My Mexico: A Culinary Odyssey with More Than 300 Recipes
Author: Diana Kennedy
"Why my Mexico?" asks Diana Kennedy in her introduction to this long-awaited book. The answer is simple and obvious: it is a highly personal book about the Mexico she knows. And no one knows Mexico the way Diana does. When Diana Kennedy first came to Mexico more than forty years ago, she did not intend to become the country's premier gastronome. But that is what she has become, traveling endlessly, learning the culinary histories of families, hunting elusive recipes, falling under the spell of the beauty of a countryside that produces such a wealth of foods. She has published five books and is referred to variously as the Julia Child, the Escoffier, and the high priestess of Mexican cooking. Most important, she has taken as her eternal project to record not only the wealth of Mexican culinary knowledge and folklore but also the fascinating stories behind it all.
My Mexico records Diana's recent wanderings, along with memories stored away from previous trips. With wondrous, novelistic prose, Diana tells the story behind her discovery of each dish, from the Pollo Almendrado (Chicken in Almond Sauce) she discovered in Oaxaca to the Estafado de Raya (Skate Stewed in Olive Oil) that delighted her in Coahuila. Yes, there are some fairly simple recipes for inexperienced cooks—look for the new guacamoles and the addictive chilatas. More complicated ones are for aficionados who know the intricacies of the ingredients.
Times have changed greatly since Diana published her first book. More and more ingredients are available in the U.S., and more and morepeople have learned of the true joys of real Mexican cooking. One thing has not changed—Diana Kennedy's passion. For those who already are familiar with her work, this volume is a much-needed addition to your library. For those who are not, you are in for a treat of the first order.
Publishers Weekly
In a deeply knowledgeable celebration of the diverse regional cuisines of Mexico, acclaimed gastronome Kennedy (The Cuisines of Mexico, etc.) presents a tour de force, with the emphasis on authenticity. She incorporates family heirloom recipes (e.g., Sra. Redondo's Steamed Tacos Filled with Vermicelli; the Andrea Family's Stuffed Ancho Chiles) with traditional signature dishes of various locales, as well as adaptations of restaurant favorites and classics collected over her 40-year sojourn south of the border. Kennedy divides chapters by geographical region and takes readers on a meandering culinary journey, replete with detailed accounts of local topography, seasons, sights, sounds and scents. Departing from the didactic tone and careful organization of her previous works, Kennedy dispenses with in-depth discussions on ingredients, equipment and technique, referring readers instead to her The Art of Mexican Cooking. While there are condiments like Salsa Verde, Guacamole of Jerez and Jalapeno Chile Relish that even inexperienced cooks can easily render, the recipes, most of which are laborious and involve hard-to-find ingredients, speak largely to well-traveled culinary aficionados or Mexican expats eager to replicate foods of their homeland (e.g., creamy, cheesy Zucchini Michoacan Style; pastry turnovers like Gorditas from Hidalgo; Oaxacan Squash Vine Soup). This book is as much a work of cultural anthropology as it is a recipe reference.
Library Journal
Kennedy is widely acknowledged as our preeminent authority on Mexican cooking; her previous cookbooks, including The Art of Mexican Cooking (LJ 8/89), are classics in the field, as her new book is surely destined to be. She first visited Mexico in the late 1950s and has lived there for more than 20 years. Now she offers a culinary journey through the different regions of the country, focusing more on her recent travels but often contrasting them with earlier visits and discoveries. Kennedy is interested not only in the broad culinary history of each region but also in the personal family histories of the cooks (mostly home cooks, but a few chefs, too) she has encountered along the way. Many of these recipes are unusual and have not been recorded anywhere else. Kennedy is passionate about preserving these historical recipes -- and indeed whatever culinary traditions still remain as industrialization and development overtake the country -- and she has followed her quest from large, thriving city marketplaces to tiny, remote villages. Essential.
Book about: Blue Skies No Fences or Ike
Slow Food: The Case for Taste
Author: Carlo Petrini
Take a breath.... Read slowly.
