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Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats
: The fact that our ancestors only ever ate grain that was either fermented or sprouted was enough of a revelation to me to make it the sole reason I am glad I bought this book. I've subsequently experimented with fermenting my morning muesli and it IS GREAT ... truly ... not fizzy or weird tasting, not what you'd think at all. The idea behind this fermenting ... grains are very hard to digest and starting the digestive break-down process ahead of time by fermenting the grain allows your body's digestive powers to make full nutritional use of the grain ( well ... once you eventually do convince yourself to take the first mouthful that is!). This book presents many opposite opinions from currently held dietary advice with some very convincing evidence to back it up. As a sobering 'other side to the dietary argument' with the addition of having great recipes from around the world and loads of related little bits of information alongside the recipes, I think this is a great buy and a great gift for a friend.
I have been reading and following the wisdom in Nourishing Traditions for two months now and have never felt better. My digestive track feels like a well oiled machine, my body feels soothed and I feel 25 years younger. I am grateful to have discovered Weston Price, Sally Fallon and Mary Enig.
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.
Many previously written reviews talk about the the food recommended in this book and it is a tremendous resouce for that if nothing else. However, there is a broader vision to this book (which is not explicitly stated) than a mere source of truthful nutritional information and recipes. I saw Sally Fallon speak at a recent conference in Michigan. She is trying to change the world. She speaks strongly against those who try to sell us food products that makes so many so sick by calling them healthy (e.g. processed vegetable oils, unfermented soy products, fake broths, cold cereal, etc). She is a passionate advocate for healthy traditional foods (especially meat and dairy) and for the farmers who produce them. She envisions a world where there is a healthy and profitable return to small family farms that supply nearby families (important especially for consumers of raw milk). She sees lower unemployment, revitalized small towns and naturally fertilized pastures. A world of less reliance on prescription drugs due to a decline in chronic disease, especially those that we are starting to see in children. It is a vision whose starting point is this book containing the sort of recipes - using the traditionally produced ingredients - my husband's grandmother used. Now I am not claiming that good food - or this book - is an antedote for all the world's troubles, but it may help me at my house raise healthier kids (who are less addicted to sugar) and who know where much of their food comes from. That will be a change for the better.
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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