Review: Food 2.0: Secrets from the Chef Who Fed Google

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	• Food 2.0: Secrets from the Chef Who Fed Google Charlie Ayers DK Publishing, 2008 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!

Way back in 1999,Google, in its infinite wisdom, decided they didn't want their employees falling asleep halfway through the day because of poor choices at lunchtime. They wanted fresh, energy producing foods to be prepared for their workers and they hired Charlie Ayers, former caterer for The Grateful Dead, to do it. He did that and more, and when he left in 2005, he was serving up meals to 1,500 people a day and overseeing 10 cafés and 150 employees.

Now on the verge of opening his own restaurant, Calafia Café and Market a Go Go, in Palo Alto, California, Charlie Ayers has also released a new cookbook, Food 2.0 - Secrets From the Chef Who Fed Google.

This book is perfect for a Deadhead, food lovin', organic eatin', Internet junkie like me. I totally relate to everything written and feel much more relaxed about my food choices. I always feel like there's a hard line there between vegetarian and omnivore, organic and non-organic, but Charlie has set down a brand new line somewhere in-between it all that just makes SENSE. He urges everyone to "go organic" without beating us over the head with dos and don'ts. There's just common sense and Charlie's own preference, followed up with the reminder that we all need to do what is right for ourselves.

Charlie has a real-life non-nonsense "parent" approach to many things, especially about frozen food - stuff I've been doing for years, but was afraid to share for fear that the hardcore "only from fresh" crowd would shun me. From his feelings on olive oil and his "4 best herbs to grow at home" (the very four I have growing right now) to the section on pasta and his thoughts on why we should eat organic, we are very like-minded. This was almost like reading about myself, except that the recipes are so superior to anything I've created thus far and there were several things I didn't know about food.

I can't think of one person who shouldn't own this book. It's 250 pages jam-packed with all you really need to know about feeding yourself and your family very well.

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LOVE THIS BOOK

This is more than a cookbook. It's a different way of thinking about cooking and ingredients. Also, the photography is excellent. I'm sending copies to my kids. That's the best recommendation I can give it.

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Review: Food 2.0: Secrets from the Chef Who Fed Google

For most Americans the cubical is little more than a prison with bi-monthly paychecks and a nice 401K. They are shabby ersatz rooms of false walls covered in nondescript synthetic fabric with little to differentiate one from the other. Any given cubical could belong to a paralegal, claims adjustor, or travel agent. Not so for the folks at Google, the world's number one Web site.

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin decided way back that their company would redefine the office environment for the 21st Century. Google employees enjoy a very loose (i.e. comfortable) dress code, amazing benefits, and they can even bring their pooches to work. Page and Brin are full of outside-the-cubicle thinking.

Take lunch for instance. The chief Googlers decided that the common model, half an hour to gorge on processed foods, was bad for productivity. The partially hydrogenated, high-fructose diet of the average American is the root of our societal obesity crisis. Fast-food drive-thrus, all-you-can-eat buffets, and chain restaurants are the leading culprits in this epidemic. Again Google would be different.

Page and Brin sought out a chef to custom design the menu at the Google commissary so that workers would not be sluggish. The menu had to be healthy for sure, but it also needed to be more than that, it needed to be empowering. Chef Charlie Ayers's brain food was considered a secret to the early success of Google. And everything that came rolling out of "Charlie's Café" was free to every employee. Those years spent feeding the brains of Google have now manifested themselves into Food 2.0: Secrets from the Chef Who Fed Google.

Ayers's innovative concept for food that not only serves the body but fuels the mind begins with what he calls the "Big O."

No, not her. "Organics are not the only path to clean, smart food. But the Big O still reigns supreme," he writes. A devotion to organic, locally sourced (150 mile radius) foods was but one of the values employed in the Google kitchens. Chef Charlie also incorporated elements of the raw food craze as well. His philosophy is not a strict raw-food diet, which is a good thing.

According to Elizabeth Brown, a dietitian, holistic chef, and sports nutrition specialist who hosts Eat 2 Liv, a purely raw-food diet is not necessarily a healthy diet. She recited a case she recently ran across of a young lady who had contracted candida, a rare thing for a raw foodist. When Brown asked the subject how she developed a condition that usually only stems from overconsumption of processed starches, she informed her that she had recently cleansed her system. "By cleansing she got rid of good bacteria and reduced her defenses," states Brown. "I like that people may be motivated to eat more raw foods but there is no `one way' to eat."

Ayers, too, is aware that raw food alone cannot suffice. Another big element of Food 2.0 is the use of fermented foods. He says yogurt, cheese, tea, pickles, and even beer are good for the gastrointestinal track by fighting microorganisms in food. One particular favorite was the recipe for kimchi that he received ironically enough from a friend named Nina Kim. Since I love this pungent Korean condiment I had to give it a try. It was perfectly bright and tart and zingy just the way it should be, and it gets better every day.

