Tamar Adler

I think this book is written for foodies who supposedly don’t know how to cook. It didn’t really work for me in the amazing food aspects, but I did get a little bit more out of the how to parts. To me there are just some foods that don’t taste good, and so it’s somewhat frustrating listening to the author be so obsessed with certain items that just don’t sound appealing. I think this will work best for those who already love food the way the author does and can be cheered on accordingly (hence the foreword by Alice Waters), but I don’t feel any burning desire to try new things.… (mais)

This book gently shares a philosophy of using food well and eating well. Adler advocates living well but without excess. Lunch could be an egg and cheese on bread with a little greens, but it's a single egg, just enough cheese, and a slice of bread, not a huge sandwich, a bag of chips, and a soda beside.

Although Adler's food ethic is not directly one that is completely compatible with food justice concerns, it's probably more closely adaptable to one than some of the more mainstream food ethics like those of Michael Pollen. For example, she is an advocate of boiling (done right) as a cooking method, and one of her central tenants is making the ends of one meal become the beginning of another.

In addition to all that, I was salivating for nearly all of the recipes. Yummy!… (mais)