Few indicators define people so well as its foodlore. Food taboos and food celebrations are important to a culture's notions od sacrement and sin, praise and punishment, deprivation and indulgence, vigilant discipline and sustained extravagance. Medieval England's courtly appetites for splendour are evident in cookery books, courtesy manuals, household and court documents, legal records, medieval texts, and in surprising profusion, in works of art ranging from marginalia of prayer books through literary romances. This culinary excursion will introduce the English banquet hall, its furnishings, its table adornments, and its noble seritors. The 'art' of the kitchen is explored and the all important ingrdients are scrutinised. The book concludes with over 100 recipes from medieval manuscripts.

Is There a Nutmeg in the House?

Elizabeth David

List Price: $29.95 By: Viking Adult Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $6.77

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Along with M.F.K. Fisher and Julia Child, Elizabeth David changed the way we think about and prepare food. Her nine books, written with impeccable wit and considerable brilliance, helped educate the taste (and taste buds) of the postwar generation. Insisting on authentic recipes and fresh ingredients, she taught that food need not be complicated to be delicious.

Elizabeth David, who died in 1992, was a very private person who seldom gave interviews. However, a 1984 collection of her journalism entitled An Omelet and a Glass of Wine greatly revealed David to her readers and is now considered the best food book written in the twentieth century. Now, nearly twenty years later, Viking will publish the sequel to that landmark book. Is There a Nutmeg in the House? contains material that has never appeared in previous collections. The emphasis throughout is on the practical aspects of cooking and eating and the book includes 150 recipes. These may come from around the world—Mediterranean tomato consommé or classic English raspberry cream—but they all have Elizabeth David's unmistakable touch. Delightful essays on her various likes and dislikes—from the wonders of nutmeg to the "utterly useless" garlic press—complete a unique picture of what for so long made David the most influential writer on food in the English language.

Both immensely readable and wonderfully instructive, Is There a Nutmeg in the House? is a must-have for David fans and food lovers everywhere.

Endless Feasts: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet (Modern Library Food)

Gourmet Magazine Editors

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A marvelous feast of writing 5 out of 5 stars.
23 of 23 people found this review helpful.

"Endless Feasts: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet" is a fine sampler of essays that appeared in Gourmet Magazine. This magazine, which deals with cuisine and travel, offers some of the best prose outside of literary magazines like the New Yorker or Atlantic Monthly.

I already am a fan of M.F.K. Fisher (who isn't?), Paul Theroux and Laurie Colwin. But there are many other authors here whose work I wasn't as familiar with. I was very very glad to read Mary Cantwell and William Hamilton in particular.

If you love travel and food, this book is sure to appeal to you. But these authors are SO good that really, this book is about how we react to the most basic of activities, eating and drinking and how they are inextricably mixed with our emotions and memories.

The list of authors reads like a literary prize list, not only those authors I previously mentioned, but Anita Loos and E. Annie Proulx as well. The essays may deal with eating and drinking in some way, but each of the authors has a very unique way of dealing with the subject. In particular, I loved the story by William Hamilton. His childhood memory where he was promised a mysteriously alluring treat "jellied consomme" is one that recreates childhood emotions with uncanny accuracy and a lot of wry humor.

I happen to be a fan of the publisher, Modern Library. I love their compact format, and the typeface clear and readable. If you love good writing, this book is a real treat.

Editorial Review:

Contributors to endless feasts include:

James Beard/Cooking with James Beard: Pasta
Ray Bradbury/Dandelion Wine
Robert P. Coffin/Night of Lobster
Laurie Colwin/A Harried Cook’s Guide to Some Fast Food
Pat Conroy/The Romance of Umbria
Elizabeth David/Edouard de Pomiane
M.F.K. Fisher/Three Swiss Inns
Ruth Harkness/In a Tibetan Lamasery
Madhur Jaffrey/An Indian Reminiscence
Anita Loos/Cocktail Parties of the Twenties
George Plimpton/I, Bon Vivant, Who, Me?
E. Annie Proulx/The Garlic War
Claudia Roden/The Arabian Picnic
Jane and Michael Stern/Two for the Road: Havana, North Dakota
Paul Theroux/All Aboard! Cross the Rockies in Style