Preparing the Bounty: Cooking, Food, Nutritious Vegetables, and Health
Visit our Crops Page for the new Brix Bounty Exploring the Harvest Series
Five of our favorite cookbooks focusing on seasonal diets and family cooking:
- Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection by Jessica Prentice
- The River Cottage Family Cookbook by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall & Fizz Carr
- Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers Markets by Deborah Madison
Books Focusing on Health and Nutrition (March 2009)
We at Brix Bounty Farm are deeply committed to growing food that nourishes our bodies and is grown in a way that enriches our natural environment and community. We are well aware of the endless stream of diet recommendation and food advice that is provided to consumers through books, magazines, and advertising. Wading through this advice can be treacherous and we are by no means qualified to pass along nutritional advice in a professional manner.
Nevertheless, we firmly belief that diet and nutrition are deeply connected to health and thus share the following with our community: Each of us have bodies whose needs differ and depend on a wide variety of factors (health, age, caloric demand, time of year, etc.); we should strive to listen to our body and create a diet that suits our individual needs.
Since I began farming in 2002, there has been an absolute wealth of material published focusing on food and health from different perspectives. The list below includes some of the authors, ideas, organizations that we find most compelling and insightful. The path to health has many streams, at Brix Bounty we will continue to focus our efforts on the stream where we can have the deepest impact – specifically our work building healthy soils that are capable of producing healthy, nutrient dense fruits and vegetables into the distant future. We are working to build awareness and knowledge about the role soil health plays in the quality of our foods and the very real public health implications of foods produced on poor soils.
Each listing includes links to the book, author, and publisher when possible. Many of these books can be loaned from your local library; the SAILS Library Network serves the Southcoast. If purchasing a book to add to your collection; we always suggest supporting your local bookstore, i.e. – Baker Books in Dartmouth, buying used, or supporting the individual publisher or author.
The Body Ecology Diet: Recovering Your Health and Rebuilding Your Immunity by Donna Gates with Linda Schatz. 1996. B.E.D. Publications, Atlanta, GA.
The China Study: Startling Implications for Diet Weight Loss and Long-Term Health by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II. 2006. Benbella Books, Dallas, TX.
Cure Tooth Decay: Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition by Ramiel Nagel. 2009. Golden Child Publishing, Los Gatos, CA.
Devil in the Milk: Illness, Health and Politics A1 and A2 Milk by Keith Woodford. 2009. Chelsea Green, VT.
The Fourfold Path of Healing by Thomas S. Cowan, M.D. with Sally Fallon and Jaimen McMillan. 2004. New Trends Publishing.
Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition by Paul Pitchford. 3rd ed. 2002. North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA. and a 2008 article written by Paul.
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan. 2008. The Penguin Press, NY.
The Nature of Substance: Spirit and Matter by Rudolf Hauschka. 2002. Sophia Books, Rudolf Steiner Press, UK
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon with Mary G. Enig, PhD. 1999. New Trends Publishing.
Nourishment Homegrown by Dr. Alexander F. Beddoe. 2002. Wendell Whitman Co.
Nutrition: A Holistic Approach by Rudolf Hauschka. 2002. Sophia Books, Rudolf Steiner Press. UK
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price. 8th ed. 2008. Price Pottenger Nutrition Foundation.
An Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. 2006. The Penguin Press, NY.
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold Magee.
Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck. 2007. Bloomsbury
Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby’s First Foods by Nina Planck. 2009. Bloomsbury
Real Medicine, Real Health by Arden Andersen. 2004. Holographic Health Press, Waynesville, NC. An interview with Arden from 2004, ACRES U.S.A.
Soil and Health Library – Amazing online resource for out of print books.
The Swiss Secret to Optimal Health: Dr. Rau’s Diet for Whole Body Healing by Thomas Rau M.D. with Susan Wyler. 2007. Berkley Books, New York, NY.
Weston A. Price Foundation for Wise Traditions in Food, Farming, and the Healing Arts Organization publishing the quarterly Wise Traditions.
What to Eat: An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices and Good Eating by Marion Nestle. 2007. North Point Press
Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Cultured Foods by Sandor Ellix Katz. 2003. Chelsea Green, VT.
The following books; I’ve yet to read but they are on the list when I find the time…
Enzyme Nutrition by Edward Howell. 1995. Avery Publishing.
Know Your Fats: The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils, Cholesterol by Mary G. Enig. 2000. Bethesda Press.
The Milk Book: The Milk of Human Kindness is Not Pasteurized by William Campbell Douglass II. 2004. Rhino Publishing, S.A.
Oil Pulling Therapy: Detoxifying and Healing the Body Through Oral Cleansing by Dr. Bruce Fife
The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid. 2nd ed. 2009. New Trends Publishing.
General Reading Focusing on the Wider Food System (in addition to the works of Michael Pollan)
Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Home Front by Sharon Astyk. 2008. New Society Publishers.
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. 2001. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Food Politics by Marion Nestle. 2002. UC Press.
Food Security for the Faint of Heart by Robin Wheeler. 2008. New Society Publishers.