Sunday 12 July 2015

Currently Reading #6

Delicious by Ruth Reichl  The Third Plate by Dan Barber  The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham

If you haven't noticed I've been trying to do one book and one food post per month. I'm hoping to round out my blog topics and I have other interests, outside of beauty, that I would love to share. These three more books have been on my side table lately.

This fiction plates a treasure trail of letters between James Beard and a young correspondent during war time with a side order of food descriptions that can only make you hungry and curious. I didn't know that the editor of Gourmet magazine writes fiction and this one features what happens when Billie, while working at a food magazine discovers old hidden letters when digging through the magazine's library archives. Charming, would be an apt descriptor for this quick delightful read.

This book has been a major inspiration. Dan Barber, Chef and owner of Blue Hill restaurant in NYC and Stone Hill Barns, discusses the responsibilities chef have to ensure sustainable food production. Chefs inspire other chefs and diners to try new foods with the unintended consequences that come with increased demands for these new items. He showcases how good farming can support good (heartier, healthier and tastier) foods.  Example after example illustrate how our current farming systems sacrifices soil health and nutrition. Just reading about his experience tasting and cultivate ancient grains and baking breads from them has me convinced that the average consumer has no idea what wheat actually tastes like anymore. I will end here by encouraging you to pick up this engaging and genuinely readable book. It guarantee it will reshape how you think about what you eat.

I just started this one. I've tried reading another Cunningham book before but don't remember finishing it. Something about Cunningham's style doesn't quite gel with me but the premise of this one (promising to be beautiful, comedic and tragic) seemed like a good reason to try this author again. We follow the lives of Tyler, Beth and Barrett as they navigate their respective hardships. Tyler is an addict. Beth is dying of cancer. Barrett, having lost love repeatedly, has turned to religion. We'll see how it all turns out.

What's on your side table? 

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