Nonfiction Monday: Relish

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

This comic-book memoir focuses on Knisley's relationship with food, and how the turning points of her life were connected to food. Even better is that each chapter ends with a recipe related to the chapter-- and, because this is a full-color comic book, it's an illustrated recipe.

Knisley was raised by foodies-- her mother's a chef, her father a gourmand. Some of her biggest issues with them stem from her love of McDonald's. She's worked in farmer's markets and high end food stores. She's eaten fabulous meals around the world and straight from her garden.

She examines how her mother uses food to show love, her parents marriage and divorce through the lens of food, today's food culture in New York and Chicago, and her own relationship with food-- both as sustenance and as shared experience.

Knisley's work is honest and funny. I loved that the was some back matter of family photographs.

I can't wait to make some of these recipes. Before reading, I'd flip through to see what food she's going to make you crave, so you can have some on hand-- this is a book that will make you super hungry.

This is a book for older teens/adults and some of the recipes involve alcoholic beverages, although she offeres non-alcoholic substitutes. She also offers vegetarian and vegan substitutes in some recipes, to cover multiple diets.

Today's Nonfiction Monday round-up is over at: Practically Paradise.

Book Provided by... a coworker, who lent me her copy.

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Fake Foods

Fake Foods: Fried, Fast, and Processed The Incredibly Disgusting Story Paula Johanson

Processed food is disgusting*. It’s bad for you and it’s bad for the earth. I’m not going to argue the premise.
But… I still had problems with this book.

At one point Johanson seems to be ok with moderation but then she tells me that “Digesting a single fatty fried meal can cause lasting problems.” She often paints restaurants as bad, but then when you unpack it a bit, all chain restaurants are inherently bad and local, small restaurants are good. Because life is that clear cut. And small restaurants don't have a deep fryer? I mean, Duck Fat fries will probably kill me, even if they're organic and locally sourced and from a small restaurant, but they're super tasty fatty. And, fried.

Really, I feel the main problem is that she doesn’t get into the nuances of the issue enough. There are food issues in this country, but I have a problem with how we discuss food, how we demonize it, and how we fetishize it. And I think that how we approach it is not helping the problem. (I love this blog post about the issue) This book hit every single one of my food-related buttons. I think another Cybil-nominated book, Food for a Greener Planet is a MUCH better look at the issues at play. However, it’s also for teens and this book is for middle grade. Food for A Greener Planet can go more in-depth because it’s over twice the length

And, while we’re on the topic and because I'm feeling snarky, I wanted to embed a clip from Parks and Rec where Ron and Matt have a burger cook-off. But all the clips I found never delivered the clincher line of "cow beats turkey." *Sigh*. It's Season 3, Episode 10, Soulmates. You should watch it.

*Like, on an intellectual level. A lot of it is actually super-tasty.

Book Provided by... library ILL

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Nonfiction Monday: Sugar Changed the World

Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos

Human tongues have to be trained to enjoy salty flavors, but we are born craving sweetness.

Starting a few thousand years before the Common Era and moving through to the modern day, most of the book focuses on slavery and the large sugar plantations of the Caribbean.

In tracing the brutality of life on the sugar plantations, as well as a growing taste for it among the lower classes in Europe, Aronson and Budhos make the argument that sugar was responsible for the rise of slavery as well as it's eventual abolition and played a vital role in the Industrial Revolution.

While I do not dispute these arguments, for the sake of conciseness, the book doesn't look at the other factors involved in these movements, which makes it sound like sugar was the main or sole reason for them and that's not right, and weakens the overall argument about the very important role that sugar did play.

I most enjoyed the section that traces the spread of sugar with the spread of Islam-- that was a topic I could have read much more about.

At the end, it talks about this rise of sugar from non-cane sources (such as beets and corn) and mentions a bit about the health controversies surrounding this, but doesn't focus on it. I think a little more exploration of the role of US sugar tariffs and the rise of high fructose corn syrup would have been really interesting and fit in well with the main points of the book in showing the effects that sugar had beyond sweetening our food and drink.

