KC Food Circle: Eat Local, Read Global

I saw these book recommendations on KC Food Circle's website. They look to be very informative, inspiring books and will be added to my list of must reads! It's wonderful to have so much great literature available during my transition to a more nature lifestyle.

Below is from the KC Food Cirle website.

EAT LOCAL, READ GLOBAL

New books focus on trends within the local food movement:

•Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea (Chronicle Books; $24.95).
In 1971 Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse, a Berkeley, Calif., restaurant serving local, organic, in-season fare. She has since become one of the most influential chefs in the world and has inspired a revolution that has forced Americans to think about where their food comes from. Since 1996 more than 3,000 students have graduated from her Edible Schoolyard program, which gives children a hands-on way to learn about food. Using a feast of photos and inspirational text, Waters takes readers down the garden path in an effort to plant the seeds of her visionary model in schools and communities around the globe.

•The Backyard Homestead (Storey; $18.95).
What’s a locavore to do? Farm the backyard! Self-sufficiency is in vogue. Learn how to milk a goat, prune a fruit tree, dry herbs, make dandelion wine, bake whole-grain bread, tap a maple tree, make fresh mozzarella, brew beer, mill grains for flour and save seeds for next season. Author Carleen Madigan is the gardening editor at Storey Publishing and has been the managing editor at Horticulture Magazine. Her 365-page handbook shows you how to produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre.

•The Green Kitchen: Techniques and Recipes for Cutting Energy Use, Saving Money and Reducing Waste (Kyle Books; $18.95).
This book is based on “The Green Kitchen” column written by Richard Erhlich for The Times of London. Erhlich is a fan of eco-conscious cooking and cooking with the lid on to save energy. He also weighs the pros and cons of microwave ovens and pressure cookers, as well as no-cook cooking and cooking for multiple meals (all with recipes). And he includes chapters on greener cleaning and garbage reduction (packaging, food waste, bottled water, grocery bags and composting). So it just seems appropriate that such an eco-conscious book is printed on 100 percent recycled paper.

Book Review: Kitchen Tricks by Ben Charles Harris

I came across this great book at our local library - isn't it great when that happens? In my gradual process to a more natural lifestyle I find I have to read alot! I tend to refer to older publications as these seem to be the best guides for doing things the "old way". They offer lots of solutions for things that would have been considered "everyday knowledge" and would never consider things such a processed or highly refined foods.

This book reads like a dictionary with numerous suggestions, tips and tricks for all kinds of items from your kitchen and home. He breaks these uses down for food, garden, medicinal, household tips, cosmetic and more.

In his Introduction he writes:

"But the kitchen is the place from which our health (and our preventive medicine) comes. An since our food allotment is probably the largest slice of our budget, it's a very good area to be thrifty in. When you think about it, the kitchen is the most important room in the house, in terms of dollars and sense - health sense that is."

He goes on to say:

"Health should be enjoyed and maintained by doing things the right way in your kitchen every day. Don't wait until the doctor insists that you cut out salt and harsh spices and that you cut down on meat and sugar. .... Avoid processed food (often nonfood), minimize overly acid food, especially at night. To preserve nutrients, minimize the cutting and the cooking of foods. Eat small meals! Don't overtax your digestive system and avoid thereby the dangerous excess weight that strains the heart and indeed all organs. Rest. Try fasting on a regular basis. .... Try growing some of your own food (organically of course). An use delightful, healthful herbs in cooking and in your teas as daily tonics and digestiv aids. (Suggestions for herbs abound in this volume!)"

This book was published in 1975!! Terms like natural living, organic, stay away from white foods such as sugar, rice, etc. These terms and ideas all seem so "new wave" nowadays and here they were thought of, discussed, and published years ago.

Here's just a few of the neat things I read in his book:

"Percolate coffee with eggshells or whole yolk to add favor and nourishment."

"A facial tratment of gently warmed buttermilk conteracts blemishes and oiliness. ..."

"Live within the laws of Nature and you'll live a healthful, simple, worryless, long life."

"CARROT TOPS: Try growing the root in the kitchen window. Hollow out the center of a large root, tie a thin wire around or through the top, and suspend it in the sun. Keep the hollow filled with water. In a few days, the lacy foliage will appear and present you with a dlightful hanging basket."

There are literally hundreds of tips in this great book. As a beginner it's an inspiration and great guide to all things natural. I look forward to reading many of the other books he's written such as "Eat the Weeds" and "Kitchen Medicines".

This post will be included in Tammy's Recipes "Kitchen Tip Tuesdays".

Book Review: Desert Flower by Waris Dirie

"I believe the most important priorities in the world are

nature, personal goodness, family, and friendship."

I loved this line in her book. This is the autobiography of Waris Dirie, a famous fashion model who tells her story of escaping her nomadic Somalian family as a 13 year old, after her father has arranged her marriage to an old man.

"But Papa, he's so old!" I still couldn't believe my father thought so little of me that he'd send me to live with an old man like that.

"That's the best kind, darling! He's too old to run around, chasing after other women, bringing home other wives. He's not going to leave you - he'll look after you. And besides" - Papa grinned proudly - "Do you know how much he paid for you?"

"How much?"

"FIVE camels! He's giving me FIVE camels." Papa patted my arm. "I'm so proud of you."

Her story takes you from her childhood living in a Somalia with her nomadic family. They live in the desert raising there animals in a constant search for food and water. She's a happy girl and loves her life in the desert. She even begs her mother for the young girls "right of passage" to have Female Circumcision at age 5. This is, obviously, something she didn't know anything about other than there were great celebrations when her older sisters had it done.

"Even though I suffered as a result of my circumcision, I was lucky. Things could have been much worse, as they frequently were for other girls. As we traveled throughout Somalia, we met families and I played with their daughters. When we visited them again, the girls were missing. No one spoke the truth about their absence, or even spoke of them at all. They had died as a result of their mutilation - from bleeding to death, shock, infection or tetanus. Considering the conditions in which the procedure is performed, that isn't surprising. What's surprising is that any of us survived."

Her story had me captivated from the beginning and I read the book within a few days. It's been a while since I've read a book this quickly but I had to find out how she went from a nomad to an international model. It was facinating to read her story of survival from her escape crossing the desert alone to ending up in London. Her flight to London was the first time she'd ever seen a flushing toilet or a white person. When she arrived in Hethrow airport she saw an escalator and snow for the first time.

Waris Dirie has remarkable courage and inner-strength. Her fighting spirit comes through in everything she does from figuring out how to escape in the desert, to how she'll deal with the photographer who discovered her and followed her for years in London.

She later became Special Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund to join the fight to stop female circumcision. To find out more about this program here. She's also started the Waris Dirie Foution to continue her fight.

"When I imagine that this year two million more little girls will go thorugh what I went through, it breaks my heart. It also makes me realize that each day this torture continues, angry women like myself will be produced, women who can never go back and recapture what was taken from them."

Waris Dirie Books
Her books Desert Flower, Desert Dawn, Desert Children and Letter To My Mother became international bestsellers. Waris is now working on a new book to be released in 2010. There will also be a movie coming out "Desert Flower".

Book Review: Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

I learned alot from this book and what the Chinese people experienced through the 1930's-40's. It was beautifully written. I was taken from Shanghai, to the country-side, to Los Angeles seemlessly by Lisa See's vivid descriptions. I could smell the food, hear the streets, and feel the cloths on me as she described them.

I had no idea the plight of the Chinese people during this time and it was heartbreaking to read. I have a much better understanding of their customs and culture now. I admire how these families stay together no matter what.

I love a story that can take me away, fill me with emotion, teach me something new, and inspire me. This novel does exactly that.