Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating [Paperback]

Lisa Jervis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

This rousing call to action for healthy, conscious eating is an inspirational primer for those who want to move beyond packaged and processed food toward a more responsible and sustainable way of eating. Many people are learning about the political ramifications of what they eat, but don't know how to change their habits or expand their kitchen repertoire to include meatless dishes. This compendium offers a straightforward overview of the political issues surrounding food, and a culinary toolkit to put principles into practice. Without resorting to faux meat, fake cheese, or obscure ingredients, the recipes focus on fresh, local, minimally processed ingredients that sustain farmers, animals, and the entire food chain. Instead of a rigid set of recipes to be replicated, it offers tips for improvisation, creative thinking in the kitchen, practical suggestions for cooking on a budget, and quick and delicious vegan and vegetarian meal options for anyone who wants to eat fast, tasty, nutritious food every day.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lisa Jervis is the founding editor and publisher of Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, the founding board president of Women in Media and News, and a member of the advisory board for outLoud Radio. Her work has appeared in numerous periodicals, including Mother Jones, Ms. magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Utne Reader,  and she is a contributor to the anthologies Body Outlaws and The BUST Guide to the New Girl Order. She is coeditor of Young Wives' Tales: New Adventures in Love and Partnership and BITCHfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine. She lives in Oakland, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: PM Press (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1604860731
• ISBN-13: 978-1604860733
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #877,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun to read, inspiring manualfesto for the localvore inside us all, July 4, 2009

By 

Gail Leondar Wright - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating (Paperback)

Slow food, fast read. What a completely delightful book. Lisa Jervis takes the best of what's out there (by Michael Pollan and others) and digests it for us, so we can follow in her localvore footsteps... or not. As Jervis reminds us, she's not a guru. But she is a wise and supportive friend who might be just a step or two ahead of us on the journey. If you are interested in eating and cooking more sustainably, if you are wondering what all the fuss is about, or if you are already a vegan or vegetarian, you will find lots of support, inspiration and easy, affordable tips and recipes in Cook Food. And you will have fun along the way.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new kitchen essential, January 2, 2010

By 

Cynthia Van Maanen (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating (Paperback)

I was a little skeptical when I first opened this book. I had already read Michael Pollan, et al., and I was already a decent and mildly experienced cook. I wasn't a vegan, or even a vegetarian (though I rarely cook meat at home). I've also been known to go on a rant from time to time when faced with a lecture about how you have to be vegan or vegetarian in order to maintain a healthy, green/local lifestyle--it's not true, of course, I know many an unhealthy, un-green vegan, and many a healthy, green omnivore.

I got this book, then, because I like Jervis' other work and because some of the recipes looked pretty interesting. I skimmed the first part, figuring that I new all that stuff already, and went straight for the oatmeal dried-fruit cookie recipe. This is a great recipe to start with because a) the result is wonderful, and b) it's a nice introduction to Jervis' style of recipe-writing. This recipe is chock full of information about the ingredients and suggestions of ways to alter the recipe to your tastes. It's written so that anyone can understand it, not just a seasoned baker. Bakers, however, will still find the information and advice incredibly interesting and useful.

From there, I realized that it might be useful to read the first half of the book instead of only using this for recipes (shocking, no?!). I was so impressed with all of the information and advice in the first half--I felt like I had just taken a full course in cooking conscientiously. The tone of the book is informative and very accessible--but not dumbed-down in any way (I think I was worried it would be, hence why I was reluctant to pay attention to the first half in the beginning). If you are completely new to cooking, Jervis walks you through the process; if you've been cooking all your life, you'll find a ton of great ideas and helpful hints in this book. Jervis teaches you what she knows, but she also gives you the room, knowledge, and encouragement to do what you want. Most of the not-so-great cooks I know are those who want to make substitutions to make the recipe their own, but don't know enough about how or why the ingredients work together to make the right substitutions. Jervis explains what kinds of substitutions work, and what kind don't, and why--that's actually a hard thing to find in a lot of cookbooks.

Beyond that, Jervis is explicit about what you should stock in your fridge or pantry, and even how long it will last. She explains what kind of equipment you need in your kitchen and why. This is another topic that's often overlooked in a lot of cookbooks. Overall, the book makes you feel like you really can cook anything you want, with or without a recipe, and even if it doesn't work the first time, you'll get it eventually.

After I went back and read the first part of the book, I tried the spice rub on sweet potatoes using the roasting veggies how-to from the book. This is another treasure trove of information. Just last night I made the lentils with wine, and everyone who ate them was so impressed.

Even if this book were twice the price, I would already feel like I had gotten my money's worth.

Buy (and read) this book. You won't be disappointed.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DIY Scrumptious, July 16, 2009

By 

Janet M. Miller (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating (Paperback)

I was lucky enough to be a test taster/test reader for this book, and all I can say is "DIY scrumptious."

Lisa's recipes are waaay easy to follow, leave room for a little creativity, and don't require a bunch of esoteric ingredients. More importantly, the end result is crunchy-salty-savory goodness.

This is in stark contrast to those monk monastery cookbooks out there that equate health with cold watery tofu. Or the equally annoying "add a teaspoon of low-fat bottled dressing, mix with plain nonfat yogurt" cookbooks that may as well be titled Weight Loss and Heart Disease Recovery for the Stereotypical American. But I digress.

This book works equally well for those who don't know how to cook, those who only know how to cook stuff they would no longer be caught dead eating, and those who cook all the time but want some new, interesting, and fast recipes.

As well as those who just can't resist anything called a manualfesto.