Lots of pictures and a few pull-out boxes with further information. The illustrations are in black-and-white, but there are links to see the pictures online in color (in addition to the links in the text, the authors have gathered all of them on their websites.) There are also extensive source notes (and comments on the reading levels of various sources so students can decide if they want to follow up with something, which is very, very, very cool) and a bibliography. I really appreciated the multiple time lines for each strand of the sugar story-- these really helped show how the multiple narratives meshed together. There's also a note for "teachers, librarians, and other interested parties" about how they researched the book. That's the kind of thing I geek out over and thought it was interesting, but I remain a bit confused as to why they thought they needed to explain the difference between primary and secondary sources to teachers and librarians!

Overall though, I think this is a really interesting book for junior high and high school students that looks at something so common and explores the role it played in some major historical shifts.

Round up today is over at Practically Paradise.

ARC Provided by... the publisher at ALA.

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

United States of Arugula

The United States of Arugula: The Sun Dried, Cold Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution David Kamp

I do love to eat. I love giant fried turkey legs at the state fair. I love Shanghaiese xialongbao (soup dumplings). I love buffalo mozerella with fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, and some extra-virgin olive oil. I love a good Double Glouster/Stilton layer cheese on a slice of Asian pear. I love Peking Duck and Pad Thai pizza.

In 2004, I went to the American History museum and was wandering through an exhibit on globalization. One by-product of globalization that I had never realized is the fact that you can now get sushi at almost every grocery store in the US. Later on, I was in the Julia's kitchen exhibit watching an episode of her original cooking show. She had to explain to her audience what garlic was. GARLIC.

So, when I saw this in the bookstore, I had to scoop it up. Kamp starts with James Beard, Julia Child, and Craig Claibourne. He takes on a journey that introduces French cooking (both through Child and some high end New York restaurants) to the American palate. We see the rise of California nouvelle and local cuisine and touch on other global food trends and the rise of the celebrity chef and the Food Network. Along the way, there's some information about Dean and Delucca and Whole Foods.

Most of the book focuses on high end restaurant food the changes we've seen over time in that. There's a sense that what's popular in the country's best restaurants trickles down to the dining room table, but we don't get much of it. My favorite chapter was the one on Dean and Delucca, because how food gets from high end to my table is what most interests me. I think the marketing of the book (including the subtitle and jacket copy) made it seem like it would focus more on home-eating than restaurant eating, but the book skewers heavily to the celebrity-chef side of things and stays rather coastal in focus. However, while I wasn't as interested in the history of fine dining and the character sketches of the people who shaped it, I found the dishy, gossipy, who-hates-who, style of writing very enjoyable and a fun read.

I also enjoyed Kamp's argument that even though we currently live in a world where they've replaced the burger bun with fried chicken, we are living in a golden age of food. Despite our fast-food calorie/fat/sodium laden wasteland, there's also raw milk cheese and local cured meats and imported craft beer.

And frankly, as someone who once drank a bottle of Lafite-Rothschild with a grocery-store brand frozen pizza, I appreciate both.

Book Provided by... my wallet

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Chop Suey

Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States Andrew Coe

Coe attempts to explain how Chinese food in the States evolved over time from what was solely eaten by Chinese immigrants to what we know today from our local take-out place.

Coe is a food guy, not a China guy, and there are some China-things that he just gets wrong that drove me up a wall. Such as inconsistent transliteration. I'm also not sure he realizes that Nanjing and Nanking are two different transliterations of the same city (南京) instead of two different cities. More disturbing is the fact that some of the history is off. Most glaringly, on page 232, "After Mao's death, they [Shanghai party leaders] would become key members of the radical Communist group known as the Gang of Four." The Gang of Four were blamed for most the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, and they were all arrested within a month of Mao's death, so I'm not entirely sure how you could become a key member after the death of Mao.

