Julie & Julia: Skip the book...see the movie

Julie & Julia, by Julie Powell
2 out of 5 stars

It feels like I have been reading this book forever, and I'm so glad to be done with it. I loved Meryl Streep's portrayal of Julia Child in the movie and liked Amy Adams enough to get through the Julie Powell bits. Stanley Tucci, another one of my favorites, played Julia's husband, Paul.

I'm all over one-year experiment memoirs, but I'd stayed away from this one because of the mixed reviews. But when this book was in my book group's "Yankee Swap" Christmas book exchange, I stole it from my sweet friend Caley. I took it to Holden Village with me last week, and halfway through I picked up another book (Touching the Void) in the Holden library because I needed a break from Julie Powell's incessant whining.

I'm not sure what her original blog was like, because it's virtually impossible to navigate through. I'm curious whether she actually chronicled her progress through the 536 recipes in 365 days, because in the book she writes about only perhaps 60 (?) of them, which is pretty strange since that's what the book is supposedly about. The recipes she does cover are mostly nothing I'd ever want to eat (many involve offal, brains, veal, or lamb). I wanted to know more about the actual cooking process of all of these recipes, not about Powell's tortured work life, strange friends, extremely squishy integrity, and pathetic house cleaning habits.

I definitely could have done without the maggots scene. The thought of her cooking all that fancy food in a filthy, maggot-breeding kitchen is enough to make me vomit. Her poor (dysfunctional) friends--they must have had the same feeling when they read her book and realized they had eaten the products of that kitchen.

Powell's husband, Eric, is faithfully devoted and long suffering. It didn't help me like Powell's personality knowing she cheated on her husband for 2 years and wrote all about it in her subsequent book, Cleaving. She's narcissistic and shallow and shares way too much information, even for a blog or memoir. I agree with her on some fronts (politics being one) and disagree on many others (she calls the World War II memorial in Washington "mind-bogglingly hideous"--but I liked it!).

Speaking of mind boggling, I question how Powell could hold down a mind-numbing bureaucratic job and cook 536 complicated and expensive recipes in one year's time, without gobs of vacation time and a hefty loan. It's hard to tell if she cheated--all we have to go on is her claim that she couldn't think of not finishing her project in one year's time. But who's to say she didn't skip half of the recipes?

One thing I'd like to know is how a notoriously fussy eater (she had never eaten an egg, for God's sake, before starting the project) was able to get past her food foibles and eat all sorts of bizarre ingredients (such as beef marrow and calf's feet). She does not address how she conquered her food issues, but she does mention she gained a lot of weight during that year. She relished eating innards and also in butchering, slicing, and killing (lobsters).

Powell is crushed to learn that Julia Child was not impressed with her project. After reading this book, I do not blame Julia Child one bit. Perhaps if Powell were more likable and spent more time focusing on the cooking and less on the drama in her life, Julia Child would have been entranced and intrigued by her blog.

At the end of the book, Powell claims that the project rescued her. When Julia Child died, she wrote, "I have no claim over the woman at all, unless it's the claim one who has nearly drowned has over the person who pulled her out of the ocean." If this is true, though, why did she start an affair with another man a few years later because she was filled with self-loathing or some other ridiculous reason? Julie & Julia is full of soppy adoration for her husband Eric (except when he's having a "Blanche" day or gets in her way when she is having a tantrum). What happened to lead her to not only have an affair and have a quickie with a stranger, but to rub her husband's nose in it?

Throughout Julie & Julia, Powell scatters made-up vignettes about Julia Child and her husband Paul. They seemed out of place and only made me want to read Julia Child's My Year in France to learn the real story. Julia Child was a fascinating, dynamic woman who loved life and her husband with a passion. Julie Powell, not so much.

Pomegranate Soup: Persian "Chocolat"

Pomegranate Soup, by Marsha Meran
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Although this book reminds readers of Like Water for Chocolate or Chocolat, no chocolate delicacies are mentioned within its pages. Instead, the spicy and savory aromas, flavors, and spirit of Persian cuisine fill the streets of a little Irish village, hypnotizing its residents and changing their lives forever.

