books about food

I'm not really sure why I'm writing this post, except that I really enjoyed these books and wanted to let my blog-friends know it! :)

In the past 2 or 3 months, I read 2 books about food. Both by Michael Pollan. The first one I read was called In Defense of Food. The second was called The Omnivore's Dilemma. He wrote In Defense of Food second, but it really doesn't matter the order you read them in since they're non-fiction.

I really enjoyed both books. Especially In Defense of Food. The Omnivore's Dilemma is split into three parts. The first part is about corn, and it was really interesting, but really boring. The last two parts were a lot more fun to read. They really made me stop and think about what I'm eating, and allowing my child to eat. Since reading them, I've tried to make an extra effort to eat better. I buy mostly produce, and I look at the ingredients in everything I purchase. If I don't know what an ingredient is, I don't buy it. I've had to look at a lot of different kinds of bread before picking one. Yogurt, too. But I'm feeling better. Not only physically, but it makes me feel good knowing that I'm going to teach my kids how to eat the right way. I've stopped buying my child snacks like goldfish and teddy grahams, and instead I offer her apples, grapes, and plain rice cakes (which has only two ingredients: brown rice and salt). We've switched to eating natural peanut butter, which is actually quite delicious!

Don't get me wrong, we still eat some things that aren't that great for us. Namely cupcakes. I'm still making cupcakes with whatever crazy ingredients I want to. Plus I've been sick for awhile, and I've been drinking a lot of soda and eating my favorite sick food - shaped macaroni (my favorite is Spiderman!). But on the whole, we're doing our best to eat better.

I've been gathering a lot of good recipes that use better ingredients, and I've loved experimenting with new meals. It's a nice change from always eating the same old things.

Anyway, basically what I'm trying to say is, if you want a wake up call about what you're eating, read these books. Or at least In Defense of Food. They're really great books. And even if they don't make you change your eating habits, they're still an interesting read.