There are other odd inconsistencies. Coe attributes the acceptance of the Chinese restaurant by "main stream" America on Prohibition, because Chinese restaurants often had player pianos and dance floors but had never served alcohol so weren't affected by the loss of sales like many other establishments, but two pages later (1/2 of which is taken up by a picture) he says, "These restaurant owners were all two aware that they weren't selling caviar and champagne, but chop suey, ham and cheese sandwiches, and the like--food everybody liked by nobody wanted to spend much money on. The real profits were in volume and in liquor; the businessmen rented the largest possible spaces and featured a wide array of exotic cocktails on their menus." (191)

Such errors throw the rest of the book into doubt, especially as Coe makes some big claims in the history of Chinese food, such as the history of Chop Suey. The story I always heard was that it was invented in San Fransisco's China town. Coe claims that the main urban legend is that visiting dignitary Li Hongzhang introduced it to the US on his 1896 visit. Coe asserts that in fact Chop Suey was common peasant food in Toishan and brought to the States by gold rush immigrants. Because it was southern peasant food, it wasn't recognized as authentically Chinese by later immigrants who came from better off backgrounds and points further north. It's an interesting theory that I would like to explore more, but Coe did not convince me. The history-of-Chop Suey section came before the errors I mention above, but I remained unconvinced, a feeling that was thrown into sharper relief as the book wore on.

If you're interested in the history of American Chinese food, read The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8 Lee. If you want to know more about Chinese immigration to the US and the issues surrounding that, read Iris Chang's The Chinese in America: A Narrative History.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Sushi!

I have been reading a lot of nonfiction about food lately. I don't know why. Today I bring you two books about Sushi (mmmmm sushi)

First up is The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy Sasha Issenberg

As the title implies, this book is more about the economics surrounding sushi, and the business of it--focusing mainly on bluefin tuna and the coveted fatty belly cut (toro, which is the only thing on the menu at my local sushi bar with a price of "market" but after reading this book, I totally know why.) In his book, Issenberg traces the journey tuna takes from ocean to sushi bar and how that's changed over the years, especially once they figured out how to fly fish caught in Nova Scotia to Tokyo without it spoiling.

Issenberg takes us to Australian tuna farms, and to the restaurateurs all over the world, tracing sushi's global spread. This book really traces the backstory of all that goes into getting the fish onto your table. (And makes me feel a lot better about ordering seafood in the midwest.)

The Story of Sushi: An Unlikely Saga of Raw Fish and Rice Trevor Corson

This look focuses more on the different ingredients that make up sushi, how they're prepared, and the biology that makes them taste the way they taste. Corson frames his story by following the students and teachers in a semester at the California Sushi Academy. As his students learn about fish, the reader does, along with their lives, the history of sushi, and sushi etiquette.

Story of Sushi was originally published as The Zen of Fish. I've been thinking about which is the better title. Because, while it covers the history of sushi, that's not the focus of the book. The book does focus more on the fish that make up sushi, but there's more to fish than that. I do like the original title, but I think it would be misleading and that the current title captures the book better...

The two books focus on different things, but there is some overlap. I was glad I had read both of them. Every time that Corson noted that the fish flown in from Tokyo was fresher than the fish from Southern California, I knew why, but only because I had already read Issenberg. Major characters in Issenberg are briefly mentioned in passing by Corson, but between the two books, we get a much more complete picture of sushi.

The big difference is that both books cover the post-war American occupation of Japan and how this affected sushi in Tokyo. BUT, they cover it differently, telling different versions of the same story. I wonder which one is right--to the point where I need to go do some research on this. Hmm...

I'd say that Corson was a little more mainstream and accessible, but Issenberg took me all over the world and taught me a lot more about sushi (but then I made Dan take me to the sushi bar for some tuna.)

Makin' a List, Checkin' it Twice

Well, the best of the year lists and reading goals and resolutions have been popping up. You're going to have to wait a few days--I'm still working on mine, although, if you're dying to know, the List of Doom for 2009 has been posted. As part of this end-of-the-year reflection, coupled with graduation, I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do next, in terms of my reading and blogging year. Lots of thoughts and ideas swirling around at the moment.

But, until I get things a little more gelled, let's review some books! It's non-fiction Monday, even though this is an adult book, I did enjoy it!

Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China Jen Lin-Liu


This is similar to Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper in that it tells the story of an ex-pat living in China and enrolling in cooking school, and then having many food-based adventures in China and including recipes.

It's different in a few respects. Dunlop was British and living in Sichuan at a time when there were not a lot of foreigners in China. Jen is Chinese-American and living in Beijing in the last few years, which is a very different China.

