Kay's review

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
by Michael Pollan

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/315425.In_Defense_of_Food_An_Eater_s_Manifesto?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1203535494m/315425.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/315425.In_Defense_of_Food_An_Eater_s_Manifesto?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2121.Michael_Pollan">Michael Pollan</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32323870?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars I think I may become a born-again home cook thanks to this book. I certainly brought home a big box from the farmstand this past weekend. This happened to me when I read Marion Cunningham's Lost Recipes cookbook a few years ago, but after trying several of the recipes, I was disappointed, for the most part, by the lack of flavor. (Maybe I tried the wrong recipes; must keep trying.) I still believe Cunningham has stated the cause for home cooking better than most people, at least until Michael Pollan came along. 
 
 The first part of the book is depressing and revealing in its recital of many examples of how nutrition science, funded by food companies and the government, has let us down. I'm old enough to remember the industry-induced switch from butter to margarine (and proud that my grandma and mom flatly refused to substitute something so icky for something that tastes so good--saving their family a lot of transfats), the mass delusion of the fat-free diet craze (Snackwells! Fat-free muffins as big as your head that were, in fact, angel food cake! Oy!), and a host of other bad ideas that were visited upon us with great success. 
 
 As for me, it's going to be hard not to be "on a diet" of some kind (the main ingredient of my latest fad was "flax & borage oil"....full disclosure), but I'm going to get out my Nigel Slaters, my Nigella Lawsons, my Julia Childs and my 900 recipe clippings, and make a new start. 
 
 For what it's worth, I don't agree with reviewers who condemn Pollan is a snob just because he admires the Slow Food movement, or because the Slow Food movement has snobs in it. My grandma (and probably most people's grandma) was a Slow Foodie without the title. Pollan does not strike me as a purist. 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1315760?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Kay's review
rating:

status: Read in September, 2008

I think I may become a born-again home cook thanks to this book. I certainly brought home a big box from the farmstand this past weekend. This happened to me when I read Marion Cunningham's Lost Recipes cookbook a few years ago, but after trying several of the recipes, I was disappointed, for the most part, by the lack of flavor. (Maybe I tried the wrong recipes; must keep trying.) I still believe Cunningham has stated the cause for home cooking better than most people, at least until Michael Pollan came along.

The first part of the book is depressing and revealing in its recital of many examples of how nutrition science, funded by food companies and the government, has let us down. I'm old enough to remember the industry-induced switch from butter to margarine (and proud that my grandma and mom flatly refused to substitute something so icky for something that tastes so good--saving their family a lot of transfats), the mass delusion of the fat-free diet craze (Snackw...more

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message 1: by tara

09/24/2008 05:55AM

I agree!
I've found that cookbooks often let me down with the recipes..I seem to find much more reliable ones in magazines. The Nigella Lawson books are infamous (in my family) for just being wrong (not enough flour in the cookies, too much polenta in the gallette).
I think the real "trick" to being a dedicated home cook is having the commitment to stick out the bad recipes and disappointments, because you believe in the value of it. (It's just like knitting, really!)

That was the real impact of the book, for me, it reminded me of the value and solidified my commitment. And when those recipes work out, well, the only thing that compares is a successful handknit sweater!