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Summary: Nourishing Traditions is a monument.
Review: Sally Fallon's book is large in size and in its implications, valiantly sweeping away all the fog and ignorance that is endemic in the field of nutrition today. The book, focussing as it does on traditional (pre-modern) food selection and preparation, is revolutionary in all its common sense, prompting the reader to nod and say, "Yes, that's really true." It seems increasingly baffling to me that, amidst the daily deluge of ideas criss-crossing the landscape of the nutrition frontier, very few people acknowledge the contribution of 50,000 years of human history in the creation and maintenance of health. Well, Sally Fallon does. This book takes the reader to the highest ground yet. I particularly appreciated the excerpts from other books and journals, which are included liberally in sidebars throughout the book. It is a lot like reading several books in one, such is the cumulative scope of Nourishing Traditions. Of course, the recipes, all 700 of them, are fabulous. The book also has an excellent resource section to aid the reader in applying the principles laid out in the text. Finally, one comment on the book's subtitle, "The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats": This book does not tip-toe around the issues. The introduction, besides revealing many frightening (and rarely realized) facts about the state of current nutrition, also issues a call to action for people to release themselves from the collective trance perpetuated through advertising, through the common rationale that "we eat pretty well already," and even through many of the currently popular trends today, including veganism. Prepare to be educated. Prepare to do some weeding. This is a big, bright, shout-from-the-rooftops cookbook that should be required reading for anyone who has the slightest doubt about what they eat. And for those, more likely, who have no doubts.
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Summary: Nutritional owners manual for everyone.
Review: The best book to filter the media/corporate self serving research hype that is passed out as nutrition science today. Helps you get back to the basics. A must read.
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Summary: Wonderful!
Review: If my grandmother had written a cookbook, it would have been a lot like this. This book is about eating the kinds of real food that has nourished folks all over the world for centuries, combined with wonderful excerpts from a variety of doctors, nutritionists and other observers. The authors present an excellent introduction to the study of food and health. largely based on the work of Weston Price, a dentist who traveled the world 60 years ago studying what people traditionally ate. Dr. Price observed that those people who ate their traditional foods had good health and those that ate more of a "modern" diet, were exhibiting the signs of degenerative disease. The authors of this book then use that information and present wonderful recipes (try, especially, their stock recipes, the flavors they add are great). As one of the other reviewers mentioned, the wisdon and recipes in this book often contradict the current "wisdom" of observing a low-fat, high carb diet. But the current dietary wisdom is always changing, this year it's low-fat, high carb, next year something else will be the rage. End the confusion and do yourself a favor by returning to traditional food. This book will help you do just that.
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Summary: Top notch nutritional guide and gourmet cookbook.
Review: This book combines great expertise in nutrition with delicious
recipes. While the authors' point of view may startle some readers, their book is an extremely valuable resource which may have a very positive effect on the health of readers
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Summary: A MUST !! A most lively and informative book on NUTRITION
Review: A most FASCINATING book on nutrition, based on extensive research and common sense. Sally Fallon brings us back to basics in a very lively and anecdotal way while basing her comments on medical research and observations as well as nutrition theories. She explains everything very simply and it all makes sense. Understanding the poor and even potentially nocif attributes of todays overly processed foods, the damaging effects microwave cooking has on our nutrients and the misconceptions of a number of "fade" diets, have revolutionized my kitchen and cooking habits! To my childrens' dismay, the microwave oven was discarded, organic foods appeared on the table and succanat has replaced white sugar and "fat" is no longer a dirty word!! Sally Fallon has gathered a number of easy to execute recipies, many that I recognize from my european upbringing.
Living in a world where quick, fast are synonymous with convenient, people have lost, forgotten the joys of cooking. Why are we all in such a hurry, what are we all running after??... Sally Fallon reminds us that healthy eating habits are essential for our well being as well as for our children. It never dawned on me that being ignorant on what I was feeding my children was an incredible diservice not only to them but also to my unborn grandchildren. THANK YOU Sally Fallon.
