5 comments about Côte D'Or: A Celebration of the Great Wines of Burgundy.

1. This book is an excellent reference work for the serious amateur of Burgundy. The focus is very much on the top estates and domains of the Côte d'Or (Côte de Nuits & Côte de Beaune, as opposed to the Maconnais, Beaujolais, or Chablis -- all technically part of Burgundy in the French appellation system); while well organized and refreshingly jargon-free, debutants looking to ease themselves in to the most complicated wine region in the world might want to look elsewhere.

   After living in Burgundy for six months, visiting almost 100 domains, and looking at just about every reviewer's notes, I trust Coates above anyone when it comes to Burgundy. He is a believer in terroir, and cares deeply about balance and finesse; those whose tastes track Parker's, who care most about extract, color, and power are probably looking at the wrong book. (They're looking in the wrong region, too -- and at the wrong varietal for that matter.)

   This book is an absolutely essential part of every oenophile's library. Why only 4 stars? The reviews are somewhat out of date -- a problem for anyone with a relatively new wine drinking/collecting habit (latest vintage reviewed is 1996, I believe, and that one only briefly). Also, the tasting notes are not as comprehensive as one might wish -- Coates sometimes limits himself to notes from a single vertical tasting in a given vigneron's cellar.




2. ...this is it. Along with Remington Norman's Great Domaines of Burgundy, this is a must have reference book if you're serious about Burgundy. Coates understands Burgundy and covers it in considerable depth. No, you won't find tasting notes on every wine you look for, but you'll find quite a few. I find myself going back to this book regularly both for specific references and to refresh my knowledge.



3. Burgundy is one of the most difficult-to-grasp wine regions in the world. Many studies have been done on the soil, climate, wind direction, sun exposure, rainfall, etc., yet nobody really knows, yet, why one acre of Burgundy produces a certain kind of wine and the acre right next to it something different. Clive Coates book comes as close as humanly possible to explain it. He begins his sections with a "History" of the region, then continues with "Location", "Vineyard", and then defines and describes the wines made from the Grand Crus and the Premier Crus, recommending sources and also providing the size of each vineyard. Also, he covers vintages.
   
   It's amazing how Coates takes such a difficult region and maps it out so succinctly for us. Far better effort than Parker's "Burgundy".



4. Overall, the text is easy to read and it is educational. However, the individual wines reviewed are not even close to being up to date. Because this was written years ago, it doesn't cover many of the new up and coming wines and vintners.



5. There is so much information in this book, from the different crus themselves to the producers, as well as history. The only downside is that the vintage information is dated

2 comments about From Demon to Darling: A Legal History of Wine in America.

1. Although Thomas Jefferson and others envisioned a United States of America with a thriving wine culture, the temperance and prohibitionist movements pushed the country in a very different direction. Mendelson traces the early development of viticulture in America, to the rising tide of Prohibitionism, culminating in the failed experiment of the Eighteenth Amendment, to repeal and the jumbled mess of state and federal regulation that followed, to the roaring growth of the wine industry since the 1970s. There is interesting discussion of the battle to define American Viticultural Areas and of recent case law that addresses interstate sale of wine. He concludes that there is still a long way to go before an "authentic wine culture" can take root in America -- with a rational system for the regulation of wine production and sales to go along with it.
   
   It's a great read and includes an excellent bibliography for those who want to dig deeper.



2. This book is very interesting and easy to read. It is very istructive and the author demostrated he has full knowledge of the matter that he writing about.
   You can learn important information in the history of wine in America.

4 comments about Chez Panisse Cooking.

1. I was excited to receive this cookbook as a gift from my wife last year. Unfortunately it's a disappointing cookbook that doesn't get much use in my kitchen. There is one basic flaw that makes this book difficult to use, the layout of the recipes.

   When you're cooking a large and complex meal, you need enough of an explanation of the cooking procedures to understand what the author wants you to do. Unfortunately, there is simply far too much text in these recipes. Explanations about the cooking procedures is too detailed, it is in need of much editing. While complex French cooking does require a lot of attention to detail, it should be done without the commentary throughout the recipes.

   Having said that, there are still a ton of great recipes here. I love their risotto dishes; I made the wild mushroom risotto the other night and it was heavenly. I've also made their homemade pastas (tortellini or ravioli, can't remember which) with pumpkin filling and a browned butter and sage sauce (classic); again excellent. They also have a good treatment of seafood (decent squid recipes), lobster and other white fishes.

   You'll find a good repertoire of French food in this book, with a slight California twist (not enough to be classified as fusion). The recipes are generally fairly complex, so I would only recommend it for intermediate or advanced cooks. If you don't mind getting lost in the text of the recipes then you might want to consider this volume. I would strongly recommend that you peruse it first at a local bookstore to see if it's to your liking before making a purchase.




