Anything That Moves by Dana Goodyear

**This review is part of the Amazon Vine Program**

I used to think I was an adventurous eater. Even a foodie. That is, until reading this book. After reading it, I think I'd prefer not to associate myself with the foodies. Goodyear takes a whole world of underground, raw, illegal, and just downright strange eating and brings it to light.

There are several sections in this book about different forms of food. Some focus on the people that get these hard to eat goods, like ant eggs. Others focus on using illegal product, like cannabis in their cooking. Still others focus on meats from endangered animals whose sale is illegal in the United States. And then there are a few sections on underground restaurants and the raw milk movement.

Goodyear hangs out with a lot of unscrupulous characters. Or at least she did when she wrote this book. People who think nothing of eating whale or procuring quite a lot of pot to make a themed meal. I actually don't care about the second, it's the first that gets me. If something is endangered leave it alone, it can become food when the population has been restored. There are a couple of unique characters though who get their reputation by serving dazzling food and never in the same way twice. Like the chef who runs an underground restaurant out of his apartment. Him, I found quite interesting. Everybody tended to be a bit snobby about their food choices though, and have a strict definition of what a foodie can be. Live and let eat I say (except in the case of endangered animals or unnecessary cruelty).

I felt like this book was comprised of many smaller articles. It just didn't flow naturally like a general book would. There were several interesting topics though, the biggest one for me being the subject of raw milk. It's one of the things I think should be legal everywhere with it being up to the person to determine if they want to take the risk (we can purchase soy sauce and drink it in mass quantities if we choose but it's illegal to purchase raw milk in most states and drink it. I know, crazy comparison, but think about it. It's true.). On the other side of the spectrum I was disgusted with the thought of eating endangered animals and the sheer volume that gets consumed just in CA. But all of it was descriptively written and I can appreciate that even if I didn't care for some of the topics.

I can't say I'll be in a rush to try the majority of things that were mentioned in this book. But it was an interesting look into American food culture and I learned a lot. I even learned some things I probably didn't want to know. This is definitely a book for anyone interested in food to read.

Anything That Moves
Copyright 2013
259 pages

Consider the Fork by Bee Wilson

I love food. Any type of food, and I love the gadgetry that comes with the preparation of food. Some new kind of blender? I want to see it. A trip through the antique store to check out old egg beaters and mandolines? I'm there. But I never really thought about some of the basic stuff, which this book explores.

The author takes eight chapters and breaks down certain kitchen sciences and inventions into histories. The chapters are as follows: Pots and Pans, Knife, Fire, Measure, Grind, Eat, Ice & Kitchen. Some of these titles are fairly simplistic. For instance, Ice encompasses not only Ice Boxes, but Ice Cream and modern refrigerators as well. And some of the others are explanatory, like Pots and Pans. Each take you on a history as far back as the gadget existed and brings it to the modern and the different types we use now. There are also little sections at the end of each chapter that explore a single type of gadget, like a nutmeg grater. Such things as measuring cups, spoons, and even ice cream makers are discussed. But even down to the explanation of the fork through history, there's a lot in this book that isn't readily available in other history books.

Gadgets are interesting. It is possible to have a kitchen filled with gadgets that only do one thing (like an avocado cutter) or to just have a few trusty tools like a knife and stove. Each of these approaches takes a different kind of cook just like modern vs. traditional cooking takes a different type of cook. And the author does mention the use of sous-vide and it's rising popularity. I'm actually intrigued by the concept myself but have no room for any additional gadgets, especially after my latest foray into a juicer (and as the simplistic would say, what was wrong with an old fashioned manual juicer). For this whole book to be about the most simplistic of cooking utensils though makes it different from a lot of others. There is no technique being discussed here, just a simple history of some things we take for granted.

The writing itself was kind of dry. While I eagerly wanted to learn more about kitchen history, I had a hard time just sitting down and reading this book in one sitting and had to break it up a bit. There's a lot of fascinating information here, but sometimes the minute details are a little too much, such as the listing on and on of different types of spoons the Victorians used. I might have been a little more interested if there was a picture of all these spoons, but when trying to picture them all in my head, they all looked remarkably like teaspoons to me. And I'm not trying to say there aren't any pictures in this book. There are a few illustrations scattered throughout the entire thing. But I feel that this book could have been made so much better by actual photographs. Maybe not of everything, but there was a lot in there that I could try to web search each time, but it would be preferable to have it right there on the page. It would have broken up the monotony of all the detail as well. Wilson does tell it with a warm voice, but it's more like listening to a senior citizen wax on eloquently about how they walked uphill to school in the snow both ways.

It is an interesting book if taken in small portions. There's a wealth of information to be had (and a want for a Marshall Ice Cream machine) and it did inspire me to visit Ivan Day's website ( a guy who cooks historically). This is a good read for a foodie or historian.

Consider the Fork
Copyright 2012
279 pages