Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

I have been a fan of Michael Pollan's ever since I read Botany of Desire. At the time, I thought he'd never top that book but as his curiosity and passion about food, our food delivery systems, and the fundamental importance of what we eat has increased, he has just gotten better and better. If you are already a Michael Pollan fan, you appreciate his meticulous attention to detail in his research and his lucid prose. I swear, this guy could take the most complicated subject on the planet and make it accessible to his readers. In Cooked, I think he has reached a new peak in his powers of synthesis and observation. Cooked is divided into four parts, analogous to the four elements described by the ancient Greeks: Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Of these, it was the section on Earth (fermentation) that really made me sit up and take notice. He brings up so many important points about how our Western diet fails us every day, making our lifespans shorter and our health more precarious. In its way, Cooked is as important a book about health and nutrition as Diet for a Small Planet was when it first appeared in the 1970s. This book will make you think, give you tools to improve your health, and explain how cooking a meal from scratch in your own kitchen becomes an act of rebellion. So worth your time and the purchase price.

I read Michael Pollan's masterwork Cooked with great interest. This book takes a simple thing – food and how we prepare it – and delves deep into the underlying science and history of this subject. The book first discusses using fire and water for cooking. It covers topics such as the Maillard reaction, which gives food flavor, and the way a stewpot acts as a second stomach, in a sense, predigesting foods and opening up their nutritional value. I found the final section of the book, on fermentation, the most interesting. Fermentation ("cold fire") uses microorganisms to digest foods partially and to create flavors. The book highlights several key fermented foods – in particular, bread, wine, and cheese – and discusses various aspects of the fermentation process. First, considering bread, fermentation allows us to readily use grasses for food and reclaim much more solar energy. The book suggests that ~90 percent of the energy in food is lost at each step of the food pyramid; thus, being able to eat grass directly is a major triumph of the agricultural revolution. Of course, nowadays, we have taken this fantastic process even further and essentially industrialized grass in the form of white bread -- taking out much of the original nutrients, including fiber, and then putting different nutrients back in. Another exciting aspect of baking bread is what Pollan describes as an emergent phenomenon. Most other forms of cooking, for instance, heating by fire or warming in a pot, involve a simple extrapolation of the preparation conditions. Baking bread is different. It is a "system property," where one combines various ingredients and makes something completely different than the original constituents. Pollan also describes how gluten acts almost like an elastic to create cavities in bread that can fill with gas and facilitate rising. The next fermented food Pollan discusses is wine. To make it clear how easy it is to achieve fermentation, he shares humorous stories from his childhood of fermenting grape juice and having the vessel burst. He also brings up a philosophical question of whether we have domesticated Saccharomyces cerevisiae or whether it has domesticated us: alcohol itself, which is the product of many fermentations, is toxic to most organisms, yet we have evolved enzymes and pathways in our liver to break it down. Pollan also talks about how one can understand the different flavors of wine in terms of the various microorganisms available. Humans, in a sense, have co-evolved with wine and can benefit from having a glass a day based on a variety of health indicators. The final section on fermentation talks about cheese. Cheese represents the product of rotting or decay in its extreme. Pollan describes cheese fermentation as a multistep process where, initially, microorganisms aerobically colonize the center of a bit of milk, digesting it partially and raising its pH, but eventually, the increasing acidity fouls the microbes' nest. Then, there is effectively an ecological succession where other species of bacteria replace the initial microbes; this continues to raise the pH. What I found most interesting is that a secondary fermentation then occurs from the outside of the cheese, where yeasts – which are aerobic – send in their hyphae and partially neutralize the increasing pH. The competition between these different fermentations gives rise to new chemistries, flavors, and compounds. Cheese is also unusual in that it represents the nexus for competition between two current groups of people: the fermentos, those who believe in the importance of microorganisms for health and for giving food its flavors, and the Pasteurians, those who want to purge all foods of microbes. Their differences are evident when choosing a vessel for making cheese: should it be made out of old rotten, moldy wood or modern stainless steel? The overall discussion of fermented foods points to the legacy of the agricultural revolution and the great importance of microbes in day-to-day life. Altogether, I highly recommend this book. I find myself revisiting many of the book's points when I enjoy various meals and purchase things at the grocery store.

