How the World Really Works - Vaclav Smil

 Sub-title: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going

This book is described as "an essential analysis of modern science and technology" and what science can and cannot do.  I enjoyed reading the author's explanation of complex interaction of what he identifies as the "four pillars of modern civilization" - 1) ammonia (because of its importance in creating nitrogen fertilizers), 2) plastics, 3) steel and 4) concrete.  He makes a convincing argument that because our modern civilization could not function without these nor will we be able to eliminate or replace them in the near future, we are unlikely to see a resolution of issues with food production and climate change.  

I'd hoped for an inspiring prediction of how these issues could be solved but there was no such conclusion.  It was a sobering read.

Quote:

"Marine Traffic website ...for tracking worldwide shipping and aviation traffic."

[Regarding the future of food production] "...and reduced meat consumption would be the single-most important adjustment as it would lower the need for producing feed grains..."

Published: 2022  Read: August 2022 Genre: Science, Philosophy

Kitchens of the Great Midwest - J. Ryan Stradal

This was a different style of telling the story of a person's life; Eva, a young woman with a once in a lifetime palette, is revealed through her relationships throughout her life, from her father Lars in her childhood, through her adopted parents, her cousin Braque, her mother Cindy and others.  It's a bit disorienting as each chapter introduces another character and the transitions are abrupt.  The theme is food and its importance in linking people through life.  A quirky read.

Quotes and Notes

p 30 - He was already thinking about the good and the bad and the deep human necessity of it all, and how anybody ever got anything done without family and how someone could give that up in the amount of time it takes to seal an envelope with the same saliva once used to seal a marriage.

Recipes - for peanut butter bars and french onion soup

 Published:  2015  Read: December 2021  Genre: Fiction

Trail of Crumbs - Kim Sunee

Sub-title: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home

A Korean adoptee seeking a feeling of belonging becomes the girlfriend of a rich older Frenchman and lives the high life in Europe for a decade before returning to America.  As a young woman she becomes an excellent cook and today is a food editor for a magazine in Alaska.

This was a moving read.  I enjoyed hearing the story of a much younger woman coming to terms with her feelings and relationships.  It was disturbing to read how much control over her life she gave to the man she was with although he was just trying to make her happy.  A good read.

Published:  2008  Read: July 2018  Genre: Memoir

Traditional Food From Wales - Bobby Freeman

I've been researching my Welsh heritage of late, joining the local Arizona Welsh Society and ordered this cookbook recommended in a Wales facebook page.  It's more than a cookbook.  It's a history of Welsh cooking with a good dose of history and lore.  I enjoyed reading the recipes and the stories.

I wish I could sit down with my two great-grandmothers (Kathleen Jones Chapin and Harriett Davis Bossert) and discuss Wales, the Welsh people and cooking.

Some quotes I noted:

"...the traditional dishes were passed orally from mother to daughter, and since the Welsh have good memories for the spoken word, it would be seldom necessary to write the recipes and methods down."

Matti Thomas published a collection of very old Welsh recipes, 1928

"Although people everywhere in early times relied upon herbal medicine, in Wales there was a special reliance based on the herbal learning of  the Meeedgon Myddfai  - the Physicians of Myddfai, virtually unknown outside Wales but greatly respected within the Principality.  Myddfai is a small villae near Llangadog in Dyfed. The physicians wrote the Red Book of Myddfai."

[Welsh style] " ..tea will always be served in pretty, flowered china cups with gold about their rims; and with the tea will come...freshly-baked cake and scones with home-made rhubarb or gooseberry jam.  ...the Sunday rice pudding is still a feature."

Sounds yummy right?  I'm going to try out the recipe for the pudding.

Published:  1997   Read: August 2015  Genre: Cookbook

ISBN 0 7818 0527 9