2. This is the book that taught me how to cook. To appreciate this book, read the pages on roast chicken and risotto. There are many other cookery books out there that will tell you the components of the dish, but cannot describe the essence. I did not know food before I read this book. I would recommend reading this and Chez Panisse Vegetables. If you can only have 2 cookbooks, these are the two!



3. `Chez Panisse Cooking' by Paul Bertolli, with Alice Waters, is a reminder of the kinds of things we miss in the downpour of fast cooking and low carb cooking books with which we have been showered in the last few years. Like most celebrity cookbooks, this can be seen as a very chatty book, with lots of headnotes and essays on various subjects such as wild mushrooms and risotto techniques. So, if all you want is a simple statement of recipes, you may be much happier with a Rachael Ray book or `1000 Italian Recipes' by Michele Scicolone, although even Scicolone's very heavily recipe oriented book has its share of commentary and notes on regional origins.
   
   Paul Bertolli is Alice Waters' second major chef at Chez Panisse, after Jeremiah Tower went off to create Stars and claim ownership of the invention of `California Cuisine'. While Tower (and Waters) are both heavily influenced by leading English writer on French cuisine, Richard Olney, Bertolli's center is clearly in Italy, with several homages to Provence and other French influences. One important foodie note is that Bertolli cites the Pellegrino Artusi's 100 year old `L'Arte di mangiar bene' (`Art of Eating Well'). I think this is notable because I have taken a quick look at a recent translation of this work and was not very impressed with the material. It may have been a very good book 100 years ago, but I did not immediately see how it stood up to the great wealth of Italian cuisine books we have today in English. But what do I know. I obviously must go back and reconsider my opinion.
   
   What Bertolli attends to better than practically every other cookbook author I can think of (except for the very high-end restaurant chefs such as Thomas Keller and Rick Tramonto) is taste and the nature of his ingredients. In giving instructions for a broccoli dish, I can think of very few other chefs who would take the care to suggest that you buy older broccoli for the long braise, as this will stand up better to the heat over a longer time. This is not to say that Bertolli goes as far into essays on major ingredients in the style of his later, excellent `Cooking By Hand' book. This later book goes so far as to leave the world of cookbooks and enter the world of culinary essays you typically find from John Thorne, with the difference that Bertolli is a professional cook and amateur writer, while Thorne is a professional writer and amateur cook. I did, however, find the essay on yeast bread baking to be as good as anything I have seen elsewhere for the length.
   
   Note that the reference to sources of materials is not in an appendix at the end of the book, but placed at the end of the relevant essay on technique. So, names and addresses of sources for bread flour and home flourmills can be found at the end of the essay on bread baking.
   
   This probably explains why Bertolli succeeds in committing two of the prime fallacies exposed in a recent `Good Eats' episode by Alton Brown. Bertolli rolls out the old chestnuts about searing being a means of sealing in moisture into meat and not washing mushrooms with any water to prevent adding any more to the liberal amount of moisture in mushrooms already. I give Alton Brown great credit for shining light on these myths, but I am quite at ease with forgiving Bertolli his repeating this conventional wisdom, especially since Harold McGee's article on the searing / moisture myth came out about the same time this book was published.
   
   Oddly enough, the focus on works by McGee, Brown, and Shirley Corriher may be partly due to the rarity of works with Bertolli's form of culinary phenomenology. What I mean here is that Bertolli shows that there is a lot to know about good and interesting cooking which has nothing to do with science, but just simple observation and experience.
   
   Chez Panisse cookbooks have been published by Random House and by Harper Collins, and they are uniformly attractive to the eye, as they are entertaining and informative to the mind. While both of these publishing houses have great reputations for putting out good books, I have to congratulate Ms. Waters for her stylish work in print. I miss the great woodcuts which appear only on the cover of this volume and not throughout, but Bertolli's text needs all the space it can get. Another item which may seem small to some, but which always boost's my opinion of a book is the fact that the Table of Contents lists every single recipe by name and by page number. I am also very happy that this book divides dishes by more by principle ingredient than by course.
   
   One of my routine checks on the quality of a cookbook is an examination of the recipes for stocks. And, I am quite pleased that Bertolli has given me another important rule of thumb on stock making, something I have never read elsewhere (or, just as important, if I did read it, it did not stick in my memory). The point is that all things being equal, meat stocks are better if you go light on the vegetables. Vegetable flavors can always be added in when the dish is made, but the whole story about a chicken stock should be the chicken.
   
   If I were not an incurable cookbook collector, this book would be high on my list of sources for my daily cooking, right behind Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, and Jamie Oliver (yes, that Jamie Oliver).
   