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Summary: Only for the Amish? Hardly
Review: The "Only for the Amish" review claims that the recipes in Nourishing Traditions take too long and aren't that good. It's a comment indicative of one of Fallon's main points in the book: we have been lured by food manufacturers into thinking cooking is drudgery and that we should leave it up to them to provide us with instant, packaged, processed, preserved "food" that's overly sweetened and salted to mask the fact that it has no real flavor. Yes, some of the recipes take time to prepare, especially the baked goods--but you shouldn't be making those everyday anyway. Most of the daily fare--the meat, poultry, fish, egg, and vegetable dishes--is simple to prepare. The lacto-fermented foods are really easy! Learning to cook fresh natural foods and slow down your life enough to enjoy preparing and eating them will improve anyone's health, reduce stress, and lead to a higher quality of life. Since I wrote my first review, I have added even more of Fallon's recipes to my regular menu, and continue to reap the health benefits of the diet: I stopped gaining weight after years of lowfat dieting; I have more energy, stamina, mental clarity, and focus; and my mood swings and irritability are gone. Plus, the food is DELICIOUS! Hooray for butter, cream, whole milk, and eggs! Hooray for full-fat meats! Hooray for pickles and crispy nuts! Get the book! It's worth it.
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Summary: A stunning achievement; THE essential food guide/bible
Review: Let's face it - our foods have changed. And not for the better. In the long span of history, the last 100 years has wrought some devastating transformations in how food is handled, prepared, and, most insidiously - processed. Our genes are basically used to food that for millenia, was relatively pure, wholesome, unaltered and uncorrupted. So, since the turn of the century, matters began to shift. As manufacturing and processing became more sophisticated, food began to undergo a drastic change. Not having any longer to butcher our own beef, harvest our own vegetables and grains, make our own fats, we could rely on "companies" to start doing it for us. And what did we get in return? Fats (perhaps most disturbingly) are chemically altered and hydrogenated, turning them into dangerous poisons (just READ how margarine is made - it will incite one big colossal "yuck"); animals are mass produced in inhumane warehouses; are fed poor diets and get injected with god knows what; grains and vegetables are grown in sterile, pesticide-laden soils; refined, devitalized sugar and flour is in everything; we're offered and forced everything from hydrogenated fats to high-fructose corn syrup to MSG to plastic sugars. And guess what? This is the sickest, fattest time Americans live in. Heart disease, cancer, obesity, degenerative diseases, are at an all-time high. We have antibiotics, anti-imflammatories to conquer bacterial threats, but even those are getting increasingly less effective through overuse. We have needed the vaccines, antibiotics to treat and cure things like polio, smallpox, measles and a host of other killer diseases, but in return, we have heart disease, cancer, degenerative and neurological dysfunctions in its place. As this exhaustively researched and documented book illustrates, the culprits for this state of affairs is definitely tied to the devastating changes wrought in our foods. Though the medical establishment has found a way to treat diseases, it has ignored many of the current causes of those diseases in the first place. This book offers a method, a return, so to speak, to a time when food was consumed in its purest state. Ironically, that's a difficult thing to do; only through specialty stores and suppliers can we get naturally raised food. Someone once said: "If God made it, then it's good; if man made it, beware." Most of the food - as cheaply and quickly made as possible - offered in supermarkets is nutritionally worthless, being as it is, refined, processed, laden with questionable chemicals and riddled with substances that have no place in our bodies. The sobering fact remains: most food conglomerates simply don't care about consumers' health. Sally Fallon, along with Mary G. Enig, have done an astonishing, thorough and painstaking job in spelling out all that one needs to know regarding all manner of information about food. The writing is clear, easy to understand, and concise. The passion and near-missionary fervor with which they have pursued their topic is inspiring and infectious. The breadth of their research and work cannot be overestimated. The scope, level of information, exposés and hardcore truths these women offer is mesmerizing: one is fixated by what they know and the surprising, irrefutable facts that are detailed (by the way, the sidebars in the recipe sections of anecdotes, information and lore are fascinating). Fallon and Enig take on some of the most powerful and ruthless institutions in existence, and effectively challenge claims and biased studies. They even sniff out evidence of lies and corruption. It may in fact be the singular most important body of work on food contained in a single volume. In particular, one needs to pay attention to the information regarding the matter of fats. Enig, a PhD in lipid chemistry, plainly details how fats in today's food supply has wrought health havoc, what to avoid (polyunsaturates and hydrogenated fats are a menace), what is good, and how to go about using them correctly. Many reviewers in this forum have complained of how complicated it is to take the