Skip to content
You are not logged in |Login  
     
Limit search to available items
Record:   Prev Next
Resources
More Information
Bestseller
BestsellerE-book
Author Vileisis, Ann.

Title Kitchen literacy : how we lost knowledge of where food comes from and why we need to get it back / Ann Vileisis.

Publication Info. Washington : Island Press/Shearwater Books, [2008]
©2008

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (332 pages) : illustrations
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-307) and index.
Contents Introduction : Missing stories -- ch. 1. A meal by Martha -- Envisioning a foodshed -- Nature in Martha's garden -- Tales of turkeys -- Energy of eating -- Consciousness of cookery -- ch. 2. To market, to market -- Transcription of kitchen know-how -- To market -- Who did the shopping? -- ch. 3. Mystifying the mundane -- Place of origin -- Waning of wild foods -- Abstraction of animals' lives -- ch. 4. Denaturing the senses -- Debut of cans -- Power of labels -- Mimicry of margarine -- Eating by eye -- ch. 5. A new longing for nature -- Civility of cookery -- Grounding nature of growing food -- Unseemliness of stewed songbirds -- All-natural body -- Allure of the natural.
ch. 6. Rise of the modern food sensibility -- Bolstering brand names and promoting packages -- Home economists' twist -- Not-so-contented cows -- Appeal of the modern -- Nature transcended -- ch. 7. Covenant of ignorance -- New food chains : the rise of supermarket shopping -- 100 million guinea pigs -- Secrets of DDT -- For convenience sake -- Hidden on supermarket shelves -- ch. 8. Kitchen countertrends -- Persistence of the natural -- Burgers and rain forests -- A purposeful palate -- Turning attention back to farms -- Epilogue : Returning stories to the modern kitchen -- Notes -- Illustration credits -- Acknowledgments -- Index.
Summary Ask children where food comes from, and they will probably answer: "the supermarket." Ask most adults, and their replies may not be much different. Where our foods are raised and what happens to them between farm and supermarket shelf have become mysteries. How did we become so disconnected from the sources of our breads, beef, cheeses, cereal, apples, and countless other foods that nourish us every day? The answer is a sensory-rich journey through the history of making dinner, as this book takes us from an eighteenth-century garden to today's sleek supermarket aisles, and eventually to farmer's markets that are now enjoying a resurgence. The author chronicles profound changes in how American cooks have considered their foods over two centuries and delivers a powerful statement: what we don't know could hurt us. As the distance between farm and table grew, we went from knowing particular places and specific stories behind our foods' origins to instead relying on advertisers' claims. The woman who raised, plucked, and cooked her own chicken knew its entire life history while today most of us have no idea whether hormones were fed to our poultry. Industrialized eating is undeniably convenient, but it has also created health and environmental problems, including food-borne pathogens, toxic pesticides, and pollution from factory farms. Though the hidden costs of modern meals can be high, it is shown that greater understanding can lead consumers to healthier and more sustainable choices. Revealing how knowledge of our food has been lost and how it might now be regained, this book will make us think differently about what we eat.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Cooking, American -- History.
Cooking, American.
History.
Food habits -- United States -- History.
Food habits.
United States.
Diet -- United States -- History.
Diet.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
History.
Other Form: Print version: Vileisis, Ann. Kitchen literacy. Washington : Island Press/Shearwater Books, ©2008 9781597261449 1597261440 (DLC) 2007025781 (OCoLC)145940419
ISBN 9781435676633 (electronic book)
1435676637 (electronic book)
9781597263719 (electronic book)
1597263710 (electronic book)
9781597261449