Jen's account is more immediate and focuses less on her own story and more on the stories of the people she meets through her kitchen work. While this is a love letter to food, it is also the story of the people who make China's restaurant industry, and the changing face of Chinese cuisine. Here we meet Chairman Wang, who tutors Jen through her cooking school exams and guides her through the corruption of the system. There is Chef Zhang, the migrant noodle maker and his struggles to make it in the new Beijing. There are the waitresses at the large restaurants and the rice farmers who still farm by hand. And there is Jereme, the high end chef of the critically acclaimed Whangpoa Club. (Even though he's not there anymore) Through these people and their stories, as well as their approach to food, Jen puts several faces on modern China.

While it gets a little sappy at the end, when she meets her fiance and falls in luuuuurve, it's still incredibly readable and very enjoyable.

Also, the lamb and squash dumplings are scrumdiddilyumptious and pretty easy to make (if you use store bought wrappers. I can't master making the wrappers yet. It was fun trying though!) I made these again on Christmas Day with my parents and some friends of ours. We also pan friend a few, which worked really well. OM NOM NOM NOM NOM.

If you like reading about food and/or the changing face of China, or just want a really good dumpling recipe, check this one out.

This next one isn't nonfiction at all, but it has the same title, so I couldn't resist blogging these two together.

Serve the People!: A Novel Yan Lianke

This is a long novella/short novel that was banned in China for slandering the Chairman's name and sex.

This is a delicious satire that pits the commander's lonely wife against the lowly orderly during the height of the Cultural Revolution. Whenever the Wu Dawang (the orderly) sees the sign with the Maoist slogan "Serve the People" moved, it's time to well... serve the needs of the commander's wife. All of his life Wu has worked hard, trying to move up the ranks so he can move his family to the city, like his wife demands. In his barracks, he has been taught that serving the commander in his private house, he IS serving the people.

On one hand, we have a tragic love affair that is part lust, part power struggle, and part genuine affection. On the other, a scathing look at the hypocrisy of Mao's China and communism, the personality cult surrounding Mao, and Mao himself.

Some background in the politics of this time period might be helpful, but I really did like this one. The prose is spare and light, something that is common in a lot of Chinese literature that isn't written by Mo Yan. The characters are both at once likable and repulsive--you want to hate them, but you also totally understand why they are the way they are and why they make the awful choices that they do. The setting is spot-on and Yan's descriptions of creeping twilight are perfect and make me long for summer.

Mmmm... fooooooooooood

I do love to eat. And cook. Mainly eat. This is a book about eating. And cooking. Mainly eating.

Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China Fuchsia Dunlop

In 1992, Dunlop went to study in Chengdu. There, she fell in looooooove with the food, especially Sichuan Pepper--that's the pink kind that kinda numbs your lips. After she finished her study, she decided to abandon the path that had been laid for her and follow her dreams. She enrolled in cooking school. In China.

Starting with her experiences as a foreigner in 1992, when there weren't that many foreign people in China, especially in the interior, and going up through today, this is a fascinating look at a changing culture.

More than that, this is a love letter to food. A justification and explanation of some of the odder Chinese eating habits--although not mentioned, Ducks Blood Soup, a Nanjing specialty comes to mind. Chairman Mao's favorite dish is discussed, and a recipe provided. It was braised pork fat. The sauce is really yummy, but it takes a different mindset to eat chunks of fat.

Still, man, I was HUNGRY when reading this. Luckily, she includes recipes at the end of every chapter (now, if I only knew of a good Chinese grocery by my house. Hmmmm.)

I love her descriptions of mouth-feel, different flavors, and the art of cutting (ooooo the art of cutting. I wish I had such knife skills). Also, the art of the wok. Seriously cool stuff.

My one complaint is the end. Dunlop gets burned out on China, which I certainly can understand. When it comes to food, she has some very valid complaints about how nasty the water is and the amount of hormones pumped into the meat and the pollution. (And this was published before we found out that there was melamine in the baby formula!) Also, the amount of endangered species that's get eaten. Her guilt over all of it is a little tiresome, especially when compared to the eager vibrancy of the earlier chapters. But... when she gets to the changing face of China, she seems to be longing for the quaint poverty of 15-20 years ago. We all mourn cities and communities we used to know and love. But, these things change. All over the world, they change. They change or they stagnate and die, it's how things work. The problem is that China's doing it on fast-forward. Dunlop doesn't seem to grasp this, or at least it doesn't come across in her writing.