I'm a baker and make some of the best 100% whole wheat sourdough bread anyone who has tasted it ever had. So I was pretty disappointed with all the myths and hype that Pollan included in his chapter about bread titled: Air. For one: the starter does NOT get lacto bacteria from their air, let alone the baker's hands. It is already on the wheat! Reference Wikipedia's article on sourdough bread for links to the scientific publications that show this. As for the hype, Pollan goes to great extent to praise and uplift this baker in San Francisco. Look: there is no Michelangelo of bread. Yes, it can be VERY challenging, but it does not require genius... Once you know what you're doing, the actual time you need to work to make a loaf is about 15 to 20 minutes. It is actually one of the easiest foods to prepare, once you learn! Other than that, his history of bread looked accurate and was very enlightening The rest of the book was great! Pollan is an excellent writer who takes you on a wonderful journey. He knows how to tell a story while mixing in relevant facts (minus the one I mentioned above) to make the story interesting. Definitely worth reading.

Cooking is not just an activity that involves you sweating it out in the kitchen, but it is an art in itself. If done correctly and patiently, using the right ingredients and techniques, you don’t just whip up great dishes, but create memories that will linger on in the mind of those who are lucky enough to eat it. In Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan, published in 2013, the author explores the impact of four of the most powerful elements of nature – air, water, fire and earth – on the food that we eat. From baking to fermenting, he experiments with some of the best chefs in the world to discover how beautifully these four elements shape and cook the food that we so love to eat. The entire world pauses to read a culinary book that is written by the renowned journalist, Michael Pollan. It is no wonder that after penning down several critically acclaimed non-fiction books based on food and culinary science such as In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, his next piece of work, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, has taken the world by storm. It is difficult to find an author as passionate about food and the role it plays in the evolution of mankind as Pollan. So the book certainly deserves your attention if you love food. Readers have loved how the food systematically breaks down into the four sections of fire, air, earth and water giving ample explanation of how each of them shape and cook the food separately in their own unique way. It will take you on a journey starting from the basic techniques of cooking to how they have evolved over the centuries, and how this evolution has shaped our society and inter-personal relationships. The book also makes a point to remind its readers how the modern man is losing his touch with the real methods of cooking. Relying on processed food to take care of our nutritional requirements weakens us and the entire cycle of ecological inter dependence. In fact, the author claims that by adopting a healthier cooking practice, we can fight health issues successfully and go back to restoring our disturbed relationship with nature. In 2016 Pollan and Alex Gibney turned the book into a 4-part documentary series released exclusively on NetFlix which brought stunning visuals to Pollan’s story. This review was originally written for 27Press.com.

This is an important book. It is, more than anything else, a social history of cooking woven together by a personal journey. As Pollan points out, cooking is one of the oldest of human activities. There is evidence, certainly more indicative than definitive, that cooking began with our hominid ancestors, likely homo erectus, mastered fire and started cooking close to two million years ago. By this line of thinking, cooking, which transforms foods into tasty treats from which we can extract far more nutrition, had a lot to do with the journey we have been on to develop larger brains and smaller guts. All of this changed in the last 60 years, as we decided to let corporations cook instead of people and as we confused food for what used to be called field rations. In economic terms, we became consumers rather than producers. Pollan explores this history and the recent changes by structuring the four parts of the book in terms of the four traditional elements, fire, water, air, and earth. In fire, he pursues the art of the traditional souther whole hog barbecue. In water he pursues the tradition of braising. In air he pursues bread baking. In earth he pursues several forms of fermentation, pickling, cheese making and brewing. In each of these parts, he combines a personal journey of education with a well researched and well written piece of the natural history. Much of what he says is quite contentious. The corporate food processors, agribusinesses, marketers and Pasteurians (what a great term) continue to hold sway. What requires an explanation is that a series of diseases that were previously rare (e.g. cancer, hear disease, obesity, diabetes) have become common. While much of the science remains to be done, there is growing weight to the argument that it is the change of our status from producers of food (also known as cooks) to consumers of the output of corporate farms and kitchens that is the most important variable in this change. Personally, I cook both because I can and because the food I cook myself gives me far more pleasure that what I buy. I also feel my change from consumer to producer has made me more healthy. You may not agree with everything Pollan says, but his book is certainly worth the read.

