Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen

This is a pretty good intro book about food - the issues with current industrial farming such as toxins in pesticides, inefficient use of resources (water, fossil fuels, etc), ingredients in food products not resembling actual food, and other related things. Then it covers the concept of Grub - organic, whole foods that are grown locally. The book covers the very basics of what other books cover in detail - In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, Organic Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew and Fast Food Nation. Eric Schlosser even wrote the intro to this book.

Then come the recipes. They're pretty varied and sound good, most are veg*n or can be made veg*n with minimal substitutions. However, I found most of them to be really show more complicated (some have quite the list of ingredients), and I prefer to make food that's a lot simpler. I feel that an intro book that's geared towards people who probably don't cook much should have recipes that aren't so overwhelming. I cook a lot and I felt overpowered by the recipes, so I can't imagine what somebody who microwaves everything would think about having to purchase all sorts of crazy ingredients and mix them just so.

That said, this book is pretty solid. I'd recommend it to anybody who's interested in learning more about food, who hasn't already read a lot about it. For more advanced foodies, I would suggest the above mentioned books. For people interested in veg*nism, I'd recommend reading The Food Revolution or Vegan Freak, as this book doesn't cover any issues regarding animal rights, and only very briefly touches on the treatment of animals in factory farms and the fact that they're loaded with hormones and other disgusting chemicals. show less

You should check out this book if only to read the first chapter on the "Six Illusions": The Illusion of Choice, The Illusion of Safe and Clean, The Illusion of Efficiency, The Illusion of Cheap, The Illusion of Fairness, and The Illusion of Progress. The recipes are good too. Try the Fresh Green Beans with Garlicky Citrus Vinaigrette or the Ginger Beer.

This is a wonderful primer for those wanting an introduction to the impact our food choices have on our society, environment and health. For those of us who have been of the same mind, and even had their own copy (like me) of Francis Moore Lappe's Diet for a Small Planet, perhaps not a necessary volume. But it is laid out well, with seasonal menus, recipes and even music playlists to enjoy while you prepare and eat. There is not an extensive recipe collection, so do not expect a traditional cookbook. The bibliographies and the resources for action--contact information for organizations involved with environmental justice and local food issues--are the more compelling reasons to seek out this book.

Grub is a good reminder to EAT LOCAL. Making this one choice connects so many dots.

I haven't cooked anything from it yet ... stay tuned.

This is a neat book, both for reading and for using. I bought a copy for my vegetarian brother.