Flipping channels last night, my trigger-finger halted when I came upon--is that...? Yes! It is!--Michael Pollan being interviewed about apples! If you're the type of person who reads farmers market blogs, Michael Pollan probably needs no introduction, but I thought now was as good a time as any to run down some favorite books and links for food lovers.
So, Michael Pollan. Beyond THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA, which explores the origins of fast food, industrial organic food, small-farm food, and hunter-gatherer meals, and which switched our family to grass-fed beef, I also recommend THE BOTANY OF DESIRE (Dudley subtitle: Or Why the Dudleys Try to Avoid Conventionally-Grown Potatoes). This latter book has the history of apples in America which led to Pollan being on the PBS show, by the way. It may also interest you to know that this famous food writer once sampled meat from our own Skagit River Ranch and pronounced it superior.
Nina Planck. Her book REAL FOOD was the reason I threw my Bellevue Farmers Market chicken, celery, carrots, onions, and parsley in a big pot and made chicken soup, urging seconds on my sickly six-year-old because "chicken fat builds your immune system!" Ms. Planck's book was also the reason I ran out and bought a half-gallon of raw milk for the child--pasteurization destroys the Vitamin C found in grass-fed dairy.
Deborah Madison. I was excited to discover one of my favorite cookbook authors now blogging at www.DeborahMadison.com. Are you one of those cooks who reads the little recipe comments and chapter headers and anecdotes, as much as you do the recipes themselves? Yeah, me too. It was Deborah Madison who first had me looking for farmers market eggs with bright yolks--the orange-r the better.
Recently in the Market News newsletter I reviewed Novella Carpenter's FARM CITY, a memoir of a woman running a back-lot farm in urban Oakland, California. Well, her adventures continue and can be followed at www.novellacarpenter.com.
And no list would be complete without mentioning Bellevue Farmers Market's very own BELLEVUE FARMERS MARKET COOKBOOK by Cindy Pigott. Beautifully illustrated and great recipes.
If you have favorite real-food books, please post a Comment!
Puget Sound Fresh challenges all of us foodies to eat local for Thanksgiving. You can read about it and "take the pledge" at http://pugetsoundfresh.org/newsletter/newsletter-1009.htm.
And finally, this week's winner for Most Clever Use of Renewable Resources: Dr. Roger Khouri. Dr. Khouri has discovered that most women have a muffin top around their waist they're not using, which might better serve them if it were relocated to their chest. Now that's using your noggin! See this hilarious story, if you're interested: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33494347/ns/health-skin_and_beauty/ .
