The Most Used Cookbook in My Kitchen, and A Great Read, Too

books:


	• Farmer John's Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables John Peterson Gibbs Smith Publishers, 2006 - 360 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Most Used Cookbook in My Kitchen, and A Great Read, Too

I bought this cookbook on the recommendation of my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture = Organic Farm Share). It was written for CSA members who regularly get large batches of in-season vegetables that they may either not know how to cook, or are getting tired of as the season wears on.
As a result, it's packed with tons of vegetable recipes that are a bit out of the ordinary.
So far, absolutely everything I've tried has come out wonderfully, and brought a surprising new flavor to my table. A word of warning: somewhere between starting and finishing each of these recipes, I also had a moment of doubt, like "oh my God, why have I done this, this will never work." The moment always passed, and the recipes worked.
Normally I read cookbooks and then go out and do my own thing, picking maybe one or two recipes to actually follow from any given book. This book is so packed with unique ideas, and has been so successful every time that I follow the directions with unaccustomed frequency.
A must for CSA shareholders, I also recommend Farmer John's cookbook for anyone who wants to add more vegetables to their life, and more life to their vegetables.

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Working with our CSA crop

This cookbook has helped us make full use of our weekly crop from our local CSA. Love the Chocolate Beet cake. Hard to get my kids to eat beets but they eat this cake up like crazy.
Fun stuff!

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The CSA's Primer/Cookbook

With the current spinach scare, modern industrial society has begun to reflect on exactly where their food originates. A DVD like Koons-Garcia's "The Future of Food" explores both the problems with our current genetically engineered food, while develing into the socio-economic issues conflicting farmers faced with the GE future; where seeds are patented or refuse to grow unless sprayed with Round-up.

Interestingly, when we enter a supermarket, rarely do we reflect on the fact that 70 percent of the produce we can purchase is, well, out of season. The distances produce travels to sate our society, to eat tomatoes in the dead of winter, provides carbon emission concerns, while again triggering the "now what kind of conditions were these vegetables produced under?" or more directly, "Are they safe to eat?"

Which is why a CSA, or community supported agriculture, has become viewed as a viable, intelligent option to our current predicament. Farmer's participate as a group, receiving a call every week to fill a specific number of orders. The farmer sees what they will have available, and only one day before being delivered, pick the said product. The farms net their produce together, fill a box with their various pickings(like figs, tomatoes, beets, squash, arugala, carrots, green onions, etc.) and then deliver them to a drop point where customers pick the boxes up. So week to week, the food the customer receives changes depending on availabilty and time of year.

Besides giving customers better produce, a CSA cuts carbon emissions because food travels on average 50 miles to 1500 miles, and obviates concerns of chemically laden, GE foods.

So the Farmer John's Cookbook's attitude, or arguably its underlying theme, becomes tied to this notion of seasonality, slow food, and CSAs; hence why the author mentions his own CSA and farm Angelic Organics(to dispel, again, an earlier review here). The recipes are quite good. They are family-style and feature enough twists to be worthwhile. More importantly, each recipe focuses on each chosen produce's strengths. Similar in many ways to Alice Waters' "Chez Pannise Vegetables."

But the true greatness of the book is in, again, its theme. It argues for seasonality, and shows the eater how much can be appreciated in the produce each season brings. The snippets of information, an amalgamation of the Farmer's Almanac and some esoteric dated Brillat-Savarin philosophizing, only further carries this notion of appreciation.
As a CSA primer, the text succeeds, becoming more of a handbook than a cookbook; place it firmly next to "One Straw Revolution."

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A Must For Any Kitchen

I was truly impressed by this book. Anyone can compile recipes and call it a cookbook!
This author in my opinion is very passionate about the earth, vegetables and very healthy eating.I enjoy using the recipes..They are not the "average" boil and serve recipes. I liked the anecdotes,pictures and the descriptions..an added plus.The handling,storage and usage is a nice reminder to us all. One outstanding feature of this book is how the author separates the vegetables into seasonal crops.
This is a MUST book for any kitchen!!!!!

Much more than a cookbook!

This was a gift,so I didn't read it. I just skimmed it. The recipient has not yet tried the recipes, but he enjoyed the text. John Peterson is a very interesting eccentric and an expert organic farmer.

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reviews: page 1, 2

Join the real food revolution with a true pioneer in the Community Supported Agriculture movement-Farmer John Peterson and his farm, Angelic Organics. Angelic Organics is a leader in community supported gardening and biodynamics, helping to connect people with their food, their farmers, and healthful living.

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