Cooked

I've been a big fan of Michael Pollan since the first time I heard him on NPR, years ago talking about a book I had at the time never heard of: The Omnivore's Dilemma. Even though I hadn't read the book and didn't even catch the entire interview, I was hooked by the eloquent way that Pollan spoke about food. Some people speak better than they write, others (like me) write better than they speak, but Pollan just may be equally skilled at both. I didn't run out right away and place a hold on his new book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation because it looked long and I wasn't sure how interesting it would be so I wasn't sure I'd get through the whole thing in three weeks. (And I knew there would be multiple holds on the book so I knew that renewing wouldn't be an option.) Eventually my curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to check it out.

I read this book with much more enthusiasm than I would have predicted. I guess it had been too long since I read one of Pollan's books and had forgotten how much I adore the way he writes. Cooked is broken down into four section, which explore different ways to 'cook.' He makes a correlation between each method and one of the earth's elements: fire (in which he explores grilling meat), water (in which he explores cooking with liquid, not specifically in water like the noodles on the cover, but also cooking vegetables in a pot), air (in which he describes baking bread), and earth (which deals with fermentation). I liked the fire and water chapters, but it was the air and earth sections that I was captivated by, reading passages aloud to my husband and making plans to tackle the arts of sourdough bread making and fermenting vegetables. (Both activities that are best done under less hot conditions... I'm making plans to do both when it begins to cool down a bit.) In other words, Pollan did in this book what he does best: inspires one to try a different way of doing something. He's not into evangelism; he's very moderate and never attests to an all or nothing way of living. He makes his readers see why something matters and inspires them to make some small change for one day, just to see how it feels. He's a great writer and Cooked is a great book.