Friday, December 19, 2014

Cooked

http://catalog.sno-isle.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.6&cn=605997
This month our book was Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan.  We had previously read The Omnivore's Dilemma some time ago.

Unfortunately, between the holidays and the length of this book, we had a pretty small turnout, and none of us had finished the book.  But it did bring up some good discussion points.  We discussed:

  • How cooking with our families is a big part of our lives.
  • Vernetta mentioned how the book made her aware meat and industrial process, to the point that she will be seriously rethinking her shopping patterns.
  • Stereotype that the best cooks are men, and thought how wonderful it would be to have a tv show that gave tours of their mom's (or other familial inspiration) kitchens ;)
  • How this book could make you a BBQ smokemaster.
  • How roasted animals = the smoke is the offering to the gods (priest gets the meat.) Volcano sacrifice, no meat.
  • Old hogs vs. new....fed horrible things now.  Mad's pig ate rotten milk from dairies. Cows ate better too.
  • Pig story very funny...pet pig got away.
  • Teacup pigs - a nice fantasy.
  • Fire - bbq - hard to get through if you don't like bbq ;) + manliness and death 
  • Water - braising - family and unity 
  • Air - bread - Stuff taken out of white bread is sold back to you in vitamins - what a racket!
  • Earth - fermentation

Despite having a small crowd, we had a lovely meal and cookie exchange.


 

Vernetta – taco soup








Katie W. –  homemade honey wheat bread / pecan tassies



Madeline - Mexican salad







Sunny S. – German chocolate wafer cookies 












Heather McN – homemade brownies, and frosted sugar cookies


Dawn –  ginger brew and chocolate shortbread stars

Who made the delicious fruit salad???



Next month we are reading The Abundance by Amit Majmudar (all copies are checked out Sno-Isle's catalog, though there were still a few book group copies at the Mountlake Terrace Library last I checked.  You can also find it for 75 cents (plus shipping) on half.com.

Happy holidays!

- Dawn