   A truly excellent book and cookbook!



4. This is a great cookbook. There's a reason Chez Panisse is famous and this cookbook proves it.

5 comments about At Home in the Vineyard: Cultivating a Winery, an Industry, and a Life.

1. This book, down to the "pioneer" theme,and dustjacket synopsis, seems to owe a significant debt to Louisa Thomas Hargrave's The Vineyard, which covered similar territory at a similar time on Long Island's North Fork.



2. I found Hargrave's autobiography pompous and dull, but Susan Sokol Blosser's account of building a life in the Dundee Hills of Oregon speaks to me on many levels--as a woman working in the wine industry, a woman working with her husband, a woman running her own business, and a mother. Susan turns her trials into triumphs and exercises a sense of humor along the way. From the Great Goose Experiment to the day her tearful son rides his bike all the way to school by himself, this is a story that will transport you into "The Life" of owning a vineyard and winery, with a judicial salting of reality and romance.



3. Pour a glass of Evolution Wine and kick back with this entertaining memoir. If the technical aspects of starting and maintaining a business is not a favorite reading topic there is still plenty of life drama going on that is highly readable and easy to relate to. Having lived in Oregon for 22 years and seen (and tasted) the state's wine industry mature I was fascinated with finding out the inside story. If you live in Oregon you might enjoy a few "I was there" moments when the author describes the wonderful concert series in her vineyard. Ah yes...Johnny Mathis under the full moon. Wonderful memory, wonderful book.



4. Well, except when the weather deals them an unwelcome clout....
   
   I live smack dab in the middle of wine country (California) myself, but am no vintner. And it happens I took a scouting trip to the McMinnville vicinity in Oregon last year, thinking it a prospective new home. So, when I spied the lush, green-vined cover of AT HOME IN THE VINEYARD, I was hooked and had to investigate one woman's (and her family's) experiences establishing and nurturing grapes from plant to bottle.
   
   Susan Sokol Blosser writes a chatty, wide-ranging history beginning in late 1970, when she gave birth to her first son and her then-husband Bill "closed the deal on our first piece of vineyard land." She traces the stages of the vineyard and the winery that was built later with an easy, honest style that disarms and charms. It is soon apparent that this woman is an engine of energy. During the years her three children are small, she mainly toils in the vineyard, tilling, planting, picking, spraying, fertilizing, etc. But she also finds time to join the school board and various associations. She also teaches briefly at a McMinnville college. Later, she is twice a candidate for state public office, once losing by a questionable "whisker." As the family wine business expands, so does the wine industry in Oregon. Susan and Bill do their part to uphold and promote the burgeoning reputation Oregon wine slowly acquires -- particularly its Pinot Noir which grows full-bodied in the cooler Northwest climate. In 1990, Susan takes over from Bill as president of their winery and slowly refinances and then gains full ownership of the enterprise. She changes winemakers to improve quality. She travels widely and often to see distributors and explore new markets. She modernizes the labels on their bottles and gains national attention with a blended white wine. She deals with lawsuits and legislative hurdles. She also decides to shift to organic operations and embraces sustainable agriculture. Then, in the early years of the new millennium, she decides she will focus on gradually handing over the reins of power to the son and daughter who have decided to follow their parents into the family business.
   
   While the author relates the chronology of the vineyard and winery she owns and manages, she doesn't ignore the personal side. AT HOME IN THE VINEYARD includes some cute anecdotes about farm pets, and it mentions family concerns such as her father's Alzheimer's without dwelling on them. At one point, I wondered how in the world anyone could juggle so many balls in the air -- family, business, many friendships, and political activism. Something seemed bound to tumble. Well, something did, and the author unflinchingly, and without wallowing, tackles the changes in her life after the children grew up and left the nest.
   
   For anyone who has ever considered starting up a winery, AT HOME IN THE VINEYARD illustrates the kind of commitment and fortitude such an undertaking requires. But even if you aren't planning on being the entrepreneur that all the members of the Sokol Blosser family are; if you seek stories about rural life, want to know more about the Willamette Valley, or are interested in one outspoken and undaunted woman's adventures as a corporate executive, then snag a copy of AT HOME IN THE VINEYARD and -- maybe with a glass of wine in hand -- imbibe it cover to cover.



5. At Home in the Vineyard: Cultivating a Winery, an Industry, and a Life by Susan Sokol Blosser is one book that seems to offer an exception to the adage, "you can't judge a book by its cover".
   
   Just as the subtitle suggests, At Home in the Vineyard effectively describes the slow, steady transformation of an estate winery, a wine industry, and a human being over a period of more than 30 years. It is an intimate study of all three components delivered in a narrative style that keeps you engaged from start to finish.
   
