Consumed or Amy Willcocks Aga Seasons

Consumed: Why Americans Love, Hate, and Fear Food

Author: Michelle Stacey

Something has happened to food in America: It is no longer simply food - filling, good-tasting, life-sustaining. Rather, it is "fat-free" or "high in fiber" or "low in cholesterol" - either an enemy that will steal life away or a savior that will prolong it indefinitely. In this provocative book, Michelle Stacey chronicles the psychological and cultural forces behind this American obsession, forces that have transformed oat bran and broccoli into magical totems, and steak, butter, and eggs into killers. We have refashioned food into preventive medicine, a moral test, sometimes literally a mortal enemy - and in the process we have lost sight of one of its most basic functions: the giving of pleasure. Stacey takes us on a revealing journey through the landscape of American food paranoia, from supermarket aisles, research laboratories, and the factories of food manufacturers to restaurant kitchens and food conventions. We peer inside the heads of advertising slogan writers, and learn from "restrained eaters" why there is no such thing as "normal eating" anymore. In each chapter of Consumed, Stacey delves into a different aspect of the American food obsession, introducing us to the people most actively and publicly involved with our food - rethinking it, selling it, cooking it, refiguring it in the lab. We meet, among others, the inventor of the first FDA-approved fat substitute, who explains how technologically engineered foods are designed to fool us into eating well; the head of nutrition research at the Quaker Oats Company, who takes us through the rise and precipitous fall of the quintessential American health-food fad; a lobbyist for futuristic foods that are designed to prevent specific diseases; a back-to-nature food scientist/baker who is touting a little-known grain he says is the next oat bran; a chef who reveals a kitchen's-eye view of America's conflicted eating patterns. The story these people tell is that of a culture trying to satisfy a near-impossi

Publishers Weekly

Elle columnist Stacey interviews chefs, scientists, high-fat lovers, health gurus and others to examine America's obsession with food. (Apr.)

Library Journal

A contributor to such magazines as The New Yorker and a former editor at Mademoiselle , Savvy , and Outside magazines, Stacey here attempts a look at America's neurotic love-hate relationship with food. Cataloging the long history of food hype and hysteria from the Puritans through the 19th century's health-food revival down to our current low-fat, low-cholesterol present, she examines the paradoxical view of food as both fat-laden killer and sensuous sustainer of life. In conclusion, Stacey calls for a return to ``normal'' eating, asking Americans to rediscover the social and ritual joys of food. Unfortunately, by providing a one-sided polemic, Stacey is guilty of the same sin of which she accuses health-food advocates. She dismisses mainstream concerns for food safety and ignores global environmental and other nonnutritional factors for changing one's diet. By lumping together genuine health concerns such as pesticide residues and chemical additives with zero-calorie fat and designer food, Stacey does a great disservice to the serious issues of food safety and healthier eating habits. It's a shame that a much-needed call for moderation is subsumed by facile arguments and shallow reportage. Not recommended except for some interesting historical trivia.-- Jeffery Ingram, Newport P.L., Ore.

Table of Contents:

	Introduction: A Pinch of Anxiety, A Dash of Sin: Fin de Siecle Eating in America	9
Ch. 1	Seeds of Self-Denial: The Transformation of Food in the 1890s	27
Ch. 2	Foods from the Lab: Building the Illusion of Fat	60
Ch. 3	Inside the Hype Machine: The Life and Death of Oat Bran	85
Ch. 4	Eating Your Medicine: The Battle Over Superfoods	103
Ch. 5	Designer Foods: Making Breads with a Blueprint	130
Ch. 6	Fear of Fats: The American Diet on Trial	151
Ch. 7	Food Control: An Epidemic of Disordered Eating	172
Ch. 8	Public Eating: Serving the Food Phobes	188
	Conclusion: A New (And Old) Way of Eating: Rediscovering Pleasure	206
	Notes	219
	Index	229

New interesting book: El Edificio de Inteligencia Cultural (CQ):Nueve Megahabilidades

Amy Willcock's Aga Seasons

Author: Amy Willcock

Amy Willcock's Aga Seasons will show you how to cook and enjoy produce at its best, when it should be eaten, in harmony with farming calendars. In spring, Amy brings you perfect recipes such as Milk-fed lamb with lavender, while the summer recipes are all perfect for long hot days and balmy evenings, making the most of seafood, vegetables, and even preserving a little bit of summer for the rest of the year in the ultimate Raspberry jam. Autumn brings Halloween parties and delicious Squash soup with ginger, and winter boasts Cod and saffron kedgeree and Queen of Puddings. Accompanying the 180 recipes is a comprehensive calendar for produce and a section on preserving so that you can enjoy the best of the harvest throughout the year. Written in Amy's simple, informative style, featuring conventional cooking instructions and with stunning colour photographs throughout, this is the culinary calendar no Aga owner should be without.