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Books

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

The Omnivore’s Dilemma

Special thanks to Mark for recommending The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which is the most significant thing I’ve read in recent memory. Author Michael Pollan chronicles the creation of four meals: one from McDonald’s, one produced with ingredients from mainstream organic sources, one with ingredients from an alternative farm, and one made with items he either hunted or foraged locally.

The prose is engaging and delightful to read, even as some of the issues about which he writes--sustainability, personal responsibility, health--are troubling. He gives his readers a new, better understanding of the true cost of each meal. Anyone who reads this book can never view food in the same way, ever again.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

February Bon Appetit is Worth a Look!

I have to say that my favorite food magazine is Fine Cooking. I really like the attention to technique. When I read an article in Fine Cooking, I feel as if the writer is talking to me and trying to help me understand how to make a dish better. A lot of the writers are food writers or teachers or else really smart working chefs who truly love food and are not writing just to get their restaurants noticed.

But after reading the February issue of Bon Appetit, I have to ask if a subscription isn’t in my future. I was a subscriber in the 1990s, then let my subscription lapse for a long time. You can tell a lot about a magazine by its advertisers, and Bon Appetit at the time had a lot of convenience food producers among its advertisers. I’m just not interested in many convenience foods--even ones labeled as natural or organic--and I thought that the appearance of these “foods” in the pages of the magazine indicated a downward trend in the quality of the editorial content and the recipes--and my interest in the magazine.

But the February issue is great! For one, there’s an article by Molly Stevens, hands-down my favorite food writer, with some great recipes. I made “Roast Chicken with Spanish Paprika and Herb-Roasted Smashed Potatoes” for dinner Sunday night and it was, in a word, great. Smoky, intense, and the smashed potatoes soaked up the chicken juices for a perfect accompaniment. The article presents four main dishes that yield leftovers that can be made into a second dish later in the week.

There are some other really terrific recipes in the issue--aside from those in Molly’s article, that is--including some fantastic-sounding winter desserts. Buy it now before it disappears from the newsstands! And maybe, just maybe, subscribe....