Synopses & Reviews
Food safety is a matter of intense public concern, and for good reason. Millions of annual cases of food "poisonings" raise alarm not only about the food served in restaurants and fast-food outlets but also about foods bought in supermarkets. The introduction of genetically modified foodsand#151;immediately dubbed "Frankenfoods"and#151;only adds to the general sense of unease. Finally, the events of September 11, 2001, heightened fears by exposing the vulnerability of food and water supplies to attacks by bioterrorists. How concerned should we be about such problems? Who is responsible for preventing them? Who benefits from ignoring them? Who decides?
Marion Nestle, author of the critically acclaimed Food Politics, argues that ensuring safe food involves more than washing hands or cooking food to higher temperatures. It involves politics. When it comes to food safety, billions of dollars are at stake, and industry, government, and consumers collide over issues of values, economics, and political powerand#151;and not always in the public interest. Although the debates may appear to be about science, Nestle maintains that they really are about control: Who decides when a food is safe?
She demonstrates how powerful food industries oppose safety regulations, deny accountability, and blame consumers when something goes wrong, and how century-old laws for ensuring food safety no longer protect our food supply. Accessible, informed, and even-handed, Safe Food is for anyone who cares how food is produced and wants to know more about the real issues underlying today's headlines.
Review
and#8220;Nestle clearly explains the intersection between policy, politics, and the plate, delivering practical advice on every corner of the grocery store.and#8221;
Review
"What ultimately ensures this unlikely book's appeal to a larger audience than armchair Antarctophiles and demented foodies is that Anthony is a fine, visceral writer and a witty observer. He paints his cast of questers with a Monty-Pythonesque brush, but balances the telling with a refusal to sneer or giggle. He demonstrates genuine respect, compassion and a kind of hopeless love for his quixotic subjects and their grandiose, miserable hungers."and#8212;Rebecca P. Sinkler,and#160;New York Times Book Review
Review
"What distinguishes Anthony's perceptive retelling of Antartic talesand#8212;besides the obvious focus on foodand#8212;is his ability to seamlessly weave details drawn from his own experience into heroic-age tales."and#8212;Peter Andrey Smith, Orion
Review
"[Hoosh is]and#160;a singular, engrossing take on a region that until now has been mostly documented from a scientific angle or romanticized by adventurers."and#8212;Kirkus
Review
"Beyond his own experience, Anthony's knowledge and research is deep, detailing the role of food in historic expeditions both well known . . . and not, including Japanese and Scottish efforts that have rarely been noticed. He also reviews the mid-20th-century adventures of Byrd, Ellsworth, Ronne, and others. Viewing each expedition through the lens of food offers great insight into the people who were really the most important members of those groups: not the leaders whose names we know well, but the cooks, about whom the public knows next to nothing."and#8212;Jeff Inglis, Portland Pheonix
Review
andquot;[Hoosh is] a jaunty history of Antarctic exploration and personal experience from a food perspective.andquot;andmdash;Stephen Downes, Australian
Review
andquot;One of the most enthralling studies of gastronomy ever published.andquot;andmdash;Christopher Hirst, London Independent
Synopsis
"Marion Nestleand#8217;s compelling and accessible book explains what the industrialization of the food supply in this country has done to both the taste and safety of the foods we eat."and#151;Alice Waters
"Marion Nestle has emerged as one of the sanest, most knowledgeable, and independent voices in the current debate over the health and safety of the American food system. All of us who eat should count ourselves lucky to have this indispensable book."and#151;Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
Synopsis
Antarctica, the last place on Earth, is not famous for its cuisine. Yet it is famous for stories of heroic expeditions in which hunger was the one spice everyone carried. At the dawn of Antarctic cuisine, cooks improvised under inconceivable hardships, castaways ate seal blubber and penguin breasts while fantasizing about illustrious feasts, and men seeking the South Pole stretched their rations to the breaking point. Today, Antarcticaandrsquo;s kitchens still wait for provisions at the far end of the planetandrsquo;s longest supply chain. Scientific research stations serve up cafeteria fare that often offers more sustenance than style. Jason C. Anthony, a veteran of eight seasons in the U.S. Antarctic Program, offers a rare workaday look at the importance of food in Antarctic history and culture.and#160;Anthonyandrsquo;s tour of Antarctic cuisine takes us from hoosh (a porridge of meat, fat, and melted snow, often thickened with crushed biscuit) and the scurvy-ridden expeditions of Shackleton and Scott through the twentieth century to his own preplanned three hundred meals (plus snacks) for a two-person camp in the Transantarctic Mountains. The stories in
Hoosh are linked by the ingenuity, good humor, and indifference to gruel that make Anthonyandrsquo;s tale as entertaining as it is enlightening.
About the Author
Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health and Professor of Sociology at New York University. She is author of the award-winning
Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health,and
What to Eat, among other books.