Marjam, Bahar, and Layla have escaped from Iran with their lives, and after a stint living in London, they moved north to Ireland. It is the 1980s, and the village residents have rarely seen anyone who is not European. They open the "Babylon Cafe," and before long, the villagers become to appreciate the wonders of Persian cooking.

I do not recall ever tasting Persian cuisine myself, but my sister's best friend from medical school is Iranian, and I remember hearing stories about her wonderful wedding.

The sisters are trying to escape their own ghosts, just as many of the villagers are leading unfulfilled, unhappy lives. Each chapter opens with a recipe. I do believe I will have to try at least one of them out!

If you like ethnic cuisine and stories that take place in other countries, I encourage you to try this book. It was a fairly quick read, but I enjoyed it.

Get Real: What Kind of World Are You Buying?

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

When I picked this up at the library, I didn't realize it was geared toward teenagers. But it's worth a read for adults too. Get Real consists of tips for shopping with your conscience. The back of the book says "Can you really change the world with your wallet?"

Author Mara Rockliff includes chapters on the excessive consumption of the developed world; the power of advertising; the dark side of cheap clothing, especially cotton; what's really in fast food (and meat); the toxic components of cell phones and other high-tech toys; what's happening with genetically modified and pesticide-laden foods; the importance and power of buying local; the evils of mass-produced and -farmed chocolate; opportunities for recycling and reuse; and how to look out for green washed products. The book is full of web sites, article citations, and other information about how to take action.

I was aware of some of the information, but I learned many new things. Here's one small example: apparently TerraCycle will "upcycle" used Clif bar wrappers into backpacks. I eat Clif bars regularly, and I have always thrown away the wrappers.

I can see how some people might view Rockliff as hitting the reader over the head with some of this information. She is passionate about pushing teens (and everyone) to use their money wisely to live out their beliefs and save the planet (and our health).

The other day I went to one of my favorite kaiten-sushi restaurants near my office with some coworkers. We were surprised when the bill came, because they were offering a special of $1.50 per plate of sushi. Although we were delighted at the unexpectedly lower price, I found myself wondering where they get their fish and how they can offer it so cheaply. I find myself pondering this question a lot more lately.

The book has pages and pages of resources at the back, but here are a few I took special note of:

Movies or TV specials:
The Merchants of Cool (about advertising to the youth culture)--a PBS Frontline special
China Blue (about young people working in Chinese sweat shops)
Wal-Mart: TheHigh Cost of Low PriceMcLibel: The Story of Two People Who Wouldn't Say McSorry
King Corn
Black Gold (about the real price of coffee)

Books:
Made You Look: How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know
So Yesterday (about fads)
Feed (a cyberpunk novel about a future that might not be far away)
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm (about a future Africa, where mutant kids mine toxic dumps for plastic)
What the World Eats (25 families around the world and what they eat)

Web sites:
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
http://www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org/
http://www.behindthelabel.org/
http://www.greenpages.org/
http://www.responsibleshopper.org/
www.sweatfree.org/shoppingguide
http://www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org/
http://www.meatrix.com/
http://www.greenphone.com/ (cell phone recycling)
http://www.electronicstakeback.com/
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/
http://www.farmtoschool.org/
http://www.bigboxtoolkit.com/
http://www.reversetrickortreating.com/ (this organization gives you free trade chocolate to pass out in lieu of trick or treating)
www.equalexchange.coop/fair-trade-fundraiser-program-pen-pals (sign up to be a cocoa farmer's kid's pen pal)
http://www.usft.org/ (United Students for Fair Trade)
http://www.world-changing.com/
http://www.betterworldshopper.org/
http://www.greenerchoices.org/
http://www.greenwashingindex.com/
http://www.newdream.org/ (for a free credit card or money pouch that asks you several questions about consumption)

Eat My Globe: One Year to Go Everywhere and Eat Everything

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. Other reviewers noted that Simon Majumdar was a snobby elitist, which might indeed be true, but he was funny. Perhaps they thought so just because he was British!

Majumdar, bored with his day job, decided to travel around the world sampling various countries' cuisines. He found a notebook in which he had  penned several goals, one of them being "GO EVERYWHERE EAT EVERYTHING." And so he did.

