When we were running the family catering business, we often repeated the phrase, “The eyes eat first” – meaning that our food had to look good as well as taste good. “The Nourished Kitchen: Farm-to-Table recipes for the Traditional Foods Lifestyle” is a feast for the eyes as well as an inspiration to savor traditional recipes with a modern twist. I have the pleasure of receiving a review copy as we head into the perfect time to experiment with these farm to table options.
The Nourished Kitchen: Farm-to-Table recipes for the Traditional Foods Lifestyle
The Nourished Kitchen cookbook is written by Jennifer McGruther of www.nourishedkitchen.com, an award winning traditional foods website. Her years of managing a farmers market and teaching traditional food preparation shine through in this beautiful new book.
What’s in the book?
The book is divided into eight chapters with 160 recipes, plus a glossary, resources, a listing of food advocacy groups and measurement conversion charts. The chapters include:
- From the garden, featuring salads and seasonal vegetables
- From the pasture, featuring milk, cream and eggs
- From the range, featuring pasture-raised chicken and poultry, grass-fed meats, pasture-raised pork, offal and bones
- From the water, featuring “finfish” – including roe, and shellfish
- From the fields, featuring flours, grains and beans
- From the wild, featuring wild fare from greens and mushrooms to pheasant and venison
- From the orchard, featuring fruit, nuts and honey
- From the larder, featuring fermentation and preserving in oil and vinegar
Recipes focus on seasonal cooking of locally available foods, and are based on the Weston A. Price traditional foods diet. You won’t find pre-packaged products assembled into “recipes”. This cooking starts with real food. Jenny offers detailed cooking instructions, and also provides insight into why and how the recipes were created. There are charts and gorgeous full colored photos sprinkled throughout the text.
At times “The Nourished Kitchen” reminds me of the work of Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) and Barbara Kingsolver (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life) in the way it examines the history and the ethics of food. It is more than just a recipe book – it tells a compelling story that makes you want to be a part of it. If you just want to cook great food from your garden or farm market finds, you can use it for that, too, but you’ll be missing out. 🙂