Nina's Kimchi

Toss a large head of napa cabbage, cut in bite-size pieces, with 2 tbsp kosher salt, then drain in a colander for 3 hours. Rinse well, drain, and dry. Mix with 4 sliced green onions (scallions), and a handful of chopped cilantro, 1 tbsp each black and white sesame seeds, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, the juice of a lime, 1 tbsp sesame oil, and a tbsp (or more) sambal oelek (a condiment used in the Far East) in a nonreactive bowl. Cover and let marinate at least overnight (it gets better over a week's time). This makes about 1½lb (675g).

Other notable staples include Chinese black vinegar, cheese-flavored oils, toasted hemp seeds, "uncured" deli meats, chutneys, and Ayers's custom-made elixir known as special red sauce #2. Special red sauce #1 is ketchup, organic of course. Another favorite on the Google campus is wheatgrass . . . as a shot. In fact they had to hire someone just to trim and grind 20 flats a day.

Ayers has moved on from Google as he is preparing to open his new 4900-square-foot healthy, fast-food restaurant in Palo Alto's Town and Country Village called Calafia Café & Market a Go Go where he will continue to produce his smart food for the masses.

Ayers's new book is revolutionary in its creativity and subject matter. It is more than just a cookbook; it is a guide to a new way of living. With 256 pages and full color throughout it is published by DK Publishing (New York, NY).

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The Google Of Cookbooks

Charlie Ayers has done for food approach what Google did to the interwebs when Sergei and Larry decided to take information already out there and make it more user-friendly. Thus ends the parallels between this cookbook and Google which, through innovative thinking, gave a talented chef a venue to bring fresh, simple food to hungry people.

This is a brilliant cookbook, but not necessarily for its recipes. What makes it remarkable is Charlie Ayers' holistic approach to dining:

- Buy local when you can because it's the right thing to do (and this is coming from a Conservative with a capital C);

- Eat well but mostly plants because it's good for your body (and, as someone continually struggling to lose weight that's a tip I'm taking to heart);

- Make your own "fast food" by preparing in advance through "flavor cubes" and freezer storage and both your waistline and bottom line will thank you for it (and haven't we all been at the point where a run to McD's seems easier than making something that's actually good for us?); and

- Indulge in the sensations of home-cooked food, from the fun of shopping and preparation to consumption (something which definitely appeals to the foodie in me).

We need more chefs who think like this. Thank you, Charlie. This is truly a masterpiece!

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reviews: page 1, 2

In a cutting edge cookbook for the Internet generation, Google?s legendary founding super-chef, Charlie Ayers, tells you everything you need to know about the newest nutrition buzzword: brainfood. He outlines the basics on how the right foods can transform your mind and body, and then teaches you how to stock your kitchen with the healthiest foods available. Raw, organic, and fermented is Charlie?s mantra, which is reflected in more than 90 easy-to-prepare recipes, whether it?s a Kick-start Breakfast, a Power Lunch, or a Light, Bright Dinner. And, following the world-famous formula Charlie used at Google headquarters, the meals and snacks are designed to feed your brain exactly what it needs at different points throughout the workday. From hipsters looking to think more creatively to high-fliers who need that extra edge for success to new moms and dads, looking to repair the damage of myriad sleepless nights, Food 2.0 has the recipe for delicious food for sharper thinking no matter who you are or what you do. From Food 2.0: Secrets from the Chef Who Fed Google: Lamb Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce Serves 4 Prep Time: 15 minutes plus chilling Cook Time: 6—8 minutes 1 lb (450g) good-quality ground lamb 1 tsp minced garlic ½ tsp ground cloves 1 tsp ground cumin Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 tbsp olive oil 4 artisan-style hard rolls 4 small handfuls of baby spinach leaves For the marinated onions ½ red onion, thinly sliced 1 tbsp red wine vinegar 1 tsp unrefined light brown sugar For the sauce 2 inch (5cm) piece of English cucumber, coarsely grated ¼ cup Greek-style plain yogurt ¼ tsp minced garlic 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves • Put the lamb in a bowl and add the garlic, cloves, cumin, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Mix with your hands until well combined, then shape into four burgers. Chill until ready to cook. • Mix the red onion with the vinegar and sugar. Let marinate while you prepare the sauce. Squeeze the cucumber to remove excess moisture, then mix with the yogurt, garlic, mint, and a little salt and pepper. Chill. • When ready to eat, heat a ridged cast-iron grill pan. Sprinkle burgers with a little kosher salt and brush with olive oil. Cook the burgers until browned and cooked through, 3-4 minutes on each side. • Meanwhile, split the rolls and toast them. When the burgers are cooked, assemble your creation with baby spinach leaves, tzatziki sauce, and the drained marinated onions.

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