Simple Food for the Good Life: Random Acts of Cooking and Pithy Quotations (Paperback)

~ Helen Nearing (Author)
Key Phrases: cups wholewheat flour, good huswife, oiled skillet, The Art of Entertaining, Long Life, The Young Housekeeper (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Fifty years before the phrase "simple living" became fashionable, Helen and Scott Nearing were living their celebrated "Good Life" on homesteads first in Vermont, then in Maine. All the way to their ninth decades, the Nearings grew their own food, built their own buildings, and fought an eloquent combat against the silliness of America's infatuation with consumer goods and refined foods. They also wrote or co-wrote more than thirty books, many of which are now being brought back into print by the Good Life Center and Chelsea Green. Simple Food for the Good Life is a jovial collection of "quips, quotes, and one-of-a-kind recipes meant to amuse and intrigue all of those who find themselves in the kitchen, willingly or otherwise." Recipes such as Horse Chow, Scott's Emulsion, Crusty Carrot Croakers, Raw Beet Borscht, Creamy Blueberry Soup, and Super Salad for a Crowd should improve the mood as well as whet the appetite of any guest. Here is an antidote for the whole foods enthusiast who is "fed up" with the anxieties and drudgeries of preparing fancy meals with stylish, expensive, hard-to-find ingredients. This celebration of salads, leftovers, raw foods, and homegrown fruits and vegetables takes the straightest imaginable route from their stem or vine to your table. "The funniest, crankiest, most ambivalent cookbook you'll ever read," said Food & Wine magazine. "This is more than a mere cookbook," said Health Science magazine: "It belongs to the category of classics, destined to be remembered through the ages." Among Helen Nearing's numerous books is Chelsea Green's Loving and Leaving the Good Life, a memoir of her fifty-year marriage to Scott Nearing and the story of Scott's deliberate death at the age of one hundred. Helen and Scott Nearing's final homestead in Harborside, Maine, has been established in perpetuity as an educational progam under the name of The Good Life Center.

About the Author

Helen Nearing left city life with her husband, Scott nearly sixty years ago to move first to Vermont and then to their farm in Harborside, Maine. The Nearings' food and living philosophies have provided the guidelines for many who seek a simpler way of life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing (November 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890132292
• ISBN-13: 978-1890132293
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #226,705 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful read, November 29, 1999

By	K.C. "Patchie" (USA) - See all my reviews

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, more than I enjoyed "Living the Good Life." Helen Nearing gives clear, concise arguments for eating simple, unprocessed food. As a strict vegetarian who has to sometimes defend my dietary choices to my family and friends, I treasured her well-laid out chapter on vegetarianism. Though Helen definitely had her own opinions and stuck to them, I like the message of tolerance that comes through when she speaks about dietary choices and conciences. The recipes are all very simple and easy to understand, and, unlike some vegetarian cookbooks, do not call for hard-to-find ingredients. I also liked her use of quotes on vegetarianism, food in general, and cooking. A very good book, good for anyone who is reevaluating his or her diet.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars simplify, September 19, 2002

By A Customer

I borrowed this book from my local library. Not being able to sleep one night, I picked it up and dug into page one. At 2 am, I finally set it down, reading the entire volume in one entranced sitting, eagerly anticipating the next morning when I could try some horse chow for breakfast rather than my usual cooked oatmeal glop. A handful of raw oats, a banana, some nuts, a few raisins, and a splash of soy milk was all it took that morning for me to become addicted to a way of eating that makes so much sense, it's amazing to think of mind-numbing habits that contribute to the dismal American diet. I love the author's no-nonsense approach, writing for "the rest of us" that don't relate to the idea of spending three hours in the kitchen to make a meal that will be gulped down in twenty minutes. I recommend it to anyone wishing to slow down and simplify in this diet-crazed country of ours.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most unusual cook book you will ever read, December 11, 2001

By	J. Bernstein (Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Helen Nearing does not mince words. She tells it like she thinks it, which is part of the beauty of her style. This book will make you thing about the way you eat, and what you feed those you love, so get ready to have some assumptions challenged. I have used some of the recipes in this text, and have not been disappointed (try any of the salads described or the banana cookies for a snack).