Local Flavors

First published in hardcover in 2002, Local Flavors was a book ahead of its time. Now, imported food scares and a countrywide infatuation with fresh, local, organic produce has caught up with this groundbreaking cookbook, available for the first time in paperback. Deborah Madison celebrates the glories of the farmers’ markets of America in a richly illustrated collection of seasonal recipes for a profusion of produce grown coast to coast. As more and more people shun industrially produced foods and instead choose to go local and organic, this is the ideal cookbook to capitalize on a major and growing trend. Local Flavors emphasizes seasonal, regional ingredients found in farmers’ markets and roadside farm stands and awakens the reader to the real joy of making a direct connection with the food we eat and the person who grows it. Deborah Madison’s 350 full-flavored recipes and accompanying menus include dishes as diverse as Pea and Spinach Soup with Coconut Milk; Rustic Onion Tart with Walnuts; Risotto with Sorrel; Mustard Greens Braised with Ginger, Cilantro, and Rice; Poached Chicken with Leeks and Salsa Verde; Soy Glazed Sweet Potatoes; Cherry Apricot Crisp; and Plum Kuchen with Crushed Walnut Topping. Covering markets around the country from Vermont to Hawaii, Deborah Madison reveals the astonishing range of produce and other foods available and the sheer pleasure of shopping for them. A celebration of farmers and their bounty, Local Flavors is a must-have cookbook for anyone who loves fresh, seasonal food simply and imaginatively prepared.

Many of the world's economic ills - short-termism, compulsory growth pressure, cyclical recessions, unrelenting concentration of wealth, and erosion of social capital can be traced to our competitive money system, in which there is built-in economic scarcity and never enough money for people to pay off their debts. We need an economic system that is both cooperative and competitive, with each balancing and complimenting the other. Lietaer and Dunne tell how such a balanced system can be created and, in fact, how it is already being built in many places around the world. Individual citizens, entrepreneurs, businesses, communities, and governments are creating new cooperative money systems that link unused resources with unmet needs. Over the past 30 years there has been a tremendous growth of cooperative currencies from fewer than 100 in 1980 to over 4,000 today. But we need many more of them spread more consistently all over the globe. We also need more large-scale cooperative currencies. The emergent cooperative currency movement needs to grow up. Dodging the dogma of both left or right Rethinking Money provides the roadmap for this to happen.

"The Complete Travel Guide Series" offers a comprehensive exploration of diverse destinations worldwide. Each book provides detailed insights into local culture, history, attractions, and practical travel tips, ensuring travellers are well-prepared to embark on memorable journeys. With vibrant illustrations, beautiful pictures and up to date information, this series is an essential companion for any type of traveller seeking enriching experiences.

Provides information on how to find plants and other materials in local bioregions that can be used in the kitchen, along with seasonal recipes and instructions for preparing a variety of preserved foods, including ferments, infusions, and spices.

Primitive beers, country wines, herbal meads, natural sodas, and more The art of brewing doesn’t stop at the usual ingredients: barley, hops, yeast, and water. In fact, the origins of brewing involve a whole galaxy of wild and cultivated plants, fruits, berries, and other natural materials, which were once used to make a whole spectrum of creative, fermented drinks. Now fermentation fans and home brewers can rediscover these “primitive” drinks and their unique flavors in The Wildcrafting Brewer. Wild-plant expert and forager Pascal Baudar’s first book, The New Wildcrafted Cuisine, opened up a whole new world of possibilities for readers wishing to explore and capture the flavors of their local terroir. The Wildcrafting Brewer does the same for fermented drinks. Baudar reveals both the underlying philosophy and the practical techniques for making your own delicious concoctions, from simple wild sodas, to non-grape-based “country wines,” to primitive herbal beers, meads, and traditional ethnic ferments like tiswin and kvass. The book opens with a retrospective of plant-based brewing and ancient beers. The author then goes on to describe both hot and cold brewing methods and provides lots of interesting recipes; mugwort beer, horehound beer, and manzanita cider are just a few of the many drinks represented. Baudar is quick to point out that these recipes serve mainly as a touchstone for readers, who can then use the information and techniques he provides to create their own brews, using their own local ingredients. The Wildcrafting Brewer will attract herbalists, foragers, natural-foodies, and chefs alike with the author’s playful and relaxed philosophy. Readers will find themselves surprised by how easy making your own natural drinks can be, and will be inspired, again, by the abundance of nature all around them.