time to properly prepare many of the foods and recipes Fallon offers. That may be so, but the time invested is worth it. As we as consumers are made more aware of how things must be done, it may be that we simply have no choice ~~ if we are to achieve the best of health ~~ to make the proper preparation of food a top priority once again. Some of the suggestions regarding raw foods is controversial, and not everyone will be convinced, but they make a strong case, nevertheless. Some of the advice, as well is a bit too severe: Fallon encourages the total elimination of all caffeines, and that includes teas and coffees. No proof has been made that tea and coffee are harmful (unless of course, like anything, it is consumed in excess). Sometimes the book makes absolutely no allowances for an alternate method; some of the advice is eye-opening (like not cooking garlic in oil; sure it will burn if fried in high heat, but it can be sauteed gently. And, everyone KNOWS that refrigeration spoils the taste of tomatoes) In addition, not everyone will welcome the urging of a total abdication from anything even remotely bad for you - why not a white flour, white sugar cake once, twice a year? Despite this, it WAS necessary for Fallon and Enig to overcompensate in the manner they did, for this kind of information is sorely needed; one simply should read it thoroughly, then make their own choices to suit individual needs. This book will not please vegans and vegetarians, who will be doing a virtual "foul" howl at the convincing scientific argument that we need animal fats and animal based foods. I will never consider vegetarianism after reading this book. Fallon makes a most eloquent plea for the bounty of animals we have been offered.
It is so easy to get carried away by the nutritional information, that it may be easy to overlook the marvelous, inventive and tantalizing recipes. Again, the scope, selection and research on these recipes is amazing...they are numerous, varied, and appetizing. Nearly every cultural cuisine is covered in some small or large part, and are clearly detailed. Most of all, if one relishes culinary challenges, there are some intriguing one as such offered here. This marvelous volome may be the most valuable nutritional guide one should own. Most of all, it may be the most comprehensive, ground-breaking cookbook ever written ~~ as well as the most nutritionally crucial.
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Summary: Terrible book
Review: What a dreadful book. I bought this book at the beginning of last year and took on the books advice due to ill health. I have suffered even more illness because of it - my cholesterol levels have sky rocketed, I feel tired all the time and I can't sleep properly at night. I also suffered a stroke mid January. My doctor is terribly disappointed because I ignored her advice to eat less meat products and those yummy fatty foods. I was in fantasy land when I thought that this book would solve my health problems!!!!
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Summary: A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE!!!!!!
Review: Absolutely facinating! This book will teach you more about nutrition and how to really cook and eat for health and longevity. If you have children or ever thought of having them, this book can show you the one gift that can literally shape their lives and give them the building blocks of health and happiness so that they might blossom and grow as intended. Don't wait until you or your family is cronicly sick to learn what our bodies really need and really don't need.
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Summary: I find it unfortunate ...
Review: How many of us suffer needlessly from the things we put in our mouths? How many of us don't even know that we do? That is a very interesting question. I am one who suffers from many nutritional sensitivities. Do you? Do you even know it? This book addresses several possible areas of nutritional concern. Particularly, the anti-nutrients, or phytates found in soy and all legumes, and grains for that matter, that can seriously hamper your body's ability to absorb minerals like calcium. Traditionally grains and legumes were soaked or sprouted to neutrialize these anti-nutrients.
You see, seeds, nuts, grains, etc. included here, contain enzyme inhibitors on them as well that ensure that they do not germinate until they are deeply nestled in the ground, where they might have a chance to grow. If we ingest these enzyme inhibitors, we seriously comprimise our digestive ability. Case in point, a man I hardly knew ate Bran flakes every morning in an attempt to regulate his bowel movements. Early in his life he died of pancreatic cancer. You see, the pancreas secretes digestive enzymes in an attempt to digest food, but if you eat foods high in enzyme inhibitors, like the bran of grains, you cause your pancreas to work overtime in producing enzymes, leading potentially to cancer, or at least, an overtaxed pancreas.
The book, nourishing traditions, recommends consuming foods that are easier to digest, like lactofermented foods, which, when consumed in their raw form, are partially predigested, and full of enzymes. NT also addresses the categorical undigestiblity of pasteurized milk (PM) products. PM is essentially devoid of nutrients as the heat used in pasteurization makes all the nutrients in milk much less available for your body to absorb. Milk contains highly globular proteins that are very heat sensitive and clump up into tight balls rendering them unavailable to be digested by enzymes and fully ready to putrefy in the bowel, yes, putrefy in the bowel.
