Can Picnics Help Save the World?

By White Feather

White Feather has been going on picnics throughout his life. The nature of those picnics have changed considerably with time. The picnics of his youth were fun but very different from the picnics he went on as a father. Later, his picnics became solitary and took on near spiritual dimensions. Through three very touching stories, White Feather shares what he has experienced and learned about picnics and their importance in our lives. Every day millions of picnic tables across America go unused as going on picnics has become less popular. Western culture has undergone a severe disconnect with nature and White Feather suggests that if we all start going on more picnics it would not only better our own lives but it just might help save the world.....

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The Art of Simple Food II

The Art of Simple Food II: Recipes, Flavor, and Inspiration from the New Kitchen Garden, by Alice Waters

Alice Waters, the iconic food luminary, presents 200 new recipes that share her passion for the many delicious varieties of vegetables, fruits, and herbs that you can cultivate in your own kitchen garden or find at your local farmers’ market.

A beautiful vegetable-focused book, The Art of Simple Food II showcases flavor as inspiration and embodies Alice’s vision for eating what grows in the earth all year long. She shares her understanding of the whole plant, demystifying the process of growing and cooking your own food, and reveals the vital links between taste, cooking, gardening, and taking care of the land. Along the way, she inspires you to feed yourself deliciously through the seasons. From Rocket Salad with Babcock Peaches and Basil to Moroccan Asparagus and Spring Vegetable Ragout to Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, Alice shares recipes that celebrate the ingredients she loves: tender leaf lettuces, fresh green beans, stone fruits in the height of summer, and so much more. Advice for growing your own fruits and vegetables abounds in the book—whether you are planting a garden in your backyard or on your front porch or fire escape. It is gleaned from her close relationships with local, sustainable farmers. Read more

Twinkie, Deconstructed

Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats, by Steve Ettlinger. Like most Americans, Steve Ettlinger eats processed foods. And, like most consumers, he often reads the ingredients label—without a clue as to what most of it means. So when his young daughter asked, “Daddy, what’s polysorbate 60?” he was at a loss—and determined to find out. From the phosphate mines in Idaho to the corn fields in Iowa, from gypsum mines in Oklahoma to the vanilla harvest in Madagascar, Twinkie, Deconstructed is a fascinating, thoroughly researched romp of a narrative that demystifies some of the most common processed food ingredients—where they come from, how they are made, how they are used—and why. Beginning at the source (hint: they’re often more closely linked to rock and petroleum than any of the four food groups), we follow each Twinkie ingredient through the process of being crushed, baked, fermented, refined, and/or reacted into a totally unrecognizable goo or powder with a strange name—all for the sake of creating a simple snack cake. An insightful exploration into the food industry, if you’ve ever wondered what you’re eating when you consume foods containing mono- and diglycerides or calcium sulfate (the latter, a food-grade equivalent of Plaster of Paris) this book is for you.

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The Bloodless Revolution: A Cultural History of Vegetarianism from 1600 to Modern Times

The Bloodless Revolution: A Cultural History of Vegetarianism from 1600 to Modern Times, by Tristram Stuart. This is a pioneering history of puritanical revolutionaries, European Hinduphiles, and visionary scientists who embraced radical ideas from the East and conspired to overthrow Western society's voracious hunger for meat. At the heart of this compelling history are the stories of John Zephaniah Holwell, survivor of the Black Hole of Calcutta, and John Stewart and John Oswald, who traveled to India in the eighteenth century, converted to the animal-friendly tenets of Hinduism, and returned to Europe to spread the word. Leading figures of the Enlightenment—among them Rousseau, Voltaire, and Benjamin Franklin—gave intellectual backing to the vegetarians, sowing the seeds for everything from Victorian soup kitchens to contemporary animal rights and environmentalism. Spanning across three centuries with reverberations to our current world, The Bloodless Revolution is a stunning debut from a young historian with enormous talent and promise. 24 pages of color illustrations. Tristram Stuart graduated from Cambridge University in 1999, having won numerous academic prizes. Since then he has been a freelance writer for a number of Indian newspapers. The Bloodless Revolution is his first book. He lives in London.

Vegan Joy

Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen

Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen, by Anna Lappe and Bryant Terry. From making healthy food choices and preparing mouth-watering meals, to unmasking corporate flimflam and supporting sustainable farming, here is the complete guide for the young, the hip, the socially tuned-in - and for all who want to eat real food. In the past few decades, organic food has moved out of the patchouli-scented aisles of food co-ops and into over three-quarters of conventional grocery stores. Hand-in-glove, more and more of us are becoming aware of the social, environmental, and health benefits of organic eating, independent farming, and promoting "fair food."