The Cultural Politics of Food, Taste, and Identity examines the social, cultural, and political processes that shape the experience of taste. The book positions flavor as involving all the senses, and describes the multiple ways in which taste becomes tied to local, translocal, glocal, and cosmopolitan politics of identity. Global case studies are included from Japan, China, India, Belize, Chile, Guatemala, the United States, France, Italy, Poland and Spain. Chapters examine local responses to industrialized food and the heritage industry, and look at how professional culinary practice has become foundational for local identities. The book also discusses the unfolding construction of “local taste” in the context of sociocultural developments, and addresses how cultural political divides are created between meat consumption and vegetarianism, innovation and tradition, heritage and social class, popular food and authenticity, and street and restaurant food. In addition, contributors discuss how different food products-such as kimchi, quinoa, and Soylent-have entered the international market of industrial and heritage foods, connecting different places and shaping taste and political identities.

Wisconsin's rich and diverse ethnic heritage is expressed most robustly in its food traditions. Here, Terese Allen takes us on a sumptuous tour, visiting family-run bakeries, country meat markets, prizewinning cheese factories, and beloved confection shops. We meet the people behind the foods, hear their interesting stories, and come away with some of their favorite recipes. For people who love to eat, cook, and travel, this book is the ultimate companion for both kitchen and car.

This book is about brewing in general—not just making beer but having fun fermenting all kinds of delicious concoctions with whatever we find on offer from nature, be that the wilderness or our backyards or gardens. We’re talking odd, wild, and primitive beers, sodas, herbal meads, inebriating (or not) infusions, and many other types of fermented drinks that are sometimes hard to classify. It’s about exploring boozy possibilities in creative ways, the way humans have for a very long time. What’s not to like about that? My big discovery when working on this book was the fact that brewing is really a continuous, linear activity. We like to chop up this creative line into small, discrete segments and impose etiquettes on them: That’s a beer, that’s a wine, or that’s a soda. But the truth is that humans, since the dawn of time, have been brewing boozy concoctions that often transcend regular labels. You’ll find all kinds of interesting drinks that are really a blend between beers and wines, or sodas and beers. And it’s all good: Brewing should be about creativity, flavors, and in some cases medicinal applications. Like many enjoyable activities, it’s a lot less fun when you’re told what you can or cannot do. It’s an interesting statement for an author to make, but I would like you to look at this book not in terms of precise recipes you can make at home but more as a book of concepts and ideas that will enable you to explore and create with your own local ingredients. The fun is really in dreaming up and brewing your own delicious drinks, so look at the techniques described here and see what you can come up with! If there is an overall message I want to convey, it is that brewing is fun, adventurous, and extremely rewarding. Don’t be afraid to experiment: You might make a few mistakes here and there, mostly in the beginning, but those will be dwarfed by the countless yummy drinks you’ll create and be successful at making. Hopefully the basic procedures in this book will help, and I can’t wait to hear about the delicious beverages you’ll make with the plants surrounding you. If you already have experience in making beers, you may find some of the methods described here a bit primitive and unusual: the use of molasses and other sources of sugar (including insect honeydew) instead of malt; wild yeast extraction from local fruits, flowers, and plants; unusual bitter wild plants instead of regular hops; and the overall lack of grains. I hope this book will nevertheless inspire you to explore your own terroir and possibly integrate some local flavors into your brews. The most important message from this book is really: Explore, have fun, and create! That’s the stuff life should be made of.