He began in his own home country (the United Kingdom), by sampling the best blood puddings and pork pies in the UK. And so began a theme--Majumdar loves meat, and he especially loves unusual cuts of meat--namely innards. Not really my cup of tea.
Next he was off to Ireland to visit cheese makers. Now that I can appreciate. American cheese pales in comparison to British or Irish cheese.

Then he went off to Australia. "Australians are exceptional self-publicists and have persuaded many that Australia is the best country in the world, even if the Aussies promulgating this myth are usually living elsewhere at the time and show little inclination to return. It is the same with their food." Generally, he was underwhelmed by the food he ate in Sydney and Melbourne, but found some diamonds in the rough.

Next, Asia, where he sampled chanko nabe (the food of sumo wrestlers), yakitori, gyoza, kaiten sushi, and kaiseki in Japan. He also had an unfortunate experience with cod sperm sushi.

Then Hong Kong and China...where he really stepped out of his comfort zone and ate dog and stir-fried rat. Even beyond the unfortunate food experiences, Majumdar found China to be challenging...as did I when I was traveling from Shanghai to Chengdu. The China chapters are not for the squeamish.

He also found Russia to be difficult, but was surprised by Finland.

Majumdar loves the US of A, specifically American barbecue. (Again, because of his serious love of meat.) He makes all sorts of friends in the U.S., who show him a wide variety of what the country has to offer in the way of food. Of course, given the wide variety of cuisines here, he barely skimmed the surface. No visit to the U.S. to taste our seafood and berries! I appreciated his observations of New Orleans and was amused by his disgust at root beer, because my British mother-in-law loves root beer! "I ran to the nearest waste bin and spat it out. Singularly the most vile drink I had ever tried and remember, I had drunk fermented horse milk."

He loved Mexico, as did we. It is very hard to get good Mexican food or ingredients in the UK, so he found it to be a real treat.

Argentina also was a positive experience, but not so Brazil.

In Germany, he met up with brother to sample lots of beer and meat. In Iceland, he tried a delicacy: rotten shark. Blech.

Onto Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Phillippines, where he, unsurprisingly, had several wonderful culinary adventures.

Next he went onto India, where his father was born. While appreciating the great gifts of Indian cuisine and culture, he also found it to be a difficult place to travel. "It is a country so profoundly irritating that I suggested to one Indian official that they replace the Ashoka Chakra on the flag of the Republic of India with an image of a single buttock, just to warn people how half-assed things can be." He seemed to spend the most time in India, appropriate given his cultural background and the depth of culture (and differences in cuisine across the country) there.

He had mixed experiences in Africa. It's interesting that he left Africa to the last part of his year, because it's clear that he was running out of steam and was feeling exhausted at the end after all that travel. Why not put it towards the beginning, when he had more energy?

He met up with his brother again in his favorite country, Spain, and ended with Spain and Turkey.
Majumdar seemed far more likable than I expected him to be, although in Chapter 17, he's downright mean as he laments his flight between New Orleans and Philadelphia, when he is sitting between two obese people. I'm not arguing that this could be unpleasant, but did he really have to be so mean about it?

As someone whose travel adventures are heightened by experiencing the food of a particular area, I enjoyed this book. The huge quantities of meat (specifically organ meat!) got to be a bit tiresome after awhile. Majumdar certainly lived out his goal to "eat everything."

Inevitably, given how huge the world is, he left out many countries and cities, and his adventures could have gone on and on. But still...it was a great way to experience the world. Majumdar's most memorable experiences were eating excellent food with kind people who had just befriended him, making the world a tiny bit smaller.

Reading this book gave me a deeper appreciation of the food I eat, specifically when it is cooked with extremely fresh ingredients. Majumdar kept a blog for much of his travels, and photos and travelogue can be found here. It seems to end in Thailand (probably when Majumdar started running out of steam), but gives far more detail than the book--and the photos are great!

