2024 #35 Peace, Love, and Fibre (Smith)

 

Peace, Love and Fibre: Over 100 Fibre-Rich Recipes for the Whole Family by Mairlyn Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mairlyn Smith, who has recently gained traction for her #FartWalk initiative (yes, you read that right) making the rounds on social media, is a professional Home Economist and former member of the Second City Comedy Troupe. Her winsome personality, that shines through in her videos, is no less present in the text of this cookbook. More than just recipes, Smith offers a practical (and humorous) way to incorporate more fiber in your diet. She warns that an increase in fiber needs to be gradual, coupled with an increase (usually) in water intake.

She weighs in on sugar and salt too, reminding us that table salt is not such a bad thing when you look at iodine needs. Ultimately, she offers a gameplan for the "Big Picture" by offering 10 healthy habits (that range from diet, exercise, to emotional well-being), and suggests picking one a month. After 10 months, you can perhaps find two good habits of your own devising, and you'll have a year's journey toward a healthy lifestyle. And no, I'm not sharing which habit I'm starting with.

There's a pragmatism behind Smith's advice that makes it seem achievable and her joie de vivre leaps off the page, whether it is her prose, or a photo of one of her prized teacups.

Since it is a cookbook, I've done my standard "3 recipes before reviewing" practice, although I have to say it is really 2.5 in this case. I used her "Potato & Asparagus Salad with Basil & Arugula Pesto" as a base recipe to use up some frozen Fennel frond pesto (from Hetty McKinnon), so I can't comment on the pesto in the recipe. The salad itself, however, was terrifically easy to put together (steaming baby potatoes is a great option rather than boiling), and it seems like it would adapt to most green pestos.

Next I made the "Chorizo, Brown Rice, and Lentils" and wow...this was terrific. High quality chorizo from a local butcher and Rancho Gordo's French-Style Green Lentils shone through and the spices were beautiful. While not light, it was surprisingly not as heavy as you might think--which was good since for some reason I felt like August was a good time to make it. I'll be returning to it in the fall!

And then "Traditional Overnight Oats for the Steel-Cut Purists"--I'm new to the concept of cooking overnight oats the next morning (which absolutely makes sense with steel-cut rather than rolled oats), and once again Smith's practicality comes into play -- after a couple 1 minute cycles in the microwave, the concoction sits for 15 minutes while "you run around getting ready for your day."

Each recipe comes with truly helpful and informative nutrition data per serving (newsflash: overnight oats have a lot of calories!), including fat breakdown, cholesterol, sodium, sugars, protein, potassium, and of course... fiber! If you are looking to make healthy changes to your diet and life, Smith offers some really sage (and fun) advice in this book.

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(Crossposted to Lady of Shallots)

2024 #22 Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine (Lohman)

 

Cross-posted at Lady of Shallots 

Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine by Sarah Lohman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The best food histories are just histories. Sarah Lohman captures a whole lot of history in narratives about eight flavors that she feels best define American cuisine: black pepper, vanilla, chili powder, curry powder, soy sauce, garlic, monosodium glutamate (MSG), and sriracha. I could feel my resistance when I read MSG, but it is worth quoting the book here:

Today there’s a double standard when it comes to the perception of MSG. If it’s in Chinese takeout, it’s called MSG, and it’s like poison. But when MSG is utilized by high-end American chefs and brands, it referred to as “Umami" and it’s celebrated as revolutionary. Although [Kikunae] Ikeda named this taste umami in 1907, the designation wasn’t accepted officially by the scientific community until 2000, when taste receptors on the tongue were specifically identified for glutamate. Umami became the fifth official taste, alongside sweet, salty, bitter, and sour.(193)

That was a bit of a mic drop moment for me because I had honestly never really made the connection. Although I've not lived in fear of MSG, I certainly grew up hearing about its various pros and cons (mostly cons). But I'm beginning to appreciate more and more how we fear "chemicals" by virtue of that nomenclature alone, never really considering that nature and chemistry are bedfellows a good portion of the time.

But the book is also a story of people--like the Chili Queens of San Antonio and William Gebhardt who used their chili con carne as the inspiration for his chili powder. Or the mysterious Ranji Smile and his role in popularizing curries in the U.S. Or how anti-Italian sentiments in the late 1930s made garlic vile in spaghetti, but a charm in Provençal/French cuisine. The story of David Tran, inventor of sriracha (inspired by a Thai sauce called Sriraja Panich, invented in 1949 by a woman named Ms. Thanom Chakkapak), was one of the most riveting, as Lohman narrates Tran's journey from Vietnam aboard a Panamanian freighter to Hong Kong, then to Boston (briefly), finally to California, birthplace and home of that blend of chili mash, garlic, sugar, and xantham gum that has become beloved sriracha.