   This book is first and foremost a memoir describing the author's experiences planting a vineyard, starting a winery, and managing both through several decades of trials and tribulations. In addition, Susan provides the reader a first-hand historical account of the Oregon wine industry from its beginnings in the early 1970's. Along the way, she offers candid insights into her personal and professional growth as a wife, mother, business owner, daughter, sister, community leader, friend, and neighbor.
   
   Until reading this book, I never realized the integral role Susan Sokol Blosser played in developing Oregon's wine industry. Nor did I know about the lead role Sokol Blosser Winery took toward adopting sustainable practices, becoming one of the first vineyards to be certified by LIVE and the first winery to be certified by LEED. This is impressive considering the impact these efforts have had on the rest of the state's wine industry.
   
   Having read a variety of wine memoirs, Susan's story stands out as one of the more insightful and intriguing books of its genre. At Home in the Vineyard should appeal to the wine enthusiast, aspiring winemaker, and Oregon pinot fan alike. Anyone reading this book will come away more connected to the people and places behind Oregon wine in general, and Sokol Blosser Winery in particular.
   
   If you are seeking to understand Oregon wine in a deeper, more connected way, then you owe it to yourself to read At Home in the Vineyard.

5 comments about The Wines of the Northern Rhône.

1. After reading this book I changed my itinerary for my recent tour of Provence/Cotes du Rhone to include three days in the Northern Rhone. I am so glad I did. This book was so helpful during my visit. I carried it with me. After reading this book, the vignerons become your new best friends. It also gives a real sense of place. The detailed reviews of vintages is fabulous. I'm now collecting the wines of the Northern Rhone.



2. John Livingstone is an old and good friend of mine, and after reading (parts) of his book I am really anxious to try Condrieu and Hermitage wines. So far I always stick to Bourgogne, Bordeaux and Loire wines. I cannot imagine how he con review all those different wines in one life. This book is like a bible.



3. Wonderfully informative. This book has become my most trusted reference for the northern Rhone. It is well written and informative. Mades me feel I am there. While about wine the information about people and places adds an import aspect. I bought two more and gave them to friends I knew would enjoy all the details and great information.



4. I just finished reading Kermit Lynch's Adventures on the Wine Route and was so enthralled by the chapter on the Rhone Valley that I searched for more books on the subject. I purchased Wines of the Northern Rhone, which has a foreward actually written by Kermit Lynch, but that's where the romance ended for me. Learmonth's writing style is nowhere nearly as engaging as Lynch's. If Lynch's writing is a sandwich with fresh ingredients slathered in homemade aioli, Learmonth is cafeteria boloney; dry and flavorless. The pages are filled with technical data including charts of rainfall in centimeters and dull reviews of the wines he's tasted that most of us can't afford.



5. This book stands alongside Cote D'or by Clive Coates as one of the greatest wine books of all time. Its all there, vintage, producer and appelation profiles, in depth!

5 comments about L.A.'s Original Farmers Market Cookbook: Meet Me at 3rd and Fairfax.

1. A delicious adventure into the history of one of Los Angeles' most cherished places and packed with recipes we can't wait to try, We've been going to the Farmer's Market for over ten years, and each time we find something new to try. Our favorite counter is Loteria Grill, and we feel like lottery winners every time we eat there.



2. Perusing the pages of //L.A.'s Original Farmers Market Cookbook// will provide a trip down memory lane for some people and a lesson in history for others. The book's recent release coincides with the Farmers Market's 75th Anniversary and speaks to the vast history and diversity that defines this legendary Los Angeles landmark. //L.A.'s Original Farmers Market Cookbook// includes stories and recipes from the restaurants, grocers, and individual stalls housed in the Market (many of which have been there since its inception in the 1930s) and offers the reader an authentic sampling of this unique and renowned attraction.
   
   The wonderful black and white photographs and entertaining anecdotes truly capture the essence of the era when the Market first opened. At the same time, the modern color photos and multitude of ethnic recipes are representative of the more diverse Los Angeles of today.
   
   The book is conveniently divided into four chapters: "Breakfast," "Sandwiches and Light Bites," "Main Meals," and "Sweet Things," with each chapter highlighting different vendors and providing easy to follow recipes. The multitude of food stalls, restaurants, and grocers featured in this book guarantees that there is no shortage of variety, with recipes ranging from mango smoothies to potato piroshki, chicken pot pie to Korean short ribs, and even brownies and cookies for dogs. This book surely offers something for everyone--even the family pet!
   
   Reviewed by
   Andrea Rappaport



3. What a great cookbook. It takes me back to the late '40's and early '50's when my parents would take me there. It's still one of my favorite places to visit when I'm out there and I've shared it with my daughter who also loves it. My daughter has shared it with her young sons and so it's a family tradition.