You: On a Diet: Down-to-earth way to explain food and weight

You: On A Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management by Michael F. Roizen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A lot of reviewers have criticized this book for its cartoon drawings and silly sense of humor...but I enjoyed the style. I'm not particularly drawn to scientific explanations (which covers the contents of the majority of this book), so the lighter approach worked for me.



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Finally Thin: Inspiring story about weight loss

Finally Thin!: How I Lost Over 200 Pounds and Kept them Off - and How You Can Too by Kim Bensen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I found this book in the library when I was looking through the healthy eating section (notice how I'm not writing "diet"!). Bensen always battled her tendency to overeat, but after getting married and having children, her weight ballooned to nearly 350 pounds.

Something finally clicked and she lost over 200 pounds within a space of 2 years, through Weight Watchers and aided by supportive friends and family.

Bensen is a very knowledgeable, nurturing weight loss coach--in fact she is now a Weight Watchers leader and has her own web site, where she inspires others who want to lose weight.

The book is presented in three parts: (1) her personal story of overeating and weight loss; (2) analysis of various diets and their strengths and weaknesses, along with general information about health and weight loss; and (3) recipes Bensen has developed. The recipes have a lot of processed ingredients (such as Campbell's soup) and sugar substitutes, but some of the others might be worth a try. She talks about her emotional relationship with food, similar to many people with serious weight issues, but that doesn't tend to be my issue. (I can have chocolate cake and lemon meringue pie in the house, as I do now because of birthday events this weekend, and avoid them.)

Although Bensen was faced with a huge amount to lose, whereas I have only a small amount to feel healthy again, her story was inspiring. I have a good friend from college who lost a huge amount of weight when she turned 40, and I find her story very motivating as well! After all, if Bensen can lose over 200 pounds (and win her war against emotional eating), I should be able to lose 20, right?

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In Defense of Food: My first taste of Michael Pollan

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
by Michael Pollan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto was my first taste of Michael Pollan. Pollan asserts that Americans are "orthorexics," or people with an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. Having lived in Japan and traveled frequently to the UK, I can agree with this assertion. I remember years ago when England finally got some decent coffee shops (serving real coffee), and I asked for skim milk. The barista looked at me as if I had two heads! (Things have changed since then, thanks to Starbucks.)

Pollan gives us a slew of information about the science of "nutrition," and the ways that government and the food industry have created and endorsed a series of "frankenfoods" over the years, depending on the slant of the latest health study and the deep pockets of the food and farmers' lobbies. He talks about how Americans had early interest in scientific eating, reflecting their discomfort for "immigrant food," which was viewed as weird, smelly, and mixed up. Americans have always been drawn to scientific data, and we are a nation obsessed with the pursuit of perfect bodies...we jump on any bandwagon, as long as it is telling us it will help us get skinnier. As Pollan illustrates, nutritionists, the USDA, and the food industry have led down all sorts of various paths over the years, none of which has helped Americans get fitter or healthier.

Reading Michael Pollan makes me feel suspicious of my nonfat milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese. How about the calcium-enriched orange juice we give to the children? Is it all bad?

What I liked most about the book was the final third, in which he gives clear advice about what we should eat, and why:

Eat foods. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Okay, easy enough, right?

Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.This makes total sense when considering Yoplait Gogurt, full of high-fructose corn syrup, modified corn starch, natural and artificial flavors, etc. But what about Stonyfield Farms' organic YoKids squeezers, containing organic strawberries, colored with beets, and not containing any artificial ingredients? Yes, it does have sugar. But the reality is it's healthier than Gogurt. And in a busy family, it is nice to have reasonably healthy food that can be eaten on the run.

Avoid food products containing ingredients that are unfamiliar, unpronounceable, more than five in number, or that include high-fructose corn syrup. Good suggestions, although the guidance to avoid anything with more than five ingredients I will take with a grain of salt. For example, for the sake of convenience, I will continue to eat my organic boxed or canned soups, which have more than five ingredients.

Avoid food products that make health claims. Pollan attacks the Food and Drug Administration and the American Heart Association for agreeing to approve or endorse products that make dubious health claims. He cites an example of the FDA approving a health claim made by the corn oil industry, along with the American Heart Association's stamp of approval on Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, and Trix Cereals.

Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle. Some of the healthy food is in the middle of the store (for example, whole grains), and some of the unhealthy foods (like at the meat counter and dairy case) is on the periphery. In general, this is a good rule but should be applied with flexibility.

Get out of the supermarket when possible. Great advice. Pollan endorses shopping at the farmers' market, buying food in season, and trying out unfamiliar foods (as happens when you subscribe to a Community-Supported Agriculture [CSA] share. "Shake the hand that feeds you, and accountability becomes a matter of relationships instead of regulations or labeling or legal liability."

Eat mostly plants, especially leaves. For years food scientists have tried to extract the beneficial nutrients out of plants so that Americans don't need to eat so many plants. But the bottom line is that eating the plants themselves, instead of trying to get the nutrients in other ways, is the best choice. Period.

You are what you eat eats too. If you choose to eat meat or fish, choose wisely. "The diet of the animals we eat has a bearing on the nutritional quality, and healthfulness, of the food itself." Pollan recommends seeking out meat from animals that have been fed on grass rather than seeds.

If you have the space, buy a freezer. It will allow you to buy pastured meat in bulk and stock up at the farmers market when produce is in in season.

Eat like an omnivore. Spice up your diet a little--try new foods. Don't stick to the same things at all times. Our diets, like our farming practices, need biodiversity to thrive.

Eat well-grown food from healthy soils. It doesn't necessarily have to be organic, says Pollan. Many local farmers grow food in highly sustainable ways. Ideally, eat food that hasn't been transported miles across the country--eat organic and local.

Eat wild foods when you can. Wild fish and animals are healthier than their farm-fed cousins.

Be the kind of person who takes supplements. Pollan is conflicted about advising people to take a multi-vitamin. First he says that we should "be the kind of person who would take supplements (because they tend to be healthier), and then save your money." However, he does acknowledge the need for aging bodies to benefit from vitamins from fish oil.

Eat more like the French, or the Italians, or the Japanese, or the Indians, or the Greeks. Traditional ethnic diets are more than the food itself--they also contain a cultural dimension, or how the food is eaten (for example, the French eat vastly smaller proportions than Americans do). But "regard nontraditional foods with skepticism" (such as soy products enhanced with "soy protein isolate," "soy isoflavones," and "textured vegetable protein." Apparently Americans now eat more soy than the Japanese or Chinese do--because the food industry injects soy into so many products. Also, "don't look for the magic bullet in the traditional diet." it might not necessarily be one ingredient that helps those cultures be healthier--it might be the combination of foods, or other factors.

Have a glass of wine with dinner. Alcohol appears to reduce the risk of heart disease, but red wine especially appears to have unique protective properties. Drinking a little every day is better than drinking a lot on the weekends, and drinking with food is better than drinking without it. Experts recommend no more than two drinks a day for men, and one for women (otherwise you could increase your risk of cancer or other illnesses).

Pay more, eat less. The cheaper the food, often the less healthy it is. Also, if you pay more, you're more likely to eat less of it. Pollan realizes that not everyone has the resources of paying more for their food...but many of us do. Especially if people examine how much they are paying for broadband, cable, and cell phones for everyone in the family.

Eat meals. Sitting down together as a family. Eating the same things. Enough said? Pollan also advises doing all your eating at a table, and a desk does not count. I will take this with a grain of salt, because I eat my lunch at my desk at work. It's healthier for me to do so than to eat out every day.

Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does. Gas stations sell processed, unhealthy foods. Don't buy them.

Try not to eat alone. This is easy for me to do (except when I'm eating alone at my desk at lunch time), but not as easy for single people. I see his point, however. "When we eat mindlessly and alone, we eat more."

Consult your gut. Stop eating when you are full. Or before you become full.

Eat slowly. Eat with pleasure.

Cook and, if you can, plant a garden. Since Mike and I embarked on implementing healthier eating habits for our family at the beginning of this year, we have eaten out less. It's much easier to eat more healthfully when you know what is going into your dishes. In particular, it's easier to feed our children healthy kids when we stay away from kids meals, which are often loaded with saturated fat and sugar, even in healthy restaurants.