Arguing against pretentious restaurants, Flandrin argues that such changes in the food service are far from distinct events. Instead he regards it as a historical phenomenon, one that changed in response to socioeconomic and cultural factors.

Inspired by her beloved blog, dinneralovestory.com, Jenny Rosenstrach’s Dinner: A Love Story is many wonderful things: a memoir, a love story, a practical how-to guide for strengthening family bonds by making the most of dinnertime, and a compendium of magnificent, palate-pleasing recipes. Fans of “Pioneer Woman” Ree Drummond, Jessica Seinfeld, Amanda Hesser, Real Simple, and former readers of Cookie magazine will revel in these delectable dishes, and in the unforgettable story of Jenny’s transformation from enthusiastic kitchen novice to family dinnertime doyenne.

Americans eat more processed foods than anyone else in the world. We also spend more on military research. These two seemingly unrelated facts are inextricably linked. If you ever wondered how ready-to-eat foods infiltrated your kitchen, you’ll love this entertaining romp through the secret military history of practically everything you buy at the supermarket. In a nondescript Boston suburb, in a handful of low buildings buffered by trees and a lake, a group of men and women spend their days researching, testing, tasting, and producing the foods that form the bedrock of the American diet. If you stumbled into the facility, you might think the technicians dressed in lab coats and the shiny kitchen equipment belonged to one of the giant food conglomerates responsible for your favorite brand of frozen pizza or microwavable breakfast burritos. So you’d be surprised to learn that you’ve just entered the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center, ground zero for the processed food industry. Ever since Napoleon, armies have sought better ways to preserve, store, and transport food for battle. As part of this quest, although most people don’t realize it, the U.S. military spearheaded the invention of energy bars, restructured meat, extended-life bread, instant coffee, and much more. But there’s been an insidious mission creep: because the military enlisted industry—huge corporations such as ADM, ConAgra, General Mills, Hershey, Hormel, Mars, Nabisco, Reynolds, Smithfield, Swift, Tyson, and Unilever—to help develop and manufacture food for soldiers on the front line, over the years combat rations, or the key technologies used in engineering them, have ended up dominating grocery store shelves and refrigerator cases. TV dinners, the cheese powder in snack foods, cling wrap . . . The list is almost endless. Now food writer Anastacia Marx de Salcedo scrutinizes the world of processed food and its long relationship with the military—unveiling the twists, turns, successes, failures, and products that have found their way from the armed forces’ and contractors’ laboratories into our kitchens. In developing these rations, the army was looking for some of the very same qualities as we do in our hectic, fast-paced twenty-first-century lives: portability, ease of preparation, extended shelf life at room temperature, affordability, and appeal to even the least adventurous eaters. In other words, the military has us chowing down like special ops. What is the effect of such a diet, eaten—as it is by soldiers and most consumers—day in and day out, year after year? We don’t really know. We’re the guinea pigs in a giant public health experiment, one in which science and technology, at the beck and call of the military, have taken over our kitchens.

Systemic racism and sexism caused one of South Africa’s most important writers to disappear from public consciousness. Is it possible to justly restore her historical presence? Regina Gelana Twala, a Black South African woman who died in 1968 in Swaziland (now Eswatini), was an extraordinarily prolific writer of books, columns, articles, and letters. Yet today Twala’s name is largely unknown. Her literary achievements are forgotten. Her books are unpublished. Her letters languish in the dusty study of a deceased South African academic. Her articles are buried in discontinued publications. Joel Cabrita argues that Twala’s posthumous obscurity has not developed accidentally as she exposes the ways prejudices around race and gender blocked Black African women like Twala from establishing themselves as successful writers. Drawing upon Twala’s family papers, interviews, newspapers, and archival records from Pretoria, Uppsala, and Los Angeles, Cabrita argues that an entire cast of characters—censorious editors, territorial White academics, apartheid officials, and male African politicians whose politics were at odds with her own—conspired to erase Twala’s legacy. Through her unique documentary output, Twala marked herself as a radical voice on issues of gender, race, and class. The literary gatekeepers of the racist and sexist society of twentieth-century southern Africa clamped down by literally writing her out of the region’s history. Written Out also scrutinizes the troubled racial politics of African history as a discipline that has been historically dominated by White academics, a situation that many people within the field are now examining critically. Inspired by this recent movement, Cabrita interrogates what it means for her—a White historian based in the Northern Hemisphere—to tell the story of a Black African woman. Far from a laudable “recovery” of an important lost figure, Cabrita acknowledges that her biography inevitably reproduces old dynamics of White scholarly privilege and dominance. Cabrita’s narration of Twala’s career resurrects it but also reminds us that Twala, tragically, is still not the author of her own life story.

Quantity food presentation made easy . . . and irresistible! When it comes to preparing and presenting food in quantity, having limited time or resources doesn t have to mean limiting the imagination if you know the secrets of Arranging Food Beautifully. This unique guide equips you with a stunning array of practical and effective techniques for presenting hot and cold food attractively on trays, buffets, and steam table lines. Expertly blending art and skill, it shares countless ideas on how to use color, composition, texture, props, and garnishes to enhance the presentation of items from every part of the menu. Whether you work in a catering, deli, institutional, hospitality, or other foodservice setting, you ll delight in these simple suggestions that take minutes and cost pennies. Clear step-by-step instructions, plus dozens of how-to illustrations and photographs make the job easy, and taste panel approved recipes show you exactly how to get started. From tasteful touches to bold thematic inspiration, you ll find a cornucopia of creative possibilities in Arranging Food Beautifully.

A National Bestseller, The Sprout Book is the book on the power of sprouts as an ultra-food for health, weight loss, and optimum nutrition. Written by Doug Evans, a pioneer in the plant-based health movement for over 20 years, and with a foreword by Joel Fuhrman, M.D., The Sprout Book empowers readers to embark on a plant-based way of eating that’s low-cost and accessible. The book shows us how easy it is to boost the nutrition of any snack, smoothie, or meal with sprouts. Among the mind-blowing qualities of sprouts: ― they have 20–30 times the phytonutrients of other vegetables and 100 times those of meat ― they pack cancer-fighting properties and help to protect us from cardiovascular disease and environmental pollutants ― they aid in digestion ― they are a simple way to grow your own vegetables and are compatible with all diets ― they are incredible for regulating insulin levels The forty recipes inside feature sprouts on top of raw vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, spices, sea vegetables, and top-quality cold-pressed vegetable oils for the healthiest diet possible. The Sprout Book includes informative interviews with leaders in functional medicine and nutrition including Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Josh Axe, Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Joel Kahn and more. Use this book to change your diet and super-charge your health with one of the most nutrient-dense, sustainable foods on earth!