4. What a delightful surprise.... I was expecting some wonderful recipes but this book was so much more. Memories...of how the market started and how it has evolved...stories of the people their special recipes...beautiful photos of "then" and "now". Congratulations JoAnn, on a beautiful contribution to the people of LA's Farmers Market.



5. While I may not make all of these recipes (have to watch the waistline) it was a wonderful book with a lot of information about Farmer's Market that I wasn't aware of. I have been going there since the age 11. It's such a joy to visit and find that not much has changed through the years. A very good read

5 comments about Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World: A Concise History with 174 Recipes (California Studies in Food and Culture).

1. Useful as a sort of summary of the subject. The Foreword, by Charles Perry, a well known scholar, recapitulates the subject but says nothing about the book in hand. The same contents can be found in so many other books that cover this same subject. For general information may be adequate, not so for study. It is very rare to find a source being given; the lack of bibliography only makes things worse.



2. While apparently there are mis-translations with some of the recipies, I found the book both historically fascinating, and gastronomically titilating. In the introduction, Charles Perry points out that the earliest "cookbooks" were in Arabic - most cooking was apprenticed from mother to daughter (or from chef to chef) working side-by-side, and therefore there is a real dearth of pre-industrial written recipes, Arabic cooking being an exception. What I found most interesting (from a historical perspective) was the evolution of Arabic cooking.
   
   As the Islamic empire spread out from Arabia in the 7th and 8th century, the conquoring Muslims were exposed to new cultures and, of course, new cusines. These more sophisticated tastes, in turn, became a part of Middle Eastern cusine as bedouin tastes were synthesized with flavours from throughout the Mediterranean world. These recipes reflect this, as well as the rich variety in Islamic culture.
   
   The first third of the book details this culinary history. As a historian, I found it fascinating. The remaining two-thirds of the book are recipies: cold appetizers, bread and broth, sweet-and-sour dishes, roasts and sausages, stews, dairy dishes, soups (a pesonal favourite to date), pasta, sauces and pasteries. Many of the dishes are not difficult to make, and the ingredients are fairly common - the exoticness is in the combination of flavours, the methods of cooking and the spices used.
   
   As a social history, this was a fascinating read - I had not thought that deeply about food and its close associoation with history quite in this way before. To be able to prepare the foods was an added bonus. Recommended.



3. Fascinating history of Islamic cookery from Persia to Spain, recipes are translated exactly but clearly. A glossary of untranslated terms is provided but could have been improved by a simple table of equivalent measures. The reader is left mostly to his own devices when finding modern substitutes for medieval seasonings though there is some discussion of what they would have tasted like. (trust me, you don't want to make kamakh, but thinning bleu cheese with milk should come close enough)



4. This is not a deep scholarly work. It is however, quite useful for the historical cook and those interested in the development of Middle Eastern cuisine. It begins with a brief but informative forward by Charles Perry. Then the primary text is divided into three sections.
   
   Part One is called "Cultural Background and Culinary Context". It is a series of connected essays divided into two parts, "Crossroads of the World's Cuisines" and "Materials, Techniques, and Terminology". These cover, among other things, a brief overview of known Arabic-language culinary texts, ingredients, and cooking techniques, and includes some useful photos of extant cookware and serving dishes, although only a rather limited number. There is little new here for the reader already familiar with Prospect Books' excellent _Medieval Arab Cookery_ or David Waines' _In A Caliphs Kitchen_, long out of print.
   
   Part Two, "The Medieval Tradition" consists of 143 recipes from four sources, three not yet fully translated into English, one only relatively recently available: _Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens: Ibn Sayyar Al-warraq's Tenth-century Baghdadi Cookbook_ (Islamic History and Civilization) by Nawal Nasrallah. Zaouali includes 24 recipes from this vast source, which I assume she translated herself.
   
   The second through fourth are from the 13th century. The _Kitab Fadalat al-khiwan fi tayyibat al-ta'am w'al-alwan_ is by Ibn Razin al-Tujibi from al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), from which there are 53 recipes. The third is the _Wusla ila'l-habib fi wasf al-tayyabat wa'l-tib_ from Syria. Maxime Rodinson listed all its recipes (in _Medieval Arab Cookery_, Prospect Books), but only a few have been available in translation -- now we have 29 of them. And the fourth manuscript is the Egyptian _Kanz al-fawa'id fi tanwi' al-mawa'id_, which is the source of 37 recipes.
   
