Showing posts with label farming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farming. Show all posts

40% Off Discounts: Best Price Food Rules: An Eater's Manual Review

Food Rules: An Eater's Manual

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Food Rules: An Eater's Manual Review

It is amazing how complicated we have allowed our diets, and our understanding of our diets, to become. Even Pollan's most recent book In Defense of Food: An Eaters Manifesto - which seemed to be a pretty simple premise - ended up being a (wonderfully) complicated journey through our food system. So when I read that this book was coming out, I wondered if it was necessary given the wealth of information already covered. The answer is: yes, this book is necessary.
While there are a million other guides to a healthy diet running around out there, few manage to boil down the essentials in such a usable way. Pollan takes the essential and fascinating information that he wrote about in his previous book and simmers it down into a succinct (the book is basically 70 half pages long) "manual" of rules for eating. While this book retains some of the bones of its predecessor, it is by no means a Cliff's Notes version. This manual is essential reading all on its own.
Food Rules is broken down into 3 sections (and this will sound familiar to those that read In Defense of Food): 1- What should I eat? (Eat food) 2 - What kind of food should I eat? (Mostly plants) and 3 - How should I eat? (Not too much). Each section includes 20 or so rules that you can pick and choose from in order to eat a healthy diet. Some of the rules overlap (Avoid food products that contain ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce and Avoid ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry, for instance) and some seem like such common sense that it is almost laughable to include them, but that is why this manual is so important. It distills all of this complex information that we see and hear every day and turns it into something relatable. We know, somewhere in our minds, that certain grains and oils are better than others. Pollan gives us an easy rule to help know which ones are best. We know that most breakfast cereals are little more than desserts and Pollan gives us an easy rule to know which ones are safe. Some rules are humorous (it's not food if it arrived through the window of your car) and some are serious; some rules are easy and others require a bit more dedication. But what this manual has is a wide range of useful tips that can be applied to any life at any time. This is no complicated diet; this is a little pocket book of sensible, realistic rules to help you eat your best.

Food Rules: An Eater's Manual Overview

A pocket compendium of food wisdom-from the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. Michael Pollan, our nation's most trusted resource for food-related issues, offers this indispensible guide for anyone concerned about health and food. Simple, sensible, and easy to use, Food Rules is a set of memorable rules for eating wisely, many drawn from a variety of ethnic or cultural traditions. Whether at the supermarket or an all-you-can-eat-buffet, this handy, pocket-size resource is the perfect guide for anyone who would like to become more mindful of the food we eat.

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34% Off Discounts: Best Price Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition Review

Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition

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Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition Review

This illustrated book has been published chiefly for those who are new to country living, and/or who have an interest in self-sufficiency and in retrieving some of the "lost arts" which are appurtenant to traditional country life. The information is mostly introductory and rudimentary... a good start for most folks new to these areas of interest.
I have lived in the foothills of rural Appalachia for 55 years and have been involved in carrying out nearly all the construction, activities, arts, and crafts found within this text. Some of the text, (along with the accompanying drawings and photos), is quite good. The information is solid and one can get started along the right track; however, the work goes astray (the publishers sort of "threw in the kitchen sink"), into areas which are not particularly relevant to traditional country living. The editors simply went too far afield when they got into topics such as "Winter Sports," "Kayaking and Rafting," "Foraging for Flour and Emergency Rations," and so on. Most of these subjects are tagged on at the end, I felt just to make the book longer, (it's plenty long enough at 456 pages!)
Additionally, on topics such as "Emergency First Aid," "Fly Fishing" (and fish identification), and "Recipes," there are obligatory sections, none of which are all that useful since these are subjects, any one of which could fill volumes. Had these areas of specific interest been omitted, the more appropriate topics could have been somewhat expanded, such as "Barn Building" or "Preserving Meat and Fish".
While there is quite a great deal of quality information in this Skyhorse Publishing Third Edition (2008) for those seeking a new or improved life in the rural countryside, I still feel that the editors strayed off-base to the point that I cannot heartily recommend the work.

Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition Overview


Anyone who wants to learn basic living skills—the kind employed by our forefathers—and adapt them for a better life in the twenty-first century need look no further than this eminently useful, full-color guide. Countless readers have turned to Back to Basics for inspiration and instruction, escaping to an era before power saws and fast food restaurants and rediscovering the pleasures and challenges of a healthier, greener, and more self-sufficient lifestyle.
Now newly updated, the hundreds of projects, step-by-step sequences, photographs, charts, and illustrations in Back to Basics will help you dye your own wool with plant pigments, graft trees, raise chickens, craft a hutch table with hand tools, and make treats such as blueberry peach jam and cheddar cheese. The truly ambitious will find instructions on how to build a log cabin or an adobe brick homestead. More than just practical advice, this is also a book for dreamers—even if you live in a city apartment you will find your imagination sparked, and there's no reason why you can't, for example, make a loom and weave a rag rug. Complete with tips for old-fashioned fun (square dancing calls, homemade toys, and kayaking tips), this may be the most thorough book on voluntary simplicity available. 2,000 color photos and 200 black-and-white illustrations.

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43% Off Discounts: Special Prices for Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.) Review

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.)

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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.) Review

I really wanted to like this book. I liked the Poisonwood Bible, I like to grow vegetables, I shop at the farmer's market, and I have joined a CSA. It is, therefore, with a sense of disappointment that I write this review. The narrative elements, with stories of raising chickens, breeding turkeys, and feeding friends and family, were all enjoyable. If only the author could have gotten over herself and her vegetable adventure.
First, for two individuals with training in science, the author and her husband supply appallingly little documentation for all of the "facts" they dispense about the costs and hazards of modern agriculture. Just one reference would have been helpful - at least I would have known that they tried, rather then just relied on rumor and hearsay. They may be correct, but any scientist will tell you that unsupported data is no data at all. Secondly, the occasional jabs at both American culture and religion frankly had the effect of making me dislike the author, as she chose to insult a large part of who I, and many of those I associate with, am.
To say that the United States has no unified food culture is disingenuous at best. Given that most Americans trace their heritage to somewhere else, it is not surprising that they don't all share a similar culinary heritage. During our family's trips to Italy, we have thoroughly enjoyed the local cuisine, but while the depth may be great, the breadth is much more restricted. That's great in Italy. When I go to New York or Dallas or San Francisco, I have the option to try many, many different cultures' foods, and sometimes a creative blending of more than one. That IS our food culture, not some monolithic "fast food nation."
In summary, this book was a chance to talk about the opportunities that growing-your-own and locally grown food present, but the author let her own petty gripes get in the way and left a bad taste in this reader's mouth.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.) Overview



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