Eating fo r Beginners
by Melanie Rehak
Non Fiction / 288 pages / Paperback
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / August, 2011
Dear Reader, When I set out to write Eating for Beginners, I was on the hunt for answers about eating, cooking and buying food, and I was determined to have some fun along the way. I was tired of being confused in the grocery store and, to be completely honest, I was also hoping to avoid having dinner every night with my one year-old, whose only interest in food was throwing it on the floor. What better way to do that than start working the dinner shift in a restaurant kitchen, which I'd never done before, and punctuate that experience with trips to work on the small farms where the chef bought his ingredients? So began my journey into a world of delicious food and some of the wildly smart, funny people who grow it and make it. I milked goats, I tended sheep, I rode a fishing boat 50 miles out to sea, I picked spinach in the pouring rain and burned my forearms on hot pans more times that I can count. Most importantly, I learned that perfection isn't possible or even necessary whether you're talking about buying groceries, cooking dinner, being a parent, or pretty much anything at all. I worked harder than I ever have before, and yet somehow, all of it was a ball. Eating for Beginners won't tell you what to eat and why, but it will tell you what I learned about both those things over the course of my adventures and how I made my own peace with what I discovered. Some of my favorite recipes from farms, the restaurant kitchen, and my own kitchen are yours for the taking, too (and if you use them, please let me know how they turn out!). I hope you'll have as much fun with it as I had. Yours, Melanie Rehak MELANIE REHAK IS GIVING AWAY 5 COPIES OF EATING FOR BEGINNERS. ENTER TO WIN A COPY.
SEE MELANIE REHAK'S RECIPE FOR PRUNE BREAD PUDDING. About Eating for Beginners:
From the author of the New York Times bestseller Girl Sleuth, a foodie's personal journey as an amateur chef, amateur farmer, and amateur parent learning what to eat and why.
Reviews of Eating for Beginners: "A fine blend of the investigative and the intimate . . . An expose is one way to learn about our diet and its dire consequences. Rehak's book is another. Her kindler, gentler work is not just enlightening it is life- affirming." - Cleveland Plain Dealer "She's funny, well-read and transfers her honest curiosity about what we eat and how we learn to eat to the increasingly hungry reader. And yes, there are recipes." - Minneapolis Star-Tribune To learn more visit Melanie's Facebook page, follow her on Twitter or visit her website. Melanie Rehak is available to speak with your book club. Contact Melanie to arrange a discussion. |
