So the other day I picked up two books I have been wanting to buy for a very long time. Normally they are $60 a piece but I found them in a two pack for just under $30. These books are called "The French Laundry" and "Ad Hoc at Home" by Chef Thomas Keller.
http://www.frenchlaundry.com/
http://www.tkrg.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Keller
Those links will help you to understand who Thomas Keller is and what he does. His books are amazing and laid out in such a way that you will grow to love him and his food. Both books show food that he prepares at two of his famous restaurants and shows you why he does it and how you can do it.
Each book contains not just recipes, but stories. Some are about him, some about his food, some about where he gets his food, and others are little tid bits of things that have happened at the restaurant and in his life. Ad Hoc at home I suggest to anyone who is wanting to be a cook at home or who is just starting out. In fact the first chapter is called "Becoming a better cook." The French Laundry, however, is for the more advanced crowd of cooks. It features what he does best, the more award winning, star earning food. This way of cooking requires a knowledge of food and the ability to focus and prepare food in a way most cooks are not familiar with at home.
Both books were great reads and are stuck on my books shelf of cooking books and books on food. I suggest them if you want to see what profession cooking is and what it is all about. It will show you the art and the love we have for what we do. To top it off, it will show you how a man who never went to culinary school can pull off star worthy food. So go out and pick them up sometime, you will not be disappointed.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Organic??????
You all may have noticed that one word bugs me above all when it comes to food and that is the word Gourmet. Right below that word is another which I have grown to hate. It is the word Organic. It is the one word since the word Gourmet to have the whole food world and populace in general in a fever. Organic labeled foods are those who "are grown naturally and without the use of chemical or synthetics." I put that in the "" because it is the definition and I hate it.
Organic foods are said to be the best for us. They have no harmful chemical and no additives which can hurt our bodies. Then again, how do we know? If you listen to the news they say the world is so polluted that the chemicals are stuck in the soil, so these organic foods could still be seeping up chemicals and such from the soil, water, and what have you. Yet this is not what I am mad about. I say let them grow them, but why shove them down our throats?
We have become a world where we are assaulted by all sorts of media telling us that what we eat and drink can kill us, cause cancer, and make us fat. Every day a new show contradicts the one on the day or hour before saying that it is not that which kills us, but this that kills us. So in the long run we have no clue what is bad for us and assume everything is bad for us. So when someone comes out with a product that says this will not kill you and is healthy for you, we jump on it like dogs in heat ready to go at it. Yet all we know about these organic foods is what the internet and the news and media tell us. Most do not know much past that.
In reality Organic foods are only good if handled right. Easily a bacteria can creep in and make that organic safe food bad again. Also remember that alot of things can say organic and not really be organic. There are few laws to say what is and what is not organic. Anyone can grow something and label it organic if they want to run the risk of being sued. Some farmers markets say they will only take food that is USDA approved organic while others just turn a shoulder to it. So in reality that Organic cobb salad could really be lettuce grown on a regular farm or tomatoes grown by a huge tomato company.
Also look at the prices of Organic foods vs other foods. It may cost you a few dollars for regular peanut butter but if you almost triple that price you can have organic peanut butter. They reasoning is they have to grow more and take care of it more than the other foods, which is why the cheaper way of growing foods was invented in the first place to save money and make money. Yet the organic food lovers do not understand that in order for the whole US to go 100% organic almost every national forest and park would have to be leveled for farming. This means we would have to hurt the environment to grow more food, mostly because almost half the food will be killed or eaten by pests and disease. This also means we would not be able to export food as we would need every last drop to try and feed the entire US Populace.
So still think organic is good for us and the environment? I don't but I also live by this rule, decide for yourself. Do not let others try and tell you what is good and what is bad for you and yourself. If the president and the surgeon general said that sucking on glass shards could cure a tooth ache or canker sores would you do it? Decide for yourself and live your life the way you want to. I will keep eating the foods I do even if they kill me later on down the line because I believe that it is safer for the environment, is cheaper on the hard working people, and by the time is does kill me, I will have lived a long healthy life. We all die, there is no denying that, so why worry if it kills you when your 80 or 90. Decide for you.
Organic foods are said to be the best for us. They have no harmful chemical and no additives which can hurt our bodies. Then again, how do we know? If you listen to the news they say the world is so polluted that the chemicals are stuck in the soil, so these organic foods could still be seeping up chemicals and such from the soil, water, and what have you. Yet this is not what I am mad about. I say let them grow them, but why shove them down our throats?
We have become a world where we are assaulted by all sorts of media telling us that what we eat and drink can kill us, cause cancer, and make us fat. Every day a new show contradicts the one on the day or hour before saying that it is not that which kills us, but this that kills us. So in the long run we have no clue what is bad for us and assume everything is bad for us. So when someone comes out with a product that says this will not kill you and is healthy for you, we jump on it like dogs in heat ready to go at it. Yet all we know about these organic foods is what the internet and the news and media tell us. Most do not know much past that.
In reality Organic foods are only good if handled right. Easily a bacteria can creep in and make that organic safe food bad again. Also remember that alot of things can say organic and not really be organic. There are few laws to say what is and what is not organic. Anyone can grow something and label it organic if they want to run the risk of being sued. Some farmers markets say they will only take food that is USDA approved organic while others just turn a shoulder to it. So in reality that Organic cobb salad could really be lettuce grown on a regular farm or tomatoes grown by a huge tomato company.
Also look at the prices of Organic foods vs other foods. It may cost you a few dollars for regular peanut butter but if you almost triple that price you can have organic peanut butter. They reasoning is they have to grow more and take care of it more than the other foods, which is why the cheaper way of growing foods was invented in the first place to save money and make money. Yet the organic food lovers do not understand that in order for the whole US to go 100% organic almost every national forest and park would have to be leveled for farming. This means we would have to hurt the environment to grow more food, mostly because almost half the food will be killed or eaten by pests and disease. This also means we would not be able to export food as we would need every last drop to try and feed the entire US Populace.
So still think organic is good for us and the environment? I don't but I also live by this rule, decide for yourself. Do not let others try and tell you what is good and what is bad for you and yourself. If the president and the surgeon general said that sucking on glass shards could cure a tooth ache or canker sores would you do it? Decide for yourself and live your life the way you want to. I will keep eating the foods I do even if they kill me later on down the line because I believe that it is safer for the environment, is cheaper on the hard working people, and by the time is does kill me, I will have lived a long healthy life. We all die, there is no denying that, so why worry if it kills you when your 80 or 90. Decide for you.
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