This is a delicious and nutritious feast of facts, recipes and figures, quips, quotes, quizzes, history, food science, anecdotes and insight, puns, myths, secrets, how-to tips, titbits and unabashed, call-it-like-it-is power truths that help readers understand how important live, cultured, fermented foods - and the microorganisms that produce them - are to our health, environment and communities. Although many people will pick up "Truly Cultured" just for its sumptuous recipes and lush, four-colour photographs, the book is much more, an unprecedented archetype on this subject. Bentley hopes it will change the way we think about food, health and life and how this impacts the world.

“THIS BOOK’S purpose is to tell you what a cultivated person is, what the value of the cultured person is to himself, his fellows, and his society, and finally, the kind of things the cultured person knows, thinks, and feels. The point of the book is that it may succeed in giving you a fair idea of where you stand in relation to the continuum of culture, and help you understand in what further direction you need to proceed.”—Ashley Montagu, Ph. D. This provocative book, first published in 1958, is an inquiry into, and an answer to, three very important questions: 1) What is a cultured man? 2) What does “culture” mean in America? 3) What is YOUR “culture quotient”? Dr. Montagu analyzes and evaluations the first two questions above in a brilliant opening essay. He then provides 50 tests (1,500 questions with answers) which explore YOUR knowledge and attitudes and which enable you not only to determine where you stand as a truly cultured person but also to find out precisely in what directions you need to move to improve your “culture quotient.” From ballet to biology, from psychology to sex, this is an instructive test of your own intellectual status, a challenge and a guide to self-improvement. Dr. Montagu was a professor of anthropology at Rutgers University before retiring in order to devote all his time to writing. He was well-known for his TV and radio appearances, and became a renowned author.

Donna Schwenk’s world changed when she discovered cultured foods. After a difficult pregnancy and various health problems, she became determined to find answers to what ailed her. And in her quest, she came across the ancient art of home fermentation, a food preparation technique that supercharges everyday foods with beneficial bacteria to balance your digestive system, and vitamins and minerals to enhance your overall health. This simple, natural process has been used for thousands of years to create everything from drinks like kefir and kombucha to foods like kimchi and pickles. After incorporating fermented foods into her life, Donna began to experience a vitality that she had never known. And then she was hooked! She started a new life as a teacher and writer, blogging on her website culturedfoodlife.com, in an effort to bring the beautiful world of fermented foods to as many people as possible. She now works with thousands of people to open the door to a world of foods that can help improve an array of health problems including high blood pressure, diabetes, allergies, acne, hypertension, asthma, and irritable bowel syndrome. In Cultured Food for Life Donna brings this same information to you and shows you that preparing and eating cultured foods is easy, fun, and delicious! After speaking to the science behind the healing power of probiotic foods and telling the astonishing story of how she healed herself and her family, Schwenk walks you, step by step, through the basic preparation techniques for kefir, kombucha, cultured vegetables, and sprouted flour, plus more than 135 recipes that use these foods to create dishes to please any palate. With recipes like Herbed Omelet with Kefir Hollandaise Sauce,Sprouted Ginger Scones with Peaches and Kefir Cream,Kefir Veggie Sprouted Pizza, Apple Sauerkraut, and Brownie Cupcakes with Kefir Frosting, along with inspirational stories from Donna’s family and friends, you’ll learn everything you want to know about a diet that’s as tasty as it is healthy.