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A review by sandyd
Eating for Beginners: An Education in the Pleasures of Food from Chefs, Farmers, and One Picky Kid by Melanie Rehak
4.0
This is an enjoyable memoir by a writer who read Michael Pollan and some other books, had a baby, then decided to write about her experiences volunteering to work in a restaurant in her neighborhood in Brooklyn. She also went to the restaurant's suppliers and learned about the how the produce, cheese, fish, and meat was produced (so there's a bit about rural life in there).
It's funny, because at the beginning of the book, her 1 y.o. is existing mainly on bananas and yogurt. He won't eat *any* of the typical toddler foods.
The chapters are mix of parenting stories, food and cooking descriptions (with some recipes), and political and literary stuff about food - local foods, organic foods, food miles, and M.F.K. Fisher are all included. There's no index, though, which annoyed me when I wanted to find something to read to my dh (Rehak's quote from Fisher about little kids' food preferences, from "Serve It Forth", 1937):
"When a man is small, he loves and hates food with a ferocity which soon dims...His throat will close, and spots of nausea and rage swim in his vision. It is hard, later, to remember why, but at the time there is no pose in his disgust. He cannot eat; he says, 'To hell with it!'" (p. 37-38).
It's funny, because at the beginning of the book, her 1 y.o. is existing mainly on bananas and yogurt. He won't eat *any* of the typical toddler foods.
The chapters are mix of parenting stories, food and cooking descriptions (with some recipes), and political and literary stuff about food - local foods, organic foods, food miles, and M.F.K. Fisher are all included. There's no index, though, which annoyed me when I wanted to find something to read to my dh (Rehak's quote from Fisher about little kids' food preferences, from "Serve It Forth", 1937):
"When a man is small, he loves and hates food with a ferocity which soon dims...His throat will close, and spots of nausea and rage swim in his vision. It is hard, later, to remember why, but at the time there is no pose in his disgust. He cannot eat; he says, 'To hell with it!'" (p. 37-38).