Snack Time, Read Up!

 

Gulp, the latest book by popular science author Mary Roach, tackles the mysteries of the digestive system. If you enjoy learning while you laugh, you should definitely check out Mary Roach's writing. She has an ability to bring humor and insight to topics that would normally make the average person squirm (sex, death, etc.). If you're already on the waiting list for Gulp, or you're not quite sure you want to read about what happens in the small intestine, we've pulled together a list of some other recent titles that explore our relationship with food.

Mark Kurlansky is another popular author of non-fiction known for his engaging style and incredible detail, though his tone is far more serious, and his focus tends toward the historical. If you're looking to learn more about our relationship to food prior to consumption, you should ddefinitely check out Salt: a world history (333.85632 KUR), Cod: a biography of the fish that changed the world (333.956633 KUR), and Birdseye: the adventures of a curious man (LP Biography Birdseye). For other in depth explorations of a single consumable's impact on humanity's history, try:

• Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization by Steven Solomon (553.7 SOL) 
• Sugar: A Bittersweet History by Elizabeth Abbott (633.6 ABB)
• A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage (394.12 STA)

Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss (613.2 MOS)
This recent title has also spent some time on the best seller lists. A through-provoking and passionate look at our relationship with junk food by an award-winning journalist. If you're already on the hold list for this one, check out:

• American Wasteland by Jonathan Bloom (363.7288 BLO)
• In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (613 POL)
• Super Size Me by Morgan Spurlock (DVD 647.95 SUP)

Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton (641.5092 HAM)
The stories of the people who devote their lives and careers to food and the restaurant business can provide a different perspective on our relationships with food. Blood, Bones, and Butter is a moving and straightforward autobiography by Gabrielle Hamilton. The book chronicles Hamilton's difficult path from rural New Jersey to the head chef of her own New York restaurant. For more chef, foodie, and restaurant memoirs, try:

• Relish: my life in the kitchen by Lucy Knisley (Graphic Knisley)
• Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford (641.59455 BUF)
• Kitchen Confidential: adventures in the culinary underbelly by Anthony Bourdain (641.5092 BOU)

Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza by Ken Forkish (641.815 FOR)
Perhaps you're more interested in creating the delicious foods you eat yourself? Carnegie-Stout does have an excellent collection of cookbooks, but for today we'll stick to a few on baking bread. Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast is a recent guide to home baking from ken Forkish, a Portland baker. The recipes in this cookbook range from the beginner to rather more advanced. If you're looking for more, check out:

• Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston's Flour Bakery by Joanne Chang (641.815 CHA)Flour 
• My Bread: the revolutionary no-work, no-knead method by Jim Lahey (641.815 LAH)
• Bread Baker's Apprentice: mastering the art of extraordinary bread by Peter Reinhart (641.815 REI)

Please stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!