   The recipes are arranged into 14 sections by type. Among them is "Bread and Broth", which actually covers Tharids, a classic dish of the medieval Arabic-speaking world. There is also a section on "Pasta" with directions for making several different kinds. And a section on "Couscous" includes five recipes and a description of a medieval pot for cooking it, which is rather like the modern couscousière. In "Pastries and Jams" is a recipe for Quince Sikanjubin (from the _Kanz_) which is the only medieval sikanjubin recipe I've seen that includes ingredients other than water, vinegar, and honey or sugar.
   
   All the recipes are given in translation only, which we would expect. Unfortunately, however, the author often substitutes her own titles, without including a transliteration of the original name, which I want to see. Most recipes are introduced by a brief paragraph which may include history, discussion of techniques or ingredients, or mention of a modern recipe that is related. The recipes are not modernized, and so are just waiting for us to get our "redaction" chops on them, that is, working on them so we can cook them ourselves. I love working out a historical recipe: it's like solving a mystery, one that is edible and nearly always delicious, and if it isn't tasty, reworking it until I get it right.
   
   However, the source books are from four different cultures and two widely separated centuries, yet there is little analysis of them. Thus we get no deep understanding of the changes in the cuisine of the Arabic-speaking medieval world over time and geography. Second, there's only a little discussion of the differences between Eastern and Western Arabic cuisine, that is, the cuisines of the Middle East (Southwest Asia) versus those of al-Maghrib (western North Africa) and al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), far from the center of the Muslim world. These are but two failings of this book.
   
   Part Three, "Contemporary North African Cuisine", comprises 31 modern North African recipes, chosen because Zaouali thinks each is similar to a medieval recipe elsewhere in the book. Zaouali should have provided more analysis and comparison so we can better understand why she thinks these recipes developed from the medieval ones she included. Still, some of them are for interesting dishes I don't recall seeing in any of my other North African cookbooks, so I get some value from this section.
   
   Ziryab, in his review of January 3, 2008, wonders about the translator. In fact, many of the additions, glossary, and notes he added were made in consultation with Charles Perry, who ultimately contributed more to the value of this book than just the forward.
   
   While not the masterwork of scholarship that Nasrallah's _Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens_ is, Zaouali's book is far less expensive, and it includes recipes not in any other book. So for those interested in historical cookery, but not demanding much in the way of scholarship, this is a book worth adding to one's library.



5. this books it is incredible , more complet and the best for the interest to all land cooking

5 comments about The Artful Vegan: Fresh Flavors from the Millennium Restaurant.

1. Great inspiration in the recipes, but many of them have ingredients you'll have to work hard to find, or have more complicated processes involved (like smoking something) that simply make this book too difficult for the regular home cook. I got it as a gift and started looking through it excited to make some of the dishes, but then when I got to reading the ingredients in detail I started giving up and turning the next one. And then the next one, and the one after that. Halfway through I think I got maybe 2 or 3 things I'd be able to do without spending a fortune just to make one meal. We aren't in the restaurant business, the authors jobs should be to set up a recipe to be made at home. Even in the intro they say that they don't typically even write these things down, but just wing it through inspiration. From this it doesn't surprise me that some people say that some recipes just don't work.



2. This is the best vegetarian/vegan cookbook ever. I am a collector of cookbooks and it is always great to find one with new creative recipes and this one surpassed my expectations. I would not consider this book for beginner cooks the recipes are lengthy, not 30 minute meals. It also has in quite a few recipes hard to find or expensive ingredients. Although, if you are a creative cook or live near quality stores it shouldn't be too big of problem. When I bought this book, I bought another at the same time for my sister.



3. There are two chefs who taught me how to cook by virtue of publishing the books that I learned from. The first is Madhur Jaffrey (World of the East Vegetarian Cooking--an outstanding, comprehensive book of recipes, methods, ingredients and their substitutions for beginners with a knack for flavors and the will to give it a try). The next is Eric Tucker, Head Chef of Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco (best restaurant I've ever had the pleasure of dining in) and author of two Millennium books including The Artful Vegan.
   
   I have both of Eric Tucker's books (Artful, and The Millennium Cookbook), and I reference them both frequently, whether I want to put on a pull-out-all-the-stops fabulous dinner party or just want a little inspiration for interesting flavor combinations for tonight's dinner.
   
   
   Complicated? Doesn't have to be:
   
   First thing you'll want to know about these books is that other reviewers are right that these are not meant for whipping up quick meals at the end of a long day. That said, I have on countless occasions pulled out Eric's books for inspiration for a quick something-or-other to do with, say, butternut squash. Say I've baked a butternut squash ahead of time and have it sitting in the fridge waiting for me to do something with it at the end of one of these hard days. A quick flip to the index of Artful for "squash, butternut" sends me to pp. 130-131, where I see the interesting combination of garlic, lemons, tahini, onion, tomato, and mint (plus some other things that I don't feel like putting in). I decide to combine those ingreds with some nice wild mushrooms I have in the fridge, a little minced serrano chile, and a smidge of raw sugar melted and poured over the squash, and I come up with a darned yummy and easy meal.
   
