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Put
food books on your summer reading list
June 07, 2007
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Now
that the school year is coming to an end and the pace is about
to slow down, consider a summer reading list that enlightens
as it entertains. Include a few titles that broaden your understanding
of food and the role it plays in your diet and health.
Books on a range of topics relating to food can provide you
with insights and context that may help you to better understand
– and even follow through with – dietary recommendations
that support health. They may not promise quick weight loss,
but there are plenty of books worthy of riding along on a
trip to the beach that can deliver a shot of motivation, some
good ideas, and a little perspective – enough to help
you maintain your dietary resolve as we round the bend into
the second half of the year.
Some of the books I’m going to suggest are new, and
some aren’t. You’ve heard of a few, but most are
hidden gems you won’t find on the list of usual suspects.
I’ve grouped them into three general areas:
* Basic nutrition know-how. These books explain what to eat
and why. Think of these as short summer courses that enrich
your understanding of how to make the best choices. Top picks:
Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink,
PhD (Bantum 2006); Six Steps for a Greener Diet: How a More
Plant-Based Diet Could Save Your Health and the Environment
by Michael Jacobson, PhD (Center for Science in the Public
Interest 2006); Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest
People in the World by Greg Critser (Mariner Books 2003);
and What to Eat: An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices
and Good Eating by Marion Nestle (North Point Press 2006).
* Food and culture. History has a lot to explain about why
we eat the way we do. Just being aware of the traditional
underpinnings of our diets can make it easier to change our
personal habits. Top picks: Near a Thousand Tables: A History
of Food by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (Free Press 2003); Matzoh
Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South by Chapel Hill’s
own Marcie Ferris (UNC Press 2005); Why Some Like it Hot:
Food, Genes, and Cultural Diversity by Gary Paul Nabhan (Island
Press 2004); Spice: The History of a Temptation by Jack Turner
(Vintage 2005); and Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life
of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl, former New York Times
food critic and editor in chief of Gourmet magazine. The Reichl
book is one that is just plain fun to read – and offers
a rare glimpse behind the scenes in the restaurant world.
* Food science and cooking. Top picks: On Food and Cooking:
The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee. It includes
discussion of the chemistry of flavor and how ingredients
in recipes interact. Also: Simple Food for the Good Life by
Helen Nearing (Chelsea Green 1999). I’ve mentioned the
late great Vermont homesteader in previous columns. “The
funniest, crankiest most ambivalent cookbook you’ll
ever read,” said Food & Wine magazine. True, but
Nearing shares a valuable perspective you won’t read
anywhere else.
If you need more ideas, let me know. This is only a start.
Use some of your summer reading time to learn more about food.
What you eat is one of the keys to your good health. History,
politics and culture are as important as the science of nutrition
in determining what we eat. The more you read, the more you’ll
understand.
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