There are a lot of concerns that I have with how fast China is modernizing, least of which is environmental, and also those getting left behind and pushed further down but, I have very little patience with people who want things to stay the same, especially when that thing is poverty. It's very imperialistic--they went to China looking for an exotic backwater and are pissed off when it stops being one sort of thing. Not that I'm saying Dunlop goes as far as all that. Now I'm just ranting.

Anyway, overall, I really liked this book. The second to last chapter just left a very bad taste in my mouth. One that is even worse than stinky tofu. But the rest of the book? Like a perfect bao zi steaming fresh and full of surprises. Or snake. Mmmmm... snake. Sweet and tender.

I got this one from the library, but I'm considering purchasing it because I do want those recipes...

Hello, Ginger Beef? I'd like to make an order for delivery please...

First things first-- did you hear these guys on Morning Edition yesterday? Yes, I am that dorky that I get music recs from NPR. SHUT UP. I want that CD. Well, it's cheaper if I buy it in MP3 form... anyway...

ALSO! Reasons it is hard to be at work today:
1. It is sunny and nice out. Not too hot. We may even turn off the AC and open the windows tonight!
2. Fables Vol. 10: The Good Prince is on my doorstep. RIGHT NOW. Too bad my doorstep is a federal district and 1 state away.

And now, a story.

Setting: A dorm room in Nanjing, December 2000

Lauren, an American college student has just gotten a package of Christmas presents from her parents. Several American and Chinese students have just finished decorating the mini-Christmas tree that was included. Lauren is now opening her presents. She opens up a Chinese take out box full of colored fortune cookies from a Van Gogh exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Xiao Mao: Oooo! These are really tasty! Wait! There's paper in here! What is this?
Jennie: Oh. It's a quotation from Van Gogh. Usually they're kinda brown and they have a fortune or a quotation from Confucius.
Xiao Mao: Why on earth are your desserts quoting Confucius?!
Jennie: Well, you get them for dessert at Chinese restaurants.
Xiao Mao: THESE AREN'T CHINESE!!!
Jennie: They were invented in Chinatown. That box [the goldfish takeaway box] is what you get Chinese or other Asian food in.
Xiao Mao: Really?! What does Italian food come in?
Jennie: Um... a styrofoam container like you get from Aiye's [what we called the restaurant next door]

What's really cool is, at the time, that conversation took place in Chinese, which I couldn't do now.

Anyway, that's all windup to my review of the most wonderful

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food Jennifer 8. Lee

Before you read this book, make sure you have the phone number of your local Chinese delivery place handy. TRUST ME.

In this book, Lee explores 3 major things: the history of fortune cookies (actually, they're Japanese and internment had a big role in making them a Chinese restaurant favorite), the phenomenon that is Chinese-American food (as opposed to authentic Chinese food), and how Chinese-American food shapes the Chinese immigrant experience and vice versa.

Very readable and fascinating, Lee's journey starts with what happened when an unexpectedly large amount of people got 5 out of 6 numbers right on the Powerball lottery. Turns out they were playing fortune cookie numbers.

Lee traces Chinese restaurants around the world, sometimes following the cookies, sometimes the workers, sometimes the food. She has essays on the evolution of Chop Suey and General Tso's chicken (both very American dishes, while Kung Pao chicken is "authentic" Chinese.) She talks about the advent of delivery and the quest to find the greatest Chinese restaurant in the WORLD. She delves into crimes committed on Chinese deliverymen in New York, and how most Chinese restaurants in the states are staffed from an agency under the Manhattan Bridge. Plus, a great examination on why Jewish people love Chinese food and the story of the Great Kosher Duck Scandal in 1989.

Random things I learned:

There are 2 Chinese restaurants for every McDonald's in the US
Almost all fortunes are written by just 2 guys
Cheap Chinese restaurants in South America are called chifa (chee-fah) which is derived from the Chinese words chi fan (chir fan) which means "to eat food"
Almost all of those little soy sauce packets are made by 1 company and don't have soy in them.

The writing is engaging and accessible, but well-researched. I highly recommend it, but just plan on having Chinese for dinner.

Written for adults, but teens will like it too. As long as you feed them.