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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2005
I have to correct some of the spurious information in a couple of the negative reviews that I've seen. First of all, yes, Weston A. Price was a dentist, not a nutritionist. Notwithstanding, he made tremendous contributions to the understanding of human health and nutritional needs. He is remembered for what he shared with the world about the travels he made to remote areas of the world to discover what healthy native peoples were eating. He went out with questions, not preformed conclusions, carefully observed, made measurements, took copious notes and photographs, and drew conclusions only after he had accumulated an abundance of evidence. He did not conclude that there was a single one-size-fits-all diet for all people, but that traditional people ate a tremendous variety of different diets, with certain key elements in common:
* they ate nutrient-dense foods
* they prepared foods in ways that maximized nutrients and digestibility
* they ate at least some animal foods, and particularly valued certain animal foods such as liver and organ meats, raw butter from cows grazing on green grass, etc.
* they discovered the value of lacto-fermentation and ate many foods fermented
* they ate some of their animal foods raw
* they ate properly prepared whole grains and seeds (soaked, sprouted, fermented, etc.) to minimize anti-nutrients and increase digestibility
* they produced their own food and taught the younger generations the value of certain foods, especially for pregnant or nursing women, children, and couples wishing to have children
* they spaced their families so women didn't have children more often than every three years so as to have the strength and nutritient stores needed for gestation and lactation, not to mention chilldrearing.
There are probably other points but this covers the key items I think.
The Weston A. Price foundation was founded by Sally Fallon, in about 1999, I believe, and not by Weston Price. Another group, the Price-Pottenger Foundation, serves as an archive of the works of Price as well as Pottenger (I don't remember his whole name; author of nutrition study called Pottenger's Cats) and publishes "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration," which surely must be the most important book on nutrition ever, despite not being written by a "nutritionist." (I've read most of what is out there.)
The WAPF does not accept money from the dairy or meat industries. I am a member and I know Sally. The foundation is supported by member dues, individual and small-business contributions and book sales. For lots of free articles from past issues of the WAPF journal, Nourishing Traditions, visit [...] I've read almost every WAPF article ever published and am impressed by the high standard of scientific proof adhered to, with citations in scholarly journals and lucid explanations of complicated subjects.
I do agree that Nourishing Traditions can be intimidating at first. I was fascinated but couldn't see myself making all these things from scratch. But gradually I started learning to make one foundational product (sauerkraut), then another (kefir), and I recently jumped in whole hog, so to speak. And for the first time I went back and read the introductory chapter, which lays out the theoretical and philosophical foundations of the book, based on the work of Weston A. Price. If you're confused by the recipes, go back and read the introduction, and just read the book as a text. Then start small. Yes, preparing nutritious food takes time, but it's a valuable investment in your health. Also, the WAPF has local chapters that can help you find sources of whole foods in your region, and you can learn a lot from other members. Check the Web site.
I actually got started in Nourishing Traditions-style cooking when I happened to attend a demonstration of sauerkraut- and kimchee-making by Sandor Katz, the author of the wonderful book Wild Fermentation (which Sally Fallon wrote the intro to). When I realized how easy it was to make saurkraut and how wonderful the process of lacto-fermentation was, I started experimenting. Now, at any given time, I have at least one crock of saurkraut or pickes or both bubbling away on my counter, and others in the refrigerator, and I make kefir every 2-3 days from raw milk. Yum!
Another good introduction to the work of Weston A. Price is "Traditional Foods Are Your Best Medicine," by Ronald Schmid, a naturopath. The first half is best, where he recounts Price's travels and findings and reprints many of the startling photographs he took of the effects of traditional diets vs "white man's food" on various populations. I think Schmid wrote the book before he fully understood the import of certain aspects of Price's findings, so the second half of his book is weaker.
* they ate nutrient-dense foods
* they prepared foods in ways that maximized nutrients and digestibility
* they ate at least some animal foods, and particularly valued certain animal foods such as liver and organ meats, raw butter from cows grazing on green grass, etc.
* they discovered the value of lacto-fermentation and ate many foods fermented
* they ate some of their animal foods raw
* they ate properly prepared whole grains and seeds (soaked, sprouted, fermented, etc.) to minimize anti-nutrients and increase digestibility
* they produced their own food and taught the younger generations the value of certain foods, especially for pregnant or nursing women, children, and couples wishing to have children
* they spaced their families so women didn't have children more often than every three years so as to have the strength and nutritient stores needed for gestation and lactation, not to mention chilldrearing.
There are probably other points but this covers the key items I think.
The Weston A. Price foundation was founded by Sally Fallon, in about 1999, I believe, and not by Weston Price. Another group, the Price-Pottenger Foundation, serves as an archive of the works of Price as well as Pottenger (I don't remember his whole name; author of nutrition study called Pottenger's Cats) and publishes "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration," which surely must be the most important book on nutrition ever, despite not being written by a "nutritionist." (I've read most of what is out there.)
The WAPF does not accept money from the dairy or meat industries. I am a member and I know Sally. The foundation is supported by member dues, individual and small-business contributions and book sales. For lots of free articles from past issues of the WAPF journal, Nourishing Traditions, visit [...] I've read almost every WAPF article ever published and am impressed by the high standard of scientific proof adhered to, with citations in scholarly journals and lucid explanations of complicated subjects.
I do agree that Nourishing Traditions can be intimidating at first. I was fascinated but couldn't see myself making all these things from scratch. But gradually I started learning to make one foundational product (sauerkraut), then another (kefir), and I recently jumped in whole hog, so to speak. And for the first time I went back and read the introductory chapter, which lays out the theoretical and philosophical foundations of the book, based on the work of Weston A. Price. If you're confused by the recipes, go back and read the introduction, and just read the book as a text. Then start small. Yes, preparing nutritious food takes time, but it's a valuable investment in your health. Also, the WAPF has local chapters that can help you find sources of whole foods in your region, and you can learn a lot from other members. Check the Web site.
I actually got started in Nourishing Traditions-style cooking when I happened to attend a demonstration of sauerkraut- and kimchee-making by Sandor Katz, the author of the wonderful book Wild Fermentation (which Sally Fallon wrote the intro to). When I realized how easy it was to make saurkraut and how wonderful the process of lacto-fermentation was, I started experimenting. Now, at any given time, I have at least one crock of saurkraut or pickes or both bubbling away on my counter, and others in the refrigerator, and I make kefir every 2-3 days from raw milk. Yum!
Another good introduction to the work of Weston A. Price is "Traditional Foods Are Your Best Medicine," by Ronald Schmid, a naturopath. The first half is best, where he recounts Price's travels and findings and reprints many of the startling photographs he took of the effects of traditional diets vs "white man's food" on various populations. I think Schmid wrote the book before he fully understood the import of certain aspects of Price's findings, so the second half of his book is weaker.
