What are your food-related reads these days?

[Squeat Mungry]

I'm reading Peter Pringle's Food, Inc.: the "Green Revolution", corporate agribusiness, GM foods, "biopiracy", etc. Interesting -- and chilling -- stuff.

I've also just started Dornenburg and Page's Culinary Artistry and I'm absolutely loving it.

Cheers,

Squeat

[Mottmott]

I've also just started Dornenburg and Page's Culinary Artistry and I'm absolutely loving it.

Cheers,

Squeat

If you like to improvise in the kitchen, you'll keep on lovin' it.

[flybottle]

Evan Jones' American Food.

[chromedome]

Wow...lots of great titles to add to my "gotta get" list.

I've usually got several on the go at any given time...right now "Lord Krisna's Cuisine" by Yamuna Devi; one or another herb book by Jekka McVicar; "The Professional Pastry Chef" by Bo Friberg; "Food that Really Schmecks" by Edna Staebler (Ontario Mennonite cooking...guarantee to be the antithesis of *any* diet).

Recently finished: "Bone in the Throat" by Bourdain; "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" by P Reinhart; "A Passion For Chocolate", R L Berenbaum's translation of the book by the Bernachons; several books by Madhur Jaffrey and Najmieh Batmanglij (Indian and Persian food respectively); "Hot Sour Salty Sweet" by Duguid and Alford; and "Savouring the Spice Coast of India" by Laila Kaimal (sp?).

This is mostly above and beyond the various textbooks and online readings required for school; and exclusive of the non-food-related books that I go through.

I have, on occasion, been called a bookworm...

PS: My local library averages about $300/yr in overdue fees, primarily because of my ghastly schedule..

[challah-baker]

I am reading:

Several back issues of Gastronomica (I bought myself a complete set as a present after settling a 4-year old lawsuit. Whopeee!)

Bittersweet by Medrich

Home Baking byAlford and Duguid

Of course, this brings up the culinary equivalent of "fish or cut bait".

Do I read or do I bake now?

[suzilightning]

just finished laurie colwin's "home cooking" and have "more home cooking" on order with interlibrary loan. oh my god - what a wonderful book. i was laughing hysterically at some of the things and reading them aloud to my culinarily challenged workmates. i can't wait to get more...

finished "booty food" jacqui malouf's book - eh. half realtionships, half recipes and advice about condoms

read the wine pairing book that amy zavatto helped write(she's from the same small town i am and i knew her dad and mom growing up). interesting with some great interviews with rick moonen, daniel bouloud, and others. definitly a bias towards european red wines. would have liked to see more stuff with the new world wines.

and finally i have been assigned "to kill a mocking bird" to read since i have successfully avoided it for 49 1/2 years. then i am to report on it on another forum.

[pattimw]

just finished laurie colwin's "home cooking" and have "more home cooking" on order with interlibrary loan. oh my god - what a wonderful book. i was laughing hysterically at some of the things and reading them aloud to my culinarily challenged workmates. i can't wait to get more...

I just read Home Cooking myself for the first time and found it wonderful to read. I am definitely going to read More Home Cooking.

I just started Near a Thousand Tables and absolutely love it- it is more scholarly than I was expecting, but completely engaging and thought provoking.

I just ordered Joanne Weir's cookbook Cooking in the City and am going through that. I made a fantastic salad - Duck Salad with Pecans and Kumquats - I've never eaten kumquats before - they were so tangy and delicious, and duck, well, anything with duck I love.... I have found fewer recipes in this book that I like, compared to More Cooking in the Wine Country, however, I really like Weir's style of cooking.

[ms. victoria]

I read Near a Thousand Tables over Christmas. So good. I just bought Baking Across American from the used bookstore and got Hardtack to Home Fries and Eat My Words through interlibrary loan. I'll be busy reading for a bit. I keep drifting into the kitchen to try out recipes from the baking book. I want to make Boston brown bread. Being a southerner, I've never encountered it. Can you really steam it in a can?

[Mabelline]

Two great scififan books: Latro In the Mist by Gene Wolfe

Last of the Amazons by Steven Pressfield

Two great real stuff books: The Soul of the Indian by Charles A. Eastman(1911)

Jean-Georges Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef, by J.G.V. and Mark Bittman

[suzilightning]

I read Near a Thousand Tables over Christmas. So good. I just bought Baking Across American from the used bookstore and got Hardtack to Home Fries and Eat My Words through interlibrary loan. I'll be busy reading for a bit. I keep drifting into the kitchen to try out recipes from the baking book. I want to make Boston brown bread. Being a southerner, I've never encountered it. Can you really steam it in a can?

i really enjoyed Hardtack to Homefries, especially the chapter on the FDR's - or should i say Eleanor's - cook. my god no wonder they served the king and queen of england hotdogs at hyde park.

we used to use 1 pound coffee cans growing up to do our brown bread

[suzilightning]

suzilightning, there is a another book, related, but in a different vein, that I'm waiting to read-- "High Calling: The Courageous Life and Faith of Space Shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband" by Evelyn Husband andDonna VanLiere. Have you heard of it? It was only released Jan. 13.

yeah- saw the release info about 4 months ago. it is on my radar and have submitted my request for purchase( it is soooooo cool working for a library). i fully expect to be cring my way throug this book. there was another title that was released last month about the last flight of the shuttle - sorry i'm senioring on the title. i'm on the waiting list at work.

i as actually in the screening of apollo 13 and was laughing hysterically when they said "failure is not an option" since johnnybird was in the middle of horrible stress designing safety features into something the army would not build (wasting 10 years of peoples time and millions of taxpayers dollars - editorial on my part) and this was their mantra.

while i appreciate and revere the early scientists at nasa since columbia when the safety guys were poo-pooed for the sake of the schedule (feynman was not a nice guy but a phenom at debunking bs in the upper levels of admin)i don't trust the upper levels of management

[suzilightning]

non-fiction's been based towards ramping up for golf season - David Leadbetter's "Faults and Fixes", Dave Pelz's "Short Game Bible", Tom Doak's "The Anatomy of a Golf Course", Donald Ross's "Golf Has Never Failed Me".

yeah it is coming - just spend more time in the gym so you are limber enough not to wreck your back, rev

[lleechef]

Reading The Da Vinci Code. Good read. The girl is a little too "Nancy Drew-ish" for me but that's ok. Still a great book.

