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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2011
On one level I respect the achievment of this book because of the food traditions being brought forward from so many cultures. I bought this book and read it cover to cover because I wanted to learn more about cultured foods and how to make them and eat them. I suppose Nourishing Traditions delivers on that score, but I was so turned off by the preachy, didactic, dogmatic tone and message of the book that I found I have not made use of it for any actual food preparation. Did you want to buy a cookbook, or a new religion? I wanted a cookbook. Did you want to read about yummy food, or get lectured with a wagging finger page after page, as the authors tell you about what they will and will not "allow" you to eat? The use of the word allow shows a high degree of arrogance, and in addition these authors resort to more nutritional fear-mongering than any doctor would dare. It makes me wonder to what degree this book is well-intentioned, and to what degree it comes from a place of pride and control.
Mind you, I don't think the medical community has anything good to say about nutrition, so I'm not on their side. This book isn't only about calling Opposite Day on mainstream diet recommendations--although it certainly is that--it also goes after vegetarians (you CAN'T be healthy without eating meat), locavores (you CAN'T be healthy without imported tropical oils), and people who work outside the home (just by virtue of the fact that you CAN'T eat this way if you have a job, unless you are one of those tireless souls who can get through a 15+ hour day without any R&R. Yes, I watch TV. So sue me. I'm tired when I get home from work. Even with two incomes our family could not afford the pasture-raised butter that you CAN'T be healthy without, so we couldn't follow this diet dictum even if one of us quit our job to devote ourselves to it.)
A few minor points:
The fervor is so strong here that the reader will be asked to accept that cornflakes will kill you. Dead.
The many uses of "oriental" and "south-of-the-border" made me feel like I was reading Betty Crocker from the '50s.
The authors are very fond of referencing the Sugar Blues guy. If you followed his work after Sugar Blues, you would find he wrote a book espousing a Sproutarian diet, and looked like a full-blown psychotic in his book jacket photo.
Tea is a cultured beverage with ancient cultural traditions, but it's the one ancient cultured thing the authors enjoin you not to partake of. See how they are?
Is a life without chocolate really worth living?
In short, this book had me running to Michael Pollan.
Mind you, I don't think the medical community has anything good to say about nutrition, so I'm not on their side. This book isn't only about calling Opposite Day on mainstream diet recommendations--although it certainly is that--it also goes after vegetarians (you CAN'T be healthy without eating meat), locavores (you CAN'T be healthy without imported tropical oils), and people who work outside the home (just by virtue of the fact that you CAN'T eat this way if you have a job, unless you are one of those tireless souls who can get through a 15+ hour day without any R&R. Yes, I watch TV. So sue me. I'm tired when I get home from work. Even with two incomes our family could not afford the pasture-raised butter that you CAN'T be healthy without, so we couldn't follow this diet dictum even if one of us quit our job to devote ourselves to it.)
A few minor points:
The fervor is so strong here that the reader will be asked to accept that cornflakes will kill you. Dead.
The many uses of "oriental" and "south-of-the-border" made me feel like I was reading Betty Crocker from the '50s.
The authors are very fond of referencing the Sugar Blues guy. If you followed his work after Sugar Blues, you would find he wrote a book espousing a Sproutarian diet, and looked like a full-blown psychotic in his book jacket photo.
Tea is a cultured beverage with ancient cultural traditions, but it's the one ancient cultured thing the authors enjoin you not to partake of. See how they are?
Is a life without chocolate really worth living?
In short, this book had me running to Michael Pollan.
