book by food blogger and photographer Aran Goyoaga. Early in my food blogging days, I became a follower of Cannelle et Vanille and always loved the beautifully presented dishes. I also enjoyed learning bits and pieces of Aran’s life like her upbringing in in a Basque town in northern Spain where her grandparents operated an artisanal pastry shop. She eventually moved away from Spain and from a career in food before later settling in Seattle where she now works as a food photographer and stylist. Her cooking is entirely gluten-free, but you’ll find lots of lovely baked goods here. There are sourdough breads, pies and tarts, cakes, homemade pasta, and even doughnuts. The ingredients are fresh and straightforward with something for every season. I’m looking at the Roasted Cauliflower, Swiss Chard, and Hazelnut Pasta dish right now and making plans to try it. There’s a chapter for entertaining called The Gathering Table, and it’s no surprise to find a delightful Chicken and Seafood Paella on an Open Fire recipe complete with instructions for building a fire. There are also options for Grilled Backyard Pizzas like the Leek, Fennel, and Pesto Pizza that I’ve been craving. Salads kept catching my eye including the Shaved Beet and Lentil Salad with Tahini and Preserved Lemon Dressing, and I keep flipping back to the Morning chapter to look at the Egg Tostada with Fennel, Radishes, and Yogurt made by cooking an egg directly on a tortilla as it fries. But, I couldn’t pass up the Spicy Carrot-Grapefruit Juice since it’s citrus season, and the first carrots were just appearing at farm stands. This is an easy beverage to prep provided you have a juicer handy. It’s a simple blend of three carrots, one peeled grapefruit, a half-inch piece of fresh turmeric, and a half-inch piece of fresh ginger. Now, I simplified the process a bit because I left the juice mixture at that and stirred in the half teaspoon each of cayenne and cinnamon. However, to follow the recipe precisely, the juice mixture should have gone into the blender, and the spices should have been added along with a tablespoon of sunflower seed or almond butter and a half teaspoon of honey. I liked the thinner, simpler juice as it was, but the added ingredients would have made it more filling.
And, what else have I been reading? One more food book I want to mention today is Grilled: Turning Adversaries into Allies to Change the Chicken Industry
by Leah Garces. Often, books pertaining to the food industry point out problems and offer information about why we should be concerned but offer little in the way of workable solutions. Here, the problems of the chicken industry are made clear as are some positive wins in improving standards. Much of the book focuses on broilers or chickens grown for meat. Consumers became aware of the suffering and disease caused by the crowded, filthy conditions in which the birds are raised, but there was a lack of understanding of the genetics of the birds and how they were bred to grow too big too quickly. As a result of the tireless work of animal advocates, some of the largest companies controlling chicken farming are beginning to make changes to how the birds are housed and bred. The next step is to improve on the agriculture processes involved in growing feed for all those chickens. In April 2018, Tyson agreed to one of “the largest ever sustainable grain commitments for a US protein company.” They set a two-million-acre land-stewardship target for grains raised for chicken feed. One thing we all can do to improve conditions for animals raised for food and reduce climate pollution caused by animal agriculture is to cut back our intake of meat and support small-scale farms producing pasture-raised meats. The book mentions: “a drop in consumption of beef, pork, chicken, and milk contributed the most to the reduction of greenhouse gases over the period (2005-2014).” By finding ways to effectively communicate concerns and by having vocal consumer backing for such concerns, advocates and food policy organizations have convinced large companies to make improvements. Some positive steps have been taken, but there’s still more to do and every reason to keep up the good work in 2020.
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, I’ve been implementing several of the suggestions from it and trying to eat more of the healthiest foods described. The book looks at the history of several edible plants and how their nutritional value has changed over time. As sweeter or milder versions of fruits and vegetables have been selected over bitter or other less desirable tastes, nutrients have been bred out of those fruits and vegetables. One vegetable that hasn’t changed much, however, is garlic. Garlic, and all alliums, offer all sorts of health benefits, but specifically with garlic, getting those benefits depends on how it’s used. Garlic contains alliin and alliinase which combine to form allicin when garlic is cut, sliced, minced, or smashed. And, allicin is very beneficial to good health. However, alliinase is heat sensitive. So, if cut garlic is heated immediately after being cut, no allicin is formed. If cut garlic is left to sit for ten minutes before being heated, the maximum amount of allicin is created. Then, you can cook it as you normally do. I’ve been reordering my cooking process for every dish that includes garlic. My first step has become slicing, mincing, or chopping the garlic in whatever way needed and letting it sit for at least ten minutes while prepping everything else. Another thing I was delighted to learn from the book is that our modern cultivars of artichokes are very, very nutritious. They’re noted for having a higher antioxidant capacity than all other fruits and vegetables. They’re also high in inulin which promotes good gut microflora. And, the best part of the info about artichokes is that the hearts contain as many antioxidants as the rest of the leaves. The canned or jarred versions have all those nutrients too. I tend to choose ones packed in glass jars to avoid BPA lining in aluminum cans, but it’s great to know those marinated artichoke hearts are so healthy. And, then I read about beets. 
