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The Gospel of Food: Why We Should Stop Worrying and Enjoy What We Eat (P.S.)
 
 
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The Gospel of Food: Why We Should Stop Worrying and Enjoy What We Eat (P.S.) [Paperback]

Barry Glassner (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Book Description

P.S. December 26, 2007

For many Americans, eating is a religion. We worship at the temples of celebrity chefs. We raise our children to believe that certain foods are good and others are bad. We believe that if we eat the right foods, we will live longer, and if we eat in the right places, we will raise our social status. Yet what we believe to be true about food is, in fact, quite contradictory.

Part exposé, part social commentary, The Gospel of Food is a rallying cry to abandon the fads and fallacies in favor of calmer, more pleasurable eating. By interviewing chefs, food chemists, nutritionists, and restaurant critics about the way we eat, sociologist Barry Glassner helps us recognize the myths, half-truths, and guilt trips they promulgate, and liberates us for greater joy at the table.


Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things: Crime, Drugs, Minorities, Teen Moms, Killer Kids, Mutant Microbes, Plane Crashes, Road Rage, & So Much More $11.53

The Gospel of Food: Why We Should Stop Worrying and Enjoy What We Eat (P.S.) + The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things: Crime, Drugs, Minorities, Teen Moms, Killer Kids, Mutant Microbes, Plane Crashes, Road Rage, & So Much More


Editorial Reviews

Review

“It’s hard not to root for Glassner as he tilts against modern food dogma.” (Wall Street Journal )

“Glassner exposes the strained interpretations, ‘prejudices dressed up as science,’ and pure fabrications behind much received wisdom.” (New York Times )

“A master at the art of dissecting research.” (New York Times Book Review )

“Pure fun to read . . . Glassner is methodical and relentless in his exploration.” (Los Angeles Times Book Review )

About the Author

Barry Glassner is the author of the national bestseller The Culture of Fear. He is a professor of sociology at USC, and he lives in Los Angeles.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Perennial (December 26, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0060501227
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060501228
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,307,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The author of seven books on contemporary social issues, sociologist Barry Glassner is President of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Described by The New York Times as "a master at the art of dissecting research," Glassner has published research studies in The American Sociological Review, American Journal of Psychiatry, and other leading journals in the social sciences. His articles and commentaries have appeared in newspapers including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, and he is the recipient of several honors, including an "outstanding book of the year" award from Choice magazine.

Glassner's book, The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things (Basic Books, 2010), is a national bestseller that was named a "Best Book of the Year" by Knight-Ridder newspapers and by the Los Angeles Times Book Review.

In his other recent book, The Gospel of Food (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2007), Glassner argues that by abandoning food fads and mythical beliefs about diet, Americans will eat better and lead happier lives. "Glassner exposes the strained interpretations, 'prejudices dressed up as science,' and pure fabrications behind much received wisdom," The New York Times wrote of The Gospel of Food, a book that The Los Angeles Times described as "pure fun to read."




 

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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Valid points get lost in a somewhat disorganized book, November 18, 2008
This review is from: The Gospel of Food: Why We Should Stop Worrying and Enjoy What We Eat (P.S.) (Paperback)
The title sums up the premise of Glassner's book fairly accurately. He makes several valid points throughout the book, but they ultimately get lost, due to a lack of organization, signposting, and an overarching tendency simply to pick holes in the arguments of others without really stating his own position very clearly.

The book lacks structural coherence - the chapters resemble scattered essays without a unifying concept. The opening and closing chapters are generally concerned with establishing that much of the received wisdom about food is highly questionable (e.g., recommended daily allowances, nutritional guidelines, epidemiological claims that a given food is harmful, the demonization of McDonald's and fast food generally, overblown claims linking obesity to mortality). But two chapters in the middle of the book - "Restaurant Heaven" and "The Food Adventurers" - seem completely out of place, being little more than a catalog of memorable meals the author has been privileged to enjoy in various fancy restaurants. One doesn't begrudge Glassner his dream dinners prepared by Daniel Boulud or Thomas Keller, but the rapturous descriptions included here are a pointless self-indulgence, which seem to have little to do with the rest of the book. And I think most of us don't need to have it pointed out that restaurant critics are likely to get better meals and service than your average nondescript diner.

In the end, the book is disappointing, in that the valid points that Glassner has to make get lost in a welter of irrelevant detail and poor organization. Nonetheless, his overall message, that it is perverse to obsess about food to the extent that we no longer enjoy it, is an important one.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking, October 13, 2010
By 
Mussakka (Raleigh, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Gospel of Food: Why We Should Stop Worrying and Enjoy What We Eat (P.S.) (Paperback)
The author makes several thought provoking points and takes a definite Devil's Advocate approach to the current cultural obsession with "food is bad." I quite enjoyed the read, despite the lack of organization mentioned by the other reviewers.
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6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Just eat, already, October 17, 2008
This review is from: The Gospel of Food: Why We Should Stop Worrying and Enjoy What We Eat (P.S.) (Paperback)
Barry Glassner's book is well-researched, and Glassner knows how to bust a study. But Glassner also tries to cover too much ground.

It's just the ticket for readers who have grown tired of the handwringing over the so-called obesity epidemic. And it's a wonderful antidote for anyone who's tired of being excoriated for eating processed food, refined sugar or daring to ingest high fructose corn syrup.

Three generations ago, most people ate local, organic food. And they died a lot earlier than we did.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
food adventurers, fiscal model, food makers
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Gospel of Food, Burger King, New York Times, General Mills, Panda Express, False Prophets, Restaurant Heaven, Restaurant Hell, The Food Adventurers, Los Angeles, Wbat Made America Fat, Promises of the Fathers, Taco Bell, Slow Food, San Francisco, Daniel Boulud, Walter Willett, French Laundry, Eric Schlosser, Thomas Keller, Lotus of Siam, Men's Bread, Public Interest, Ruth Reichl, Jonathan Gold
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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