   The thing to remember is that cookbooks are suggestions, nothing more. They are launching pads. With The Artful Vegan, what you've got is a series of very interesting flavor combinations that should make you feel like a kid in the world's biggest sandbox--play Play PLAY with the flavors, play with the textures, use the bits that sound good to you, combine them with other bits that pique your curiosity, and learn from it. Some of your "experiments" might well suck--that's OK. A bunch of them will be exquisite. Artful gives you a very comprehensive bunch of ideas that take you--well, it definitely took me--to places I would not have thought to go on my own. Now I do think it, and this is why I say Eric Tucker is one of the chefs who taught me to cook by writing this excellent book.
   
   
   Well, unless you want it to be complicated:
   
   Using the recipes not as suggestions but as verbatim instructions will also have you singing with glee. This is where you should set aside a day of preparation ahead of time and then another day to do the cooking and assembling and serving. Really--plan for a Sunday eve meal that you start on Saturday morning (preferably with a visit to the local farmers' market). This is why I (and other reviewers) say the recipes are time-consuming. But if you love the subtle arts of cookery and fancy yourself brave enough to try new techniques and flavor/texture combinations, you are going to love this book, and you are going to have more fun in the kitchen and be more impressed with what you can make than ever before.
   
   
   Ingredients and equipment:
   
   It also helps immensely to live in a great place like the San Francisco Bay Area where access to all things gastronomic are readily available. Between the wide variety of our farmers' markets, international groceries, organic health food stores, and the great outdoors, any outstanding ingredients list is pretty well covered in the Bay Area. If you live in an area where there's not as much selection, you'll need to be creative about substitution ingredients. Fortunately, Eric's books are good about telling you what other (perhaps less "exotic") ingredients would work well, what pieces you could leave out of the recipe and still have something stellar, and so forth.
   
   You don't need a lot of specialized kitchen equipment to make these recipes. One assumes a blender and/or food processor and a basic set of quality knives and cookware. But you don't need all those stupid tchotchkes that have one use only, are impossible to clean and care for, and cost you a month's salary. Exquisite cooking is not defined by the fussiness of one's gadgets. (In my experience, reliance on fussy gadgetry is inversely related to cooking skill).
   
   
   Oh, those gorgeous photos!:
   
   One last thing: not every recipe in this book has a photo of the finished dish, but many do. The photos are works of art in and of themselves--the book is a visual feast as well as a collection of ideas for your own gustatory feast. Plus, with instructions that can seem at first to be very complicated, it's helpful to look at the photo and say "Oh, that's what he means by that!"
   