Lohman writes conversationally and weaves together anecdotes and research in the best of ways. This is a great read for anyone who likes to cook or likes to eat (or at least care about what they eat). Lohman illuminates the narratives in our food, and carefully extracts specific flavors that deserve recognition instead of being smothered with the falsehood of the American "melting pot."



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2022 #21: Why We Cook: Women on Food, Identity, and Connection (Gardner)

 

Why We Cook : Women on Food, Identity, and Connection by Lindsay Gardner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lindsay Gardner's whimsical-yet-substantive illustrations make this a charming book that is a pleasant mish-mosh of reflections, substantive essays, and lighter fare (inspirational quotes and magazine-type survey questions). While there are a few recipe, it isn't a cookbook--although I certainly would have appreciated an index (foods, recipes, people). The table of contents suffices, however, split into "Memorable Meals", "Kitchen Portraits", "Essays", "Home Cooks in Conversation", "Recipes" (listed by contributor, rather than dish), "Profiles" and "Contributors in Conversation." I found the "in conversation" bits to be the least engaging on the whole, although the occasional nugget of wisdom or a surprising witticism made them worth reading. Not all the "essays" carry the same weight -- Cara Mangini's list of seasonal eating choices doesn't really compare to Osayi Endolyn's "Like Paradise" that uses five paragraphs to offer an intimate, honest, and humble look at the importance of our quirky roots and spaces where cooking happens. That said, I'm glad both were included, but I would have liked a bit more sense of narrative and build across the book. The Profiles and Kitchen Portraits are where I think the book has the deepest value--illuminating and amplifying important women who have contributed much to the world of food in multiple ways.

Because the book does not have an overarching narrative, however, it is a great gift for the cooks in your life. It is easy to put down, easy to pick back up, and would be of interest for a cook who may not be an avid reader. We need more of this type of book that will amplify lesser-heard voices and appeal to a wide audience through beautiful illustrations and an approachable tone.

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2022 #3: Taste: My Life Through Food (Tucci)

 Cross-posted at the Lady of Shallots

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I didn't know a thing about Stanley Tucci beyond "he's an actor" when my best friend recommended this book to me. Since I had a few free Audible credits, I decided to make this my first audiobook experience as well. I'm not sure it was the best choice on that front, as having recipes "read" to me is not that fulfilling (and if I'm listening to an audiobook I'm not going to be in a position to write them down). On the other hand, hearing Stanley Tucci recount his own memoir was wonderful and entrenched me in a deep nostalgia for my own Italian-American roots. Having spent considerable time in Italy, Tucci's pronunciation is more European than the particular East Coast American Italian er...dialect...that I learned from my father, but he nods to it on more than one occasion. Given his wry humor, hearing him say "fagioli" correctly (as opposed to "fazool") seemed a bit incongruous. The only truly annoying aspect of the audiobook, however, was the dialogue, which Tucci reads like a script, announcing the speaker ("Mom", "Me", "Felicity") before every single utterance. I did not feel this was necessary and Tucci is a good enough actor to have made a distinction between the "characters" (without resorting to farcical vocal characterizations as we also sometimes hear in audiobooks). But enough about My First Audiobook. I will be buying the print version for the recipes.

Again, knowing nothing about Tucci or his life, I wasn't quite prepared for the last segment of the memoir. As the publisher's blurb says nothing of it, I won't provide a spoiler here, but suffice it to say, the "journey through good times and bad" is legit, particularly on the "bad" front. Let's just say that under normal circumstances hearing a VERY LONG litany of foods he can eat, which he provides near the end of the book, would be taxing, but I found tears welling up in my eyes. It really is a beautiful celebration of food, family, and life. I am also grateful (I think) for the fact that he helped me recall a food that had been sitting in the deep abyss of my most buried memories: timpano. My mother and father, who divorced when I was eleven, did make one Christmas, a timpano. I had forgotten all about it, but the memories came rushing back, and while my mother did not likely curse about it -- even behind closed doors--I firmly believe she probably wanted to do so. I remember thinking it wasn't possible to put so much food at once into a single dish and then into my digestive system. Tucci says it is like cilantro--you either love it or hate it. I love cilantro. I cannot say the same for my memories of timpano.

The book is full of little treasures of food trivia (that martinis were often made with scotch in lieu of more expensive vermouth was a revelation), but it really is a rather moving and humorous account of life and food. I enjoyed listening to it while I cooked, and it helped renew my energy for what I know to be an act of love, but sometimes has felt more like a chore. With Tucci's words and voice, the simple and sweet truth of food's power to both center and be at the center of our lives is beautifully resonant.

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