Please, be wary of gluten, found in all grains, and -- in know this for a fact -- some scientists suggest that it is entirely undigestible by any digestive system, no matter what their state of health. Gluten wreaks havoc on the digestive lining, causing inflammation and maldigestion as well as malabsorption of nutrients. I invite anyone to go off gluten for a while and see how they feel. It's found in all cereal grains and as a result in most anything you find in the supermarket, with the exception of veggies, fruits, meat and fish.
I find it very unfortunate that books like this don't have at least the table of contents available to view. Don't you? After having read a few reviews here, online (I hate the one's that advocate against raw milk! Don't you? Um, deadly bacteria in raw milk? I think not. Maybe from conventional cows fed toxic diets of grains and injected with hormones and kept in cages. Fresh raw milk from pasture fed cows and goats contains plenty of bacteria, they're called probiotics, that means life-giving, and they're found by the trillions in your gut. That's right, there are more bacteria in your gut than there are cells in your body! Make sure they're healthy and you'll live a long time, healthily too.) In my effort to be important, I have decided to enter at least the table of contents into this review:
Recipes:
MASTERING THE BASICS
Cultured Dairy Products ... 80
Fermented Vegetables & Fruits ... 89
Sprouted Grains, Nuts & Seeds ... 112
Stocks ... 116
Salad Dressings ... 127
Sauces, Marinades, & Condiments ... 136
[my comments: a good way to start 'mastering the basics' is to learn to make chicken broth and keep one on the stove or cool in the fridge at all times, as any cook knows, stocks are the basic of basics, the foundation of cooking. They are also incredibly healthy for the lining of the gut, which can be seriously compromised by any stressful event, like driving long distances (yes, driving releases plenty of adrenaline because we don't have a gene for driving in cars -- road rage anyone? the result of adrenaline being released when the body goes through the completely foreign act of driving), travelling in a plane (100 times worse than driving), undergoing surgery, or any other event associated with stress. The lining of the gut is not something we can 'see' like a cut on our skin but it is so much more vital to our health. It takes 3 days, give or take 1 to completely replace your gut's lining, yes it replaces itself in that time, so for any acute condition of stress or illness, chicken broth for breakfast, lunch and supper for three days will ensure that the lining of your gut is in a healthy state. without a healthy gut lining, no other form of health is possible. Beware not to eat anything that may aggravate the gut during this time, like gluten, or casein (in dairy) or any of the anti-nutrients mentioned above.]
GREAT BEGINNINGS
Hors d'Oeuvres & Dips ... 162
Vegetable Salads ... 175
Soups ... 197
Raw Meat Appetizers ... 231
Gourmet Appetizers ... 243
THE MAIN COURSE
Fish ... 258
Poultry ... 279
Organ Meats ... 299
Game ... 317
Beef & Lamb ... 329
Ground Meat Dishes ... 355
A CATALOG OF VEGETABLES ... 365
LUNCHEON & SUPPER FOODS
Meat Salads ... 414
South of the Border ... 425
Eggs ... 436
Sandwich Suggestions ... 447
GRAINS & LEGUMES
Whole Grains ... 452
Breads & Flour Products ... 476
Baking with Alternative Grains ... 477
Legumes ... 495
SNACKS & FINGER FOODS ... 511
DESSERTS
Guide to Natural Sweeteners ... 536
Sweets for Kids of All Ages ... 538
Pies & Cakes ... 557
Gourmet Desserts ... 574
BEVERAGES ... 583
FEEDING BABIES ... 597
Tips for Successful Breastfeeding ... 605
TONICS & SUPERFOODS ... 606
Appendix A: Limited-Time, Limited-Budget Guidelines ... 621
Appendix B: Know Your Ingredients Answers ... 624
Appendix C: Sources ... 626
Appendix D: About the Weston Price Foundation ... 629
Appendix E: Suggested Reading ... 630
Appendix F: A Campaign for Healthy Fats ... 632
Subject Index ... 635
Recipe Index ... 651
Menu Index ... 670
Side Bar Sources ... 672
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