English Food

Everything you never thought to ask, but were totally happy to find out. This rated-PG book shares little-known facts and forgotten stories to satisfy your curiosity. You will discover secrets about everyday things, from vitamin D to zippers to even undead hamsters.

In Koshersoul, Michael W. Twitty considers the marriage of two of the most distinctive culinary cultures in the world today: the foods and traditions of the African Atlantic and the global Jewish diaspora. To Twitty, the creation of African-Jewish cooking is a conversation of migrations and a dialogue of diasporas offering a rich background for inventive recipes and the people who create them.

Long before The Lost Kitchen became a world dining destination with every seating filled the day the reservation book opens each spring, Erin French was a girl roaming barefoot on a 25-acre farm, a teenager falling in love with food while working the line at her dad’s diner and a young woman finding her calling as a professional chef at her tiny restaurant tucked into a 19th century mill.

Our food system is undergoing a total transformation that impacts how we produce, get, and consume our food. Market researcher and bestselling author Paco Underhill—hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a Sherlock Holmes for retailers”—reveals where our eating and drinking lives are heading in his “delectable” (Michael Gross, New York Times bestselling author of 740 Park) book, How We Eat.

Supported by meticulous research and told in a lively, accessible voice, Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World seamlessly weaves travel, history, humor, and a little adventure (and misadventure) to follow the tomato's trail through history. A fascinating story complete with heroes, con artists, conquistadors, and—no surprise—the Mafia, this book is a mouth-watering, informative, and entertaining guide to the food that has captured our hearts for generations.

There’s something about biting into a fresh fruit plucked straight from a tree. That sudden explosion of crisp flavor tingling your tastebuds and making your mouth water for more is quite an experience. Now, imagine if you had grown that very fruit in your backyard.

Grassland ecosystems can be found on nearly every continent. Countless animals and plants live in them. So what difference could the loss of one animal species make? Follow the chain reaction, and discover how important honey bees are.

The ocean ecosystem is huge, covering most of our planet. Countless animals and plants live there. So what difference could the loss of one animal species make? Follow the chain reaction, and discover how important sea otters are.

A riveting exploration of how microbes are transforming the way we see nature and ourselves - and could revolutionize agriculture and medicine. Prepare to set aside what you think you know about yourself and microbes. Good health - for people and for plants - depends on Earth's smallest creatures. The Hidden Half of Nature tells the story of our tangled relationship with microbes and their potential to revolutionize agriculture and medicine, from garden to gut.

There’s a chili tasting contest! Nestor Dock and his friends cooked their chili for everyone to taste. Will Nestor have a chance to win with so many different taste buds? Someone wants a pinch of salt, another person doesn’t eat meat, and another person says it’s just too spicey! Find out if Nestor’s ingredients chase everyone off. What would you put in your chili?

Wurgaft and White use vivid storytelling to bring food practices to life, weaving stories of Panamanian coffee growers, medieval women beer makers, and Japanese knife forgers. From the Venetian spice trade to the Columbian Exchange, from Roman garum to Vietnamese nuoc cham, Ways of Eating provides an absorbing account of world food history and anthropology. Migration, politics, and the dynamics of group identity all shape what we eat, and we can learn to trace these social forces from the plate to the kitchen, the factory, and the field.

Taking on this story of heart and hardship, award-winning journalist Brian Reisinger weaves forgotten eras of American history with his own family’s four-generation fight for survival in Midwestern farm country. Listeners learn the truth about America’s most detrimental and unexplained socioeconomic crisis: How the family farms that feed us went from cutting a middle-class path through the Great Depression to barely making ends meet in modern America.

Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. She codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two brothers who run the neighborhood hole-in-the-wall from which she orders dinner every evening. Then, disaster! Visa issues. The brothers quickly close up shop. But they have one last delivery for Lois: their culture, the sourdough starter used to bake their bread. She must keep it alive, they tell her—feed it daily, play it music, and learn to bake with it.

In the 19th century, American meals were about subsistence, not enjoyment. But as a new century approached, appetites broadened, and David Fairchild, a young botanist with an insatiable lust to explore and experience the world, set out in search of foods that would enrich the American farmer and enchant the American eater. Kale from Croatia, mangoes from India, and hops from Bavaria. Peaches from China, avocados from Chile, and pomegranates from Malta. But Fairchild's finds weren't just limited to food.

Animals get their energy from the food they eat. Animals depend on other living things for food. Some animals, called herbivores, eat plants; while others are carnivores that eat other animals. Scavengers, like vultures and hyenas, eat dead animals. Learn how different animals eat and how this determines how they look and where they live. Can you name other animals that are scavengers?

With his unmistakable characters and signature rhymes, Dr. Seuss's beloved beginner book has cemented its place as a children's classic. Follow Sam I Am as he tries to convince an acquaintance that green eggs and ham is, indeed, a delectable meal to be savored everywhere and every way.

For millions of Americans affected by gluten-related disorders, consuming gluten, the complex protein found in wheat, rye, and barley, can be hazardous to their health. Dr. Alessio Fasano, founder of Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Celiac Research, reveals the latest developments in scientific research and treatment, and the answers they provide. This groundbreaking, authoritative guide is an invaluable roadmap for the newly diagnosed, for those already dealing with gluten-related issues, and for anyone who thinks they may have an issue with gluten.

In March 2010, The Scripps Research Institute released a study showing that rats on a junk-food diet had just as difficult a time - if not more so - giving up excess fat and sugar as the rats who were struggling to recover from cocaine dependence. The results showed that certain foods actually alter the brain's chemistry, making our consumption of these foods less like an indulgence and more like an addiction. Dr. Dow, a psychologist who specializes in addictive behavior and eating disorders, here introduces a four-week program for breaking the hold that food has over the body, mind, and spirit.

When the Cool Bean picks the name of the coolest of the cool beans, Beanadette, out of a hat for the annual gift exchange, he’s not feeling very merry or festive—he’s feeling pressure! Beanadette is definitely expecting the coolest present of all. Will the Cool Bean find the perfect gift in time for the party?

By explaining the lean system for identifying and eliminating waste and introducing efficiency in every aspect of the farm operation, The Lean Farm makes the case that small-scale farming can be an attractive career option for young people who are interested in growing food for their community. Working smarter, not harder, also prevents the kind of burnout that start-up farmers often encounter in the face of long, hard, backbreaking labor. Lean principles grew out of the Japanese automotive industry, but they are now being followed by progressive farms around the world....