Customer Reviews

Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are a lot of things that I love about this book. First, the authors use humor to present some really serious news, simplifying a set of complex factors that have led to our very broken food "industry". Second, they artfully show the intersection of the health, environmental and social justice issues that play out in food production and food choices. Third, they remind us that eating healthfully doesn't mean we're limited to tofu veggie stir fries and rice cakes every day of the week. Finally, Grub is really accessible, and is a perfect tool for educating friends and family members about these issues without worrying about offending anyone by saying the wrong thing at the wrong moment.

I already consider myself a healthy eater - but after reading Grub, I feel so much more inspired to make thoughtful choices, buy from my local farmers market and have more fun creating beautiful, delicious and healthy meals. Just in time for summer!

I have to say I was extremely surprised to see this book deemed "superficial" by reviewer "the librarian" below. Grub is anything but.

Specifically, "the abundantly documented health and environmental ills of the the meat and dairy industry and the massive disinformation campaigns of those industries" are indeed highlighted in Grub, in which Lappe outlines six illusions of our modern day food supply. A whole chapter on health delves into many of the health ramifications of industrial food. I'm guessing the reviewer "librarian" hasn't read the book?

One of the things I really appreciate about Grub, is the non-dogmatic way it goes about informing the reader about good food. Yes, there are clear lines at times between good and bad food. For example, it is very easy to make the distinction between a generic label milk product bought from Wal-Mart produced by a cow pumped with hormones and antibiotics, and fed GM soy and corn in a closed feedlot & a small organic dairy farm 30 miles from your home that you buy milk from on a weekly basis at the farmer's market. Easy distinction.

But when it comes to many of our food choices, there are grey areas, that need to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. For example, would you choose certified organic broccoli (grown in California) OR whatever locally-grown green vegetable you can find, that may not be organic? Support a far-away farmer that upholds the organic standards and practices sound ecological methods, or support a close-to-home farmer that has not yet phased out all chemicals from production? It's a tough call from an environmental and health standpoint, and I don't pretend to have the answer. Perhaps this is what the author means about it not being so clear and easy to write off some foods as good and others as bad. With her well-informed analysis in Grub and previous excellence in Hope's Edge, I'm certainly inclined to think so.

Librarian in Asheville, I encourage you to give this book a closer look.

As someone who reads and reviews dozens of books on food and farming each year, I highly recommend Grub. Where else can you find a great read, cookbook, and party planer, all rolled into one?

Very rarely does a book as complete and engaging as Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen, make it to the mainstream. Grub, as defined by the authors, Anna Lapp? and Bryan Terry, is "healthy, local, sustainable food for all... food that supports community, justice, and sustainability." Blending a healthy mix of information, analysis, and scrumptious recipes, Grub is the ideal kitchen, classroom, or bedside companion for all things food. Part 1 is a well-written expos? of the industrial food complex, replete with revealing graphics and information. Part 2 features a diverse cookbook that champions seasonal and whole foods, from vegan to carnivorous options.

The most exciting part Grub is its underlying objective: to build community around a just and sustainable food system. Grub provides a guide to throwing "Grub Parties," complete with recipes and discussion guides, making this book not only a fantastic catalyst to taking the next step in rescuing our food system.

If you are going to buy one book on food or farming this year, Grub is the one to get.

Ryan Zinn
Organic Consumers Association

I saw Anna in Asheville and thought her presentation was excellent -- thorough, compelling and hopeful. Finally I have a perfect word for healthy, high quality -- GOOD -- food for ALL. It's GRUB!

As a registered dietitian, I wholeheartedly embrace Grub. It's informative, useful and easy to read. It's a jam-packed, how-to primer for a new way of eating and belongs on our kitchen table for insightful inspiration and recipes. I'm buying Grub for my 20-something children who have influence over their friends and tremendous buying power to influence their future food system.
Anna is a synergistic brilliant blend of her famous mother AND father -- Grub, in fact, is dedicated to the latter. Make no mistake though, Anna independently flies on her own -- as Grub proves -- in her vision and drive to correct the industrial, corporate food injustices in the world. "Local, just and fair" -- that's GRUB. Get it and make a difference.
Melinda Hemmelgarn, M.S., R.D.
Food Sleuth, LLC

I just picked this book up and i love it! When was the last time you read a cookbook that was also an activist tool or vice versa? I love that Lappe and Terry provide a wider context for understanding our food supply and several tools to make a difference, especially on the local front. And the super yummy and creative recipes (along with poems and soundtracks) just can't be beat. I have already started shopping for my grub kitchen and planning a grub party. In other words, I plan to get my grub on!

