In The News: To Cook Or Not To Cook

As part of our efforts to expand the scope of the blog we're going to be doing a series of articles on here looking at hot topics in the news and how we at the library can help expand your understanding of the topic.

In last Sunday's New York Times Magazine, Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, wrote an article entitled Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch where he explores how television cooking shows migrated from instruction based cooking like Julia Child into "dump and stir" shows like Rachel Ray and butch cooking challenge shows like Iron Chef. He also mentions Nora Ephron's new movie Julie and Julia as an example of someone discovering the love of cooking, and along the way finding the key to unlock her own passions as a writer.

It's a great piece of writing, and as someone who busts out Julia Child's "The Way To Cook" a couple times a month it made me want to rethink my cooking priorities.

Here's a list of some of the books Pollan discusses in his article, and a few others, along with the library call number so you can locate them here at the DC Public Library.

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, Penguin, 2008
Call Number: 613 P771

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Penguin, 2007
Call Number: 394.12 P773O

Julie and Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen by Julie Powell, Little Brown, 2005
Call Number: 641.5092 P884

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, 40th Anniversary ed., Knopf, 2001
Call Number: 641.5944 C536A

My Life in France by Julia Child, Knopf, 2006
Call Number: 92 C535
Also available as an mp3 audio book via Overdrive

Top Chef: The Cookbook text by Brett Martin ; recipes edited by Liana Krissoff and Leda Scheintaub., Chronicle, 2008
Call Number: 641.5 T673

In the Heat of the Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay, Wiley, 2004
Call Number: 641.5 R178

The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters, Clarkson Potter, 2007
Call Number: 641.5 W329

Rachel Ray's Big Orange Book by Rachel Ray, Clarkson Potter, 2008
Call Number: 641.555 R264R

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, Norton, 2001
Call Number: 305.4209 F899F2

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, Knopf/Random House, 1993
Call Number: 305.4 B386

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives by Guy Fieri, William Morrow, 2008
Call Number: 647.9573 F465

The Physiology of Taste by Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Penguin, 1994
Call Number: 641.01 B857A5

Catching Fire by Richard Wrangham, Basic, 2009
Call Number: 394.12 W941