Book Reviews

For half a century or so, our informal but most effective agricultural policy has been to eat as much, as effortlessly, as thoughtlessly, and as cheaply as we can, and to hell with whatever else may be involved. That’s from Wendell Berry’s 2009 essay The Necessity of … [Read more...] about Potent Insights On Food Humans Consume

Chef Ana Sortun graduated from La Varenne in Paris, but her interest in Middle Eastern food has taken her beyond that classical French foundation. She opened her first restaurant, Oleana, in Cambridge, Mass., in 2001; she now also owns Sarma, a Turkish-style tavern, and Sofra … [Read more...] about A Cookbook That Celebrates Flavorful & Vibrant Middle Eastern Recipes

Preaching precaution (caution employed beforehand or prudent foresight) isn’t the same as practicing it. And the ounce of prevention principle, seemingly instilled in us at birth, has long gone out the window where pesticide use is concerned. Touted as the farmer’s salvation … [Read more...] about How to Fight the Pesticide Giants Revealed In An Inspirational Story of Local Activism

You’d think it has much to do with flavor, this diet of ours. It turns out we’re making choices based on an amazing range of factors, including the color and size of the plate on which our food is served and the volume and tempo of the music that might be coming at us. Rachel … [Read more...] about Why You Eat What You Eat: More Than A Matter Of Taste

The story of immigration to America is a familiar one: the poor, the huddled masses yearning to be free, escaping tyranny or seeking opportunity, crossing the vast ocean to start a new life. A less familiar narrative, however, is migration in the other direction, from the new … [Read more...] about Recipes From An Irish Farm Kitchen & A Well-Told Love Story Of An Urbanite’s Transformation