I love this book. It's wonderful to get an update on both good and bad farming practices and dietary habits since "Diet for a Small Planet", and wonderful to see so much hope for better eating. The recipes all sound so delicious and the ones that I've tried taste that way too. My only reason for giving it 4 * rather than 5 is that I'm not based in a large city in the USA where these ingredients are available. But in some ways, this is the point of Grub; a call to learn what is sold by small businesses in your local area, and a call to support local farmers. It's up to me to explore my local stores; for me this means learning to use the ingredients sold by my local Turkish, Vietnamese and Korean grocers, and what is grown by my local Italian, Greek and Vietnamese farmers. Grub encourages all to learn to use what is fresh, in season, and healthy. So I can only actually cook half of the recipes - but that's about average, and the book gives me inspiration to change my habits to find some of my own.

i have to start off by acknowledging my bias! bryant i have been watching this book develop for years. and i have been asking for it! i am the kind of person who never cooks. ever. i order in. the move towards health in my life has been ordering in healthier food :) i have literally had no real kitchen for years!

this book gives clearcut reasons for why food justice and personal health as it relates to food is a crucial component to being a progressive person, to living our values. and then it gives hella basic guidelines to delightful food. i have eaten at bryant's house for several years now and literally always walked out thinking: "damn, now that's my favorite food and i will never get to eat it again!" now all those recipes are right there in my kitchen begging to be made.

its not exaggeration to say that part of my joy in my upcoming move to cali is getting a kitchen to truly rock these recipes, but i've been able to do several of them already, they're that easy and clearly presented.

and somehow it makes eating well feel like a righteous act!

so i highly recommend this book to everyone, not only to make sure you are loving yourself, but buy copies for people you love!

The first half of the book is about how messed up our food and the food industry is in the US. Very informative. The second half of the book is recipes. I would have enjoyed less recipes and more ideas on how to make my urban kitchen, organic. Things such as gardening, freezing food etc. The book is beautifully put together and I enjoyed the content. I only gave it 4 stars because I was expecting something slightly different.

First of all, I would like to say that I simply adore the recipes in this book. I do consider most of them to be "special occasion" food, since I can't always afford some of the ingredients, but it's good to have fancy food every now and then.

My only complaint with this book is that the authors seem to show contempt for anyone who follows a specific lifestyle or diet. As a dedicated vegan myself, I choose not to eat animal products as part of my effort to not support the meat industry or the suffering of other living things. So, when the authors gave examples of "vegans" sneaking cheese, or "vegetarians" sneaking seafood, that seems unfair. Obviously these "vegans" and "vegetarians" are not in fact what they say they are. That doesn't mean that every veg-head out there is a hypocrite who's to weak to "do without".

If the book didn't have that snide little comment, I'd give it 5 stars. But buy it for the recipes anyways!! Yum!

"Grub" opens by poking fun at people who get "cranky when the goat cheese isn't served at room temperature", or are "fond of restaurants that serve chocolate-covered edamame", and then goes on to gleefully serve up recipes such as "Yucca Chowder", a recipe which by itself calls for a dizzying list of exotic ingredients including yucca, "kombu", "recao", saffron, and okra. What is the point of lecturing for half the book about using locally grown foods, and then offering recipes crawling with uncommon or downright bizarre ingredients? Where the hell am I supposed to get locally produced plantains, black rice, and pine nuts in southern Michigan? Should I buy my "kombu" organic? Perhaps I should skip down to the farmer's market for the ingredients for their "Picadillo-Stuffed Chayote with Rutagaga-Garlic Sauce." Failing that, I suppose I can always go collect some "seitan" (what the hell is it anyway?) from my vegetable garden. It has been a long time since I read Diet for a Small Planet (written by the author's mother) but I seem to recall simple, nutritious recipes made from a minimal list of recognizable ingredients. If the child of that heritage has grown to believe that this sort of nonsense is sensible, then the whole foods movement she claims to champion is indeed doomed to failure.