Kitchen Literacy or Hot Drinks for Cold Nights

Kitchen Literacy: How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes from and Why We Need to Get It Back

Author: Ann Vileisis

Ask children where food comes from, and they’ll probably answer: “the supermarket.” Ask most adults, and their replies may not be much different. Where our foods are raised and what happens to them between farm and supermarket shelf have become mysteries. How did we become so disconnected from the sources of our breads, beef, cheeses, cereal, apples, and countless other foods that nourish us every day?

 

Ann Vileisis’s answer is a sensory-rich journey through the history of making dinner. Kitchen Literacy takes us from an eighteenth-century garden to today’s sleek supermarket aisles, and eventually to farmer’s markets that are now enjoying a resurgence. Vileisis chronicles profound changes in how American cooks have considered their foods over two centuries and delivers a powerful statement: what we don’t know could hurt us.

 

As the distance between farm and table grew, we went from knowing particular places and specific stories behind our foods’ origins to instead relying on advertisers’ claims. The woman who raised, plucked, and cooked her own chicken knew its entire life history while today most of us have no idea whether hormones were fed to our poultry. Industrialized eating is undeniably convenient, but it has also created health and environmental problems, including food-borne pathogens, toxic pesticides, and pollution from factory farms.

 

Though the hidden costs of modern meals can be high, Vileisis shows that greater understanding can lead consumers to healthier and more sustainable choices. Revealing how knowledge of our food has been lost and how it might now beregained, Kitchen Literacy promises to make us think differently about what we eat.

The Washington Post - Juliet Eilperin

Kitchen Literacy chronicles how the growth of the increasingly complex food distribution system—railroads transporting animals and factories producing canned goods—eventually led consumers into a "covenant of ignorance" with supermarket chains, food manufacturers and advertising firms…Vileisis's tone can be preachy at times…Yet her book performs a valuable service in reminding readers that we were not always so clueless when it came to making food choices.

Rosemarie Lewis - Library Journal

Vileisis, author of the award-winning Discovering the Unknown Landscape: A History of America's Wetlands, lights her own torch in the flames of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemmaand directs her attention to the forces that shaped the way Americans act today. Scarcely 200 years ago, a cook had intimate knowledge of every ingredient in his or her kitchen. In the intervening decades, seemingly independent parties-the government, the farm industry, major university health departments, advertisers, and manufacturers-worked to create a consumer who would be brand loyal, and familiar logos replaced generations of knowledge about food, agriculture, and farming. It is not that we have never read this before, but Vileisis gathers it all in one place, weaving a clear, easy-to-read tapestry whose meaning is plain by the end of the book: you are what you eat, so think about what you've been eating. Her extensive notes bring together decades of evidence regarding the unhealthy merger of something we need-food-with something we're told to want-products. This important and eye-opening book uncovers the machinery behind the modern food industry and is an essential purchase for most academic and public libraries.

Interesting textbook: When Your Child Is Cutting or The Fibromyalgia Solution

Hot Drinks for Cold Nights: Great Hot Chocolates, Tasty Teas and Cozy Coffee Drinks

Author: Liana Krissoff

When cold winds blow and snow piles up on the windowsills, there is nothing more comforting than a steaming mug of hot chocolate or a soothing cup of tea. And haven't we all wished that we could make a coffee drink at home that rivals the brew from that expensive coffee shop on the corner? With the more than 50 recipes in Hot Drinks for Cold Nights, the perfect cup is always at your fingertips.

From teapots and strainers to espresso makers and hand-held blenders, author Liana Krissoff offers a review of the myriad machines and accessories available and describes the best methods and ingredients for making hot drinks. In each chapter, she presents a tempting array of recipes both classic and exotic, such as Orange-Scented Hot Chocolate, Green Tea "Cappuccino," Lychee Black Tea with Cherry Wine, and Cafe Brulot with Cinnamon Cream. The last chapter offers all manner of "spirited" hot drinks, with special tips on serving them to a crowd. Along the way are recipes for flavored whipped creams, sweeteners, and butters, as well as toothsome treats to serve with hot drinks, including Peppermint-Stuffed Marshmallows, Persimmon Tea Cake, and Spiced Candied Nuts.

This warmth-filled volume will help stave off winter's chill and keep you cozy the whole season long.