Ageless Face, Ageless Mind

By Nicholas Perricone, M.D.

Dr. Perricone explains how we treat our bodies corresponds with how we look and how we feel.  His discovery of AGEs (Advanced Glycation End Products) and stem cell topical treatments are combined with healthy eating to keep a person young & active.

I was disappointed with this book.  Eating habits are given a little space, but his products are pushed hard.  The examples he gives of clients that he has miraculously saved ate an unspecified healthy diet, stopped smoking, exercised, and put his special stem cell cream on their face.  Thanks for nothing...

Julia Child

by Laura Shapiro

A short but comprehensive biography of Julia Child. Her background began as a flitty California society girl who floated from job to job, to a WWII clerk in Asia & Europe, to her enrolling in the Cordon Bleu and her realization that cooking should be as enjoyable as eating.

Julia Child enjoyed life, and loved to eat.  So what better way to share this than to collaborate on a French cookbook?  She was not a natural cook, but she was dedicated and imaginative.  Child began to celebrate the time and effort that it took to create a meal, just when Americans were discovering the ease of frozen and canned food.  I doubt many people actually made the food that she cooked on her tv show, but they enjoyed her enthusiasm. "There are two cooks: those who want to impress people, and those who want to feed people."

There are also some revelations in the book.  Although she had dear homosexual friends, she sought the "de-fagification" of American cooking. Yikes.  Hopefully she meant that she wanted cooking to be enjoyable for the masses.  I thought it was funny that she & her husband refused to eat at McDonalds, but when they finally did, she was pleasantly surprised by the french fries and the Quarter Pounder (the Big Mac had too much bread).

The Taste of Sweet: Our Complicated Love Affair With Our Favorite Treats

by Joanne Chen

The author goes through the history of humans' obsession with all things sweet.  I thought this would be amusing and light, but Chen investigates the science behind "supertasters", to whom every taste is magnified, and the communication between stomach and brain.

The most interesting part to me was the cultural bias we have against poorer people "gorging" on gooey, cheap treats, versus richer people "indulging" in artfully designed edibles.  The main example was two articles -- one trying to eliminate vending machines in a lower class school, while another celebrating a new "chocolate hot spot" for wealthy kids to party and enjoy.  Her theory that fast, high calorie food is cheaper is relatively true, unless you are actually cooking for your family, and that people on food stamps don't buy fresh food.  In my little world, people on food stamps don't cook anything that requires effort, even if they aren't working.  The whole "they don't have time" reasoning is a little thin in the real world.  An educator tried to expose lower class kids to more healthy eating, and even had the kids grow their own produce.  Until having gardens is the norm again for everyone, poor kids are going to stay fat.