The introduction’s “Tips for Cooking with Children” is especially valuable, as the authors share common sense advice around re-organizing your kitchen with your children in mind. (I particularly enjoyed reading this because my co-teacher Jami Delgado and I say the same thing to parents in our online Real Food Kids class at Traditional Cooking School.) Other recommendations cover routines, how to include baby in the cooking, and a fun way to do meal planning with pictures. I was first given this book by an herbalist friend of mine who endorsed its content and position ondiet, but warned me about Sally Fallon's "spit-and-vinegar" approach to food choices and social change. No doubt--Nourishing Traditions absolutely lives up to its subtitle in Sally Fallon's direct, no-nonsense critique of prevailing nutritional values and investigation of the vagaries of processed foods. This book is both a bible of useful recipes and an argument for a considered, holistic relationship to food and diet that are incredibly valuable. If you're a gourmand, her most unusual recipes are certainly the reason to buy this book. She provides excellent step-by-step instructions for daunting projects like sourdough, sauerkraut, kimchi, various chutneys, and raw meat appetizers. She also includes recipes for obscure and old-fashioned dishes and drinks like small beer, liver and onions, and Yorkshire pudding. She does not always do justice to non-European dishes; sometimes it's her fear of heavy flavoring, and sometimes she just seems to miss the point. Most importantly, though, you can gain a real, nuanced understanding of fermented foods and traditional cuisines through her notes--as long as you ignore some of the more wingnutty bits and supplement with your own reading. Update: This book deserves 3.5 stars. I enjoyed her information on history of food and history of food in different nations and many recipes. Of course, I think that eating real food, not processed, does help prevent many a disease and does contributes to better over-all daily health. I also do think soaking grains is helpful. I appreciated that she made it clear that we, in America, need more cultured food in our diets. However, some of her information irked me. I do believe that there are many illnesses that were not properly diagonsed years ago (or the disease did not yet have a name), therefore, it seems that some diseases are on the rise, when, in fact, modern medicine enables better, earlier diagnoses. She states that some diseases were almost unheard of before modern food and I find that a little hard to believe. Obviously, food allergies and type II diabetes, most likely, play a huge part in eating poorly, however, I don't buy her extremist approach about disease and food. I think food plays a huge part, however, there is more to it than that (environmental, genetics, etc) and she didn't elaborate enough, in my opinion.

Nourishing Traditions: Book Of Cooking And Diet Loss - Goodreads

I had hoped that she would have elaborated on her information and covered all the facts, not just her side. For example, her information on Chinese having larger pancreas, therefore being able to eat more rice than most of us ever would want to, wasn't elaborated on. They have a larger pancreas b/c they develop one over time. They aren't born with a larger one. However, she left that fact out. Some of her recipes are not the greatest...I would suggest finding some one who has tried them before making. I have made the kraut, kimchi and ginger carrots using kefir whey and they have turned out well. I am a vegetarian, and it's important to note that Fallon does not endorse vegetarianism, nor is the text limited to meat-free recipes (by any means!). Nonetheless, both the meat and meat-free recipes are numerous and fascinating. I took a brief break from vegetarianism a few years ago, and this was my reference for the transition. That leads to the last thing that really makes sense to me, which is the idea of beneficial bacteria and having a balance in your body rather than trying to scour everything with purell. If you have a well built up colony of bacteria in your system they will be there to compete with the bad bacteria for space and be your defender! I exaggerate. But not much. She represents most of what I love and hate about the holistic health movement(s), and as a result, I think that her book is important reading for all of us.

A Thumbs Up Book Review

Nourishing Traditions, The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that book by Mary G. Enig Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that book by Mary G. Enig

Nourishing Traditions begins with a section about nutrition that I recommend as much as the recipes that make up the bulk of the book. Probably her most adamant position is that about the importance of saturated fats in a healthy diet. (Similarly, this book takes a strong stance against trans-fats; it was published before the mainstream anti-trans-fats revolution a few years ago.) She favors pro-biotic fermented foods just as highly and opens the book's recipes section with instructions for fermenting dairy and vegetables. The sections on fermenting foods also really resonated with me. In our quest to make foods more convenient we have lost many of the preserving techniques that make foods nutritious. For instance, soaking our whole grains, nuts and legumes neutralized phytic acid (which prevents our bodies from absorbing the majority of the vitamins in the grain), as well as increases the general digestability of the grain. All those happy bacteria get in there and basically start to break it down for you! Isn't that nice of them? :D Fallon, Sally with Mary G. Enig ; cover design by Kim Waters Murray ; illustrations by Marion Dearth There are a few bizarre things...I think she promotes eating meat raw, though specially prepared and of course from clean sources. I'm not willing to go that far. Heh.Lisa makes the best soft chervil goat cheese with chives and garlic. And the other day she gave me a jar of her homemade fermented Anaheim peppers. “It would be good with eggs,” she said. I took it home and made my special scrambled egg dish that consists of 2 eggs, beaten with some milk, then scrambled in olive oil. Next, I slice up some tomato, avocado, and then I add some of her cheese, but I do not cook them. Well, this time I sliced up some of the fermented peppers and added them. I was so in love with this meal, with the added peppers, that I had it again that day for lunch.

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges

Before I found this book I already knew of Weston Price (a dentist) and his travels to remote tribes and villages where he studied their teeth and their diets. It is amazing what he learned! If any tribe was near civilization he always cautioned them not to EVER eat anything from the "white man's stores"! We would be doing a lot better if we did the same. I am a big supporter of co-ops and farmers markets! If we didn't travel so much, we would probably have our own small farm. I actually appreciate my childhood experience even though I didn't like my mean step-mother! Read this book! Some of the information on nutrients and oils is interesting and informative. However, Fallon does use outdated and poorly constructed studies to try to convince her readers that you will be healthier if you eat more meat and lard. I agree that fats are fine and that reducing fat is not healthy, BUT I think fats like avocado, coconut, and olive-based fats/oils (for example) are much healthier than fats like pig and cow fat. I think there are more than enough studies that are far more convincing than the studies that Fallon cites.almost nonexistent sugar cravings (before this sugar was my heroin. I mean, shakes and chills and visions of goblins until I had an hourly fix) Before we talk about the cooking chapters, let’s review the introduction, kitchen tools and measuring guide sections that start the book off on the right foot. They are helpful for parents and children alike. Slow Cooker Beef Bone Broth Recipe (+ Bone Broth Benefits and Facts!) on Bone Broth and Lead Contamination: A Very Flawed Study in Medical Hypotheses The kitchen tools chapter is the first place you (and your children) will really benefit from Angela Eisenbart’s lovely illustrations. As the authors list and explain the simple tools needed to prepare the traditional food recipes in the cookbook, Eisenbart adds the drawings that bring them to life. And I’m very glad the authors tell us we won’t be needing a microwave to prepare anything in this book!