How often in the course and crush of our daily lives do we afford ourselves moments to truly relish-to truly be present in-the act of preparing and eating food? For most of us, our enjoyment of food has fallen victim to the frenetic pace of our lives and to our increasing estrangement, in a complex commercial economy, from the natural processes by which food is grown and produced. Packaged, artificial, and unhealthful, fast food is only the most dramatic example of the degradation of food in our lives, and of the deeper threats to our cultural, political, and environmental well-being.
In 1986, Carlo Petrini decided to resist the steady march of fast food and all that it represents when he organized a protest against the building of a McDonald's near the Spanish Steps in Rome. Armed with bowls of penne, Petrini and his supporters spawned a phenomenon. Three years later Petrini founded the International Slow Food Movement, renouncing not only fast food but also the overall pace of the "fast life." Issuing a manifesto, the Movement called for the safeguarding of local economies, the preservation of indigenous gastronomic traditions, and the creation of a new kind of ecologically aware consumerism committed to sustainability. On a practical level, it advocates a return to traditional recipes, locally grown foods and wines, and eating as a social event. Today, with a magazine, Web site, and over 75,000 followers organized into local "convivia," or chapters, Slow Food is poised to revolutionize the way Americans shop for groceries, prepare and consume their meals, and think about food.
Slow Food not only recalls the origins, firststeps, and international expansion of the movement from the perspective of its founder, it is also a powerful expression of the organization's goal of engendering social reform through the transformation of our attitudes about food and eating. As Newsweek described it, the Slow Food movement has now become the basis for an alternative to the American rat race, the inspiration for "a kinder and gentler capitalism."
Linger a while then, with the story of what Alice Waters in her Foreword calls "this Delicious Revolution," and rediscover the pleasures of the good life.
Publishers Weekly
Slow Food, a group of 75,000 members that supports recognition of traditional foods and eating patterns (e.g., the family meal), is an important player in today's battle for the palates and stomachs of the world. As "The Official Slow Food Manifesto" states, "Slow Food is an idea that needs plenty of qualified supporters," but to find them, it's going to need more friendly material than this didactic screed. Italian journalist Petrini founded the group in 1989, changing the name of a previous organization from Arcigola to Arcigola Slow Food in response to the opening of a McDonald's in Rome's Piazza di Spagna, a development described in excruciating detail. Petrini's condescending tone ("When you see the word `flavorings' on the package, don't imagine that it always refers to natural substances") isn't helped by a clumsy translation that adheres to Italian syntax. It's a shame, because the elitist tone and convoluted language obscure Petrini's informed opinions on genetically modified organisms and nutritional education in the schools (he references mainly Italian public schools). Petrini's case against McDonald's is perhaps his strongest card, but it's geared mainly to an Italian, or at least European, audience (it's doubtful that many American parents comfort themselves with the thought that "when they're old enough the kids will develop a taste for Barolo") and more thorough and better written arguments have already been made, most notably in Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation. (July) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Neither a cookbook nor a foodie memoir, Slow Food is nevertheless an important work. Its closest recent companion would be Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, but instead of further condemning the fast-food industry, this book extols regional food traditions and ingredients and other elements of the slow-food movement. Started in 1989 by Italian food writer Petrini as a reaction to the fast-food lifestyle that was threatening to homogenize Italian culinary traditions, the movement has spread to more than 40 countries. Petrini's book is both a philosophical treatise and a history of the movement all in one slim volume, yet it suffices. Slow Food will help the reader better understand why so many cookbooks and chefs promote local and seasonal produce. Petrini, too, promotes quality, locally produced ingredients in the service of taste, and taste as a key to pleasure. More important, however, he recognizes the cultural and environmental impact of the food heritage that he strives to preserve. Appendixes noting the movement's Italian and international foodstuffs provide an interesting closing note. Recommended for serious culinary collections in public and academic libraries.-Peter Hepburn, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Lib. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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