What I Eat by Menzel

Every now and then I get a hankering for some good non-fiction documentary-type reading.

This will do it. I heard about What I Eat, by Menzel, in the Food Section of the San Jose Mercury News. Since the food section is really the only non-biased, not-so-liberal place in the Merc, it's the one section that I read and don't call out to Eric, "Hey, Honey . . . Listen to how ridiculous the slant on this article is!" I'm disgressing. The food section. I like it. Heard about this book.

In What I Eat, which is beautifully written with gorgeous pictures, Menzel examines the daily diet of 80 people around the world. An acrobat in China. A housewife in Iran. A trucker in the USA. A lifeguard in Australia. An art restorer in Russia. A baker in Germany. In every selection, Menzel talks about how food "works" in the life of the person who eats it. Fascination. Interesting. It's rare that I want to actually buy, rather than look at, a coffee table book. But Santa might just show up with this book for me. It's one of those books you can go back to. I scanned most of it, read some of it, skipped the essays for later, and marvelled at all of it.

I'd say, find a copy. That's what I'd say.

And if you are wondering about my picture to go with this, the food pictured is just a sampling of food from today's diet in this house. Samoas from the Indian restaurant we got take out from last night, some apples and tomatoes from my parents farm, string cheese from Costco, and the beginnings of my favorite banana shakes (ingredients: frozen bananas, skim milk, and a dash of cocoa).