[tsquare]

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

I'm late to this - got a couple of recommendations recently, but also a pan from an avid reader. She said it was the last 150 pages that were too much. Do I stick it out for all 600?

That depends on how you are about Indian novels; they really do have a whiff of fatalism about them and "A Fine Balance" is no different in that respect.

I thought it was a stunning novel but, if you don't like that Indian mindset, then you probably won't like the ending.

I did read the whole book. I didn't find it as grim as one led me to think. Glad to have read it, not sure if I'll get to his other books.

On a lighter note, am reading "Untangling My Chopsticks, a Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto" by Victoria Abbott Riccardi. She may have gone a bit overboard in her descriptions of food - but I know I am now craving Japanese food, particularly "kaiseki".

[NeroW]

I am reading "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" by Thomas Friedman. And I just read this odd book called "Kooks" by Donna Kossey.

Food-wise I am working my way through "Food: A Culinary History" ed. Jean-Louis Flandrin and Massimo Montanari. Heavy stuff.

Have been on a kick reading young-adult novels over the past month or so, the fantastic "His Dark Materials" series by Philip Pullman, and "The Chocolate War " by Robert Cormier, which is one of my favorite books of all time.

Next I am going to read "The Stand."

[PopsicleToze]

Just finished The DiVinci Code, and it was one of the most intriguing books I've read in a long time. Truly could not put it down.

[Susan G]

Rereading for the nth time "The Tale of Genji" by Shikibu; the Lonely Planet "Guide to Sardinia"; and "Tales of a Low Rent Birder" by Peter Dunn. Also various quilting books....but only flipping through them for ideas.

[suzilightning]

just ordered 4 titles through interlibrary loan

finished The Georgetown Ladies' Social Club. how the hostesses really affected politics - lorraine cooper, vangie bruce, kay graham, sally quinn, pamela harriman.while many of them had no idea how to cook they knew how to entertain. pretty interesting stuff.

The Master Quilter latest in a series and since i quilt as well....author wrote this one in the style of Rashomon, an intriguing way of telling the story.

i've got the Imus Ranch: Cooking for Kids and Cowboys on order.

i'm so desperate i'm going through old cookbooks i'm getting rid of and copying out any recipes i think i can use in the future.

guess it's off to the stacks for inspiration....

[Mayhaw Man]

I just finished one that I loved. I am a reader of information and rarely get sucked up in the emotional side of things, but I highly reccomend this to anyone looking for a good read. It's one of those things that just makes the whole thing seem better (whatever that means). Google on the book, the reviews sound just as dumb as my explanation, but the general consensus is that there is "something about this book". If you like Tom Robbins and you like Larry McMurtry and ever wondered what a combo of the two might be like, this is probably it. Anyway, if you order it through the nice folks at Amazon with this link Fat Guy and Jason can continue to keep this thing operating.

The Blue Moon Circus

[davebr]

Food related: The Fire Never dies by Richard Sterling

Awesome book!!!!!!!!!!

Is there anything worth reading not food related??

[bloviatrix]

Rereading for the nth time "The Tale of Genji" by Shikibu

You should pick up The Tale of Murasaki by Liz Dalby. It's a novel about the woman who wrote the Tale of Genji. I read it a couple of years ago and couldn't put it down.

[gus_tatory]

not food-related:

i just finished "The Republic of Love", by Carol Shields, and it is life-affirming and wonderful.

i also just finished "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-tme", by Mark Haddon. great book--it's a 'murder mystery' told by an autistic boy, but it's soo much more.

food-related:

not a week goes by that i don't pick up my Larousse Gastronomique and spend an hour or two in it.

ps: if you buy one, get it through the eGullet Amazon link at the top right of the page.

edit to add: yeah, it's the top right...

Edited April 18, 2004 by gus_tatory (log)

[Shannon_Elise]

Right now I am plodding my way through "Red Meat Cures Cancer" by Starbuck O'Dwyer. I am not sure how much I like it yet, very dry humor (the best kind), but a little bit too over the top. Alas, I am only 20 pages into it, so I can't be the best judge of it yet. Looks like with my horrid use of comma's and apostrophes I should read "Eats Shoots and Leaves".

Shannon

[bourdain]

Just finished The Epicure's Lament by Kate Christensen. Only marginally food-related but wonderfully entertaining and well written.

[sml311]

Right now I am plodding my way through "Red Meat Cures Cancer" by Starbuck O'Dwyer. I am not sure how much I like it yet, very dry humor (the best kind), but a little bit too over the top. Alas, I am only 20 pages into it, so I can't be the best judge of it yet. Looks like with my horrid use of comma's and apostrophes I should read "Eats Shoots and Leaves".

Shannon

I looked at picking that up last time I was at the bookstore, but after reading that far I found that it was a little too hyperbollic as well. Let me know if it gets better.

SML