Combining a straight-to-the-point exposé about the fake food filling our supermarkets and the compelling reasons for choosing organic, local, "fair" food, Grub helps all of us become a part of one of the most hopeful movements of the new century: a revolution in food and farming that is best for our bodies and the earth. With spirited and practical how-to's for creating an affordable, easy-to-use organic kitchen and dozens of delectable recipes, Grub also offers the millions of people who buy organics fresh ideas and easy ways to cook with them. From the Valentine's Day Decadence Dinner to the Straight-Edge Punk Brunch Buffet, Grub includes over a dozen menus paired with soundtracks to cook (and party) by and artwork and poetry evoking the spirit of Grub. If organic food has a user's guide, this is it.

How to Make Goat Cheese

Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating

Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating, by Jane Goodall, Gary McAvoy, and Gail Hudson. Renowned scientist and bestselling author Jane Goodall delivers an eye-opening and empowering book that explores the social and personal significance of what we eat. In Harvest For Hope, Jane Goodall presents an empowering and far-reaching vision for social and environmental transformation through the way we produce and consume the foods we eat. In clear, well-organized chapters that include The Organic Boom and Thinking Globally, Eating Locally, readers will discover the dangers behind many of today's foods, along with the extraordinary individual and worldwide benefits of eating locally grown, organic produce. For anyone who has ever wanted to know how they can take a stand for a more sustainable world, Harvest For Hope reveals the healthy choices that will support the greater good.

Vegan Joy

Eat Here: Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket

Eat Here: Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket, by Brian Halweil. Everyone everywhere depends increasingly on long-distance food. Since 1961 the tonnage of food shipped between nations has grown fourfold. In the United States, food typically travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to plate—as much as 25 percent farther than in 1980. For some, the long-distance food system offers unparalleled choice. But it often runs roughshod over local cuisines, varieties, and agriculture, while consuming staggering amounts of fuel, generating greenhouse gases, eroding the pleasures of face-to-face interactions, and compromising food security. Fortunately, the long-distance food habit is beginning to weaken under the influence of a young, but surging, local-foods movement. From peanut-butter makers in Zimbabwe to pork producers in Germany and rooftop gardeners in Vancouver, entrepreneurial farmers, start-up food businesses, restaurants, supermarkets, and concerned consumers are propelling a revolution that can help restore rural areas, enrich poor nations, and return fresh, delicious, and wholesome food to cities.

Olive Trees and Honey

Olive Trees and Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the World, by Gil Marks. A classic collection of traditional Jewish vegetarian recipes from around the world. Throughout life, there are countless Jewish celebrations and meals for which meatless dishes are included, enjoyed, even preferred. Here is the only vegetarian resource Jewish cooks will ever need to prepare vegetarian dishes for any holiday or occasion as well as for everyday meals. The 300 recipes, which emphasize the signature flavors of time-honored dishes, span a tremendous range–soups, salads, grains and pastas, beans and legumes, egg dishes, savory pastries–and represent every part of the menu. The book also features practical cooking tips as well as in-depth essays on the cultural, historical, and religious relevance of traditional foods such as falafel, Sabbath stew, dumplings, kugel, and rice pilaf.

Gil Marks (New York, NY) is an expert on Jewish cooking. A chef, rabbi, writer, and historian, he is the author of three cookbooks, including The World of Jewish Cooking. He has been featured on radio and television, including Food Live on the Food Network.

Vegan World Fusion Cuisine

Vegan World Fusion Cuisine: Healing Recipes & Timeless Wisdom from OurHearts to Yours, by Mark Reinfeld et al, from Thousand Petals Publishing, ISBN 0975283715. This unique cookbook emanates from the authors' restaurant The Blossoming Lotus on Kauai. Primarily a vegan cookbook, it also is an art book, sprinkled with philosophy and ageless wisdom. It includes 200+ vegan and live-food recipes designed for every diet, every person who enjoys the wonders of great cooking, who might be interested in health, wellness, beauty and spirit, plus a Foreword by Dr. Jane Goodall, sacred Site photography by Martin Gray and Tim O'Reilly, reference material and more.

Vegan Joy

Foods of the Americas

Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions, by Fernando & Marlene Divina, from Ten Speed Press, ISBN 1580082599. The culinary traditions of the Native peoples of the Americas are celebrated in this lavish book, published to coincide with the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. It presents 140 modern recipes incorporating a wide range of foods cultivated by Natives throughout North and South America, along with nine short essays that provide a Native perspective on a variety of indigenous food traditions, illustrated with food photographs as well as images from the museum's vast collection.

Culinary McCook

Food of Bodhisattvas

Food of Bodhisattvas: Buddhist Teachings on Abstaining from Meat, by Shabkar, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, from Shambhala Publications, ISBN 1590301161. Tibetan meditation master Shabkar calls upon Buddhist scripture to make a case against killing animals for food. The author arouses the compassionate spirit of Buddhism to encourage sympathy for the suffering of animals, so that the desire to exploit them might diminish naturally. The book includes a lengthy introduction to Shabkar's life and teachings, his compilation of the Buddha's teachings on the importance of abstaining from meat, and a discourse by Shabkar on the importance of developing compassion for animals.