   `````
   
   To sum up:
   
   1) The other reviewers are right that these recipes can be very time-consuming and complicated. Sometimes you want that--satisfies the inner chef-artiste in all of us;
   
   2) The recipes are easily adaptable to be a lot less time-consuming and complicated, and Eric Tucker provides a lot of guidance on how to adapt the recipes;
   
   3) You don't need to be an expert with a bunch of ridiculously complicated kitchen equipment to make the food in this book. You just need a bit of an experimental attitude, good solid basic kitchen equipment, and the willingness to have fun with new flavors, textures, ingredients, and ideas;
   
   4) This shouldn't, however, be your first cookbook. You will likely enjoy the book most if you already have some experience fiddling around in the kitchen and are familiar with the basic terminology ("blanching" almonds, for example. Not too complicated--and there's a Basics section, a Techniques section, and a Glossary section in the back to help you with this stuff);
   
   5) The Artful Vegan, along w/ Eric's earlier The Millennium Cookbook, took my cooking to a new level. It's doable, it's absolutely worth doing, and it's a heck of a lot of fun!
   
   ¡Buen provecho!



4. I purchased this book for my sister and she loves it so far. It's giving her more ideas of what she can make and it's been pretty easy to follow the recipes.



5. I purchased this book while in Culinary school to use for inspiration during our "spa cuisine" section. I still use it to this day, even though I am not a vegan. It has delicious recipes that are layered with flavor and texture experiences. I just love flipping through it for the photos as well. I LOVE this book. Anyone wishing to try a different style of eating or just eat meatless a few times a week would greatly benefit from this amazing book. Some of the dishes may be a bit complicated for a novice cook, but you can take several of the recipes and only prepare parts of them. The gnocci is AMAZING!

5 comments about Food: The History of Taste (California Studies in Food and Culture).

1. I must say I was truly fortunate to receive a pre-publication copy of this exquisite volume. Editor Paul Freedman displays all the literary deftness of an M.F.K. Fisher or Calvin Trillin, without ignoring the analytic depth of gastronomic writing since Brillat-Savarin. An academic historian, Freedman treats the history of cuisine with a refreshing clarity and seriousness in his introduction. Connecting matters of food to class and taste throughout the history of the West and its influences, the editor provides ample fodder for "foodie," academic, and lay-reader alike with his lively and engaging overview of world cuisine that opens the volume and connects its essays.
   
   Both the UC Press edition and the Thames & Hudson edition feature lavish illustrations and elegant typography. The essays are cutting-edge without ignoring the needs of the previously un-informed or merely curious, making this an ideal coffee-table volume or holiday gift as much as it could be serious reading. Ideally shelved near Harold McGee, "Food: The History of Taste" is likely to become a cross-market classic for the near future.



2. The eating of food has often had a prominent place in literature because it says so much about who's doing the eating. So it's not surprising that this assemblage of well-written academic essays on cuisines and the societies that produce them captures the reader's interest so readily. The diversity of cuisines covered both in geography and time provides a real feel for the diversity of human experience at the table (or at the Neolithic hearth). Professor Freedman's book works either as a coffee table browser or a straight read. I read it cover to cover and enjoyed it all. My own preferences are the chapters on prehistory, ancient Greece and Rome, and the development of the restaurant in the 18th century. The many pictures included are great fun.



3. Replaying history in the context of food makes for a very engaging read. If you are really passionate about food this book offer tremendous insight into food trends world wide.



4. I don't typically purchase hardbacks - other than coffee table books, I'll wait for paperback, check out from a library, e-book, or just borrow from a friend. Reading about the quality illustrations and photos in this book prompted me to just go ahead and click "Buy."
   
   It arrived about two hours ago, and I've skimmed through the whole book and finished reading the introductory chapter, so I admit this isn't a complete review. However, I have to say the photos and illustrations are really beautiful. The heft of this work make me recommend this purchase as a hardback and make this an example of what can't be the same with e-books or the Kindle (sorry, Amazon!). I'm looking forward to curling up with this book with some delicacies over this lousy weather weekend! Bon appetit!
   
   Addendum: April 11, 2008 - Well, after several leisurely sit-downs, I finished this book and have to reiterate the joy I received from reading this book. Like Art History tells a story of cultures and civilizations (usually with the Elites perspective), food tells a story through time, and with greater representation across a society/culture. Loved it!



5. I had to skip several chapters in the middle of this book. I found the book very tedious reading. It could have been written in half the number of words.

5 comments about The Queen of Fats: Why Omega-3s Were Removed from the Western Diet and What We Can Do to Replace Them (California Studies in Food and Culture).

1. This book provides an excellent historical perspective on the discovery of and current understanding of Omega-3 and -6 Fatty Acids. I think it is extremely valuable for anyone interested in why diseases of the heart and diabetes are so rampant today.
   
   Unfortunately, it could have done better at helping us understand "what we can do to replace them". The American public needs better resources on how to make changes rather than understanding so much of the "why" behind them.
   
   Definitely worth the read, unless you seeking avenues for changing your diet to improve your intake of Omega-3's.



2. This book doesn't talk down to the reader on a subject that is quite complex, yet makes it understandable to someone with only high school chemistry -- and that many decades ago! It is also a topic of great importance.



3. Excellent book. I found that had to brush up on my chemistry and biology
   to get full benefit of the book.
   
   Ron



4. I enjoyed reading this book after hearing Susan Alport on public radio talking about the subject recently. She makes the case that as our diets have changed to eliminate Omega 3 fatty acids, we are becoming less healthy. I rated this book a four because it is written more as an academic rather than popular book and may lose some readers in the details of the science involved. If you want an easy persuasive read, this isn't it. Be prepared to follow the trail of decisions made by agribusiness and the struggle of scientists to get their ideas accepted. Still, I think it's information we all need to know.



5. This book puts forth some truly intriguing ideas that almost make too much sense. This is the first explanation of our nutritional state and how we got here that actually rings true. I would have found it easier to follow some of the technical aspects if the author had just used abbreviations for the chemical names, my only grievance. However, the concepts are so interesting and worthwhile that I didn't mind reading some parts twice to make sure I really understood it. I am on my second read and still very much enjoying the book. I will use what I learned for the rest of my life, I am quite sure. There is a very good reason the cover shows eggs. They're actually good for you, no cholesterol problem, if you buy the right ones. I also like the part about the weed that is just about the most nutritious plant known to man and is as healthy to eat as salmon, and I just found it growing alongside an old building in town last night. It's literally everywhere, grows in poor soil, and is completely edible and nutritious! Lots of little surprises like that. I really enjoyed this book.