A bit slow in the beginning, this text picks up and what it requires of one's patience in occasional redundancy, it more than makes up for in giving words to profound food cultures, the wellness that thoughtful, care driven food preparation blesses the receivers and preparers, and the bright, clear glimpses into the processes for such preparation. This is not merely an exhibition but an exhortation to return to the kitchen and prepare our own sustenance and, for those who have done it regularly and with some bit of confidence, there is a smiling resonance and spark of curiosity here for the things not yet true. It's meditative, investigative, and practical all at once. What more do you want?

It was overall a good book with a good mix of history and some anthropology. Did our love of alcohol force us to grow food or vice versa? Lots of interesting stories and cooking, baking, and brewing ideas. I may try to make a starter based on his bread recipe on the back. I loved the history of bread making section. It is scary what the put in "bread" so making your own avoids you competing with beavers for food. LOL. Lots of good information. I think it could have been a shorter book but it was worth the read.

Michael Pollan's Cooked is a masterpiece that you must read if you love to cook and want to explore the origins of grilling, brazing, bread baking, or fermentation. Michael's curiosity and pursuit of these origins goes to his disciplined hands-on approach to doing everything. It may be more than you want to know but it will never be less than a thorough introduction to how to do what the experts do in everything from whole animal grilling to making cheese and beer. Michael loves people and appreciates their expertise and accomplishments. His attitude reflects what a Korean kimchi teacher told him and it explains why I can't make good bread when I'm angry: "Hand taste [as opposed to tongue taste], however, involves something greater than mere flavor. It is the infinitely more complex experience of food that bears the unmistakable signature of the individual who made it--the care and thought and idiosyncrasy that that person has put into the work of preparing it. Hand taste cannot be faked. Hyeon Hee insisted, that hand taste is the reason we go to all this trouble, massaging the individual leaves of each cabbage and then folding them and packing them in the urn just so. What hand taste is, I understood all at once, is the taste of love." Jerry Woolpy

In "Cooked" Michael Pollan takes a look at the major processes that go into food preparation which he breaks into four categories - fire, water, air and earth. As with other books by Pollan there is a deep message in the writing and an underlying goal of the author to revitalize the reader's interest in our historic food culture and the approachability of it at the individual level in modern society. The book sets the stage in the introduction asking the question of why to cook. He notes that the amount of time spent in the kitchen by people has declined dramatically in the last 50 years and how the argument of division of labour and time optimization might hold partially true- being totally removed from preparing what we consume to survive is much much more complicated than such simple economic logic. The book sets the stage by discussing the BBQ. It is a perfect opening to reinforce the author's introductory criticims of modern food preparation as the social atmosphere defined by BBQs will always be an obvious reminder of the deeply social aspects of certain kinds of food preparation. The author researches heavily and takes the reader with him through his journey of finding the authentic BBQ. In reading the chapter i have a much larger where to eat next list... But the author combines food journalism of BBQ today with a historical account of the roast in our history and discusses some fairly deep concepts about what makes us human. The author introduces the idea that what makes us human is actually the ability to cook as by cooking we reduce the time and energy spent in digestion and allows for people to have evolved much larger brains that require economy of eating time. Not a central thesis of the book by any means, just an illustration that the philosophy of the author and examples all weave together to bring purpose to the writing. The author then goes into water and boiling food. This is less adventurous and seems slightly more introspective. Cooking food by boiling it is a more recent human invention as its dependent on a vessel to boil the water in after one has discovered fire. It is also a more domestic form of food preparation and as a result has more gender role connotations. The atmosphere of the campfire is different from the atmosphere of the person preparing a stew. Nonetheless the author discusses how all cultures boil food in various forms to both cook and improve flavour and at its core is a fairly common practice. The chemistry of what happens is discussed and the lessons learnt in terms of process. The author details how for himself the slow process of the food preparation filtered through to the family time enjoyed while talking and slowly eating the slow cooked meal. The author then moves into air and discusses baking. Baking is a form of food preparation that was subcontracted out of the kitchen hundreds of years ago (compared to roasting and boiling for example). The author gives himself the project of learning how to bake and starts in his home state of California. It is really interesting and it makes me feel like i am bread deprived. The science of breadmaking is really interesting and the industrial process of making the flour has the effect of reducing the nutritional content. The process of recombining nutrients to the bland white breads in modern supermarkets is discussed and shown to be predominantly a failure in terms of achieving nutritional goals. The author starts with a successful baking of a white flour sourdough and eventually works with original wholeweat cultures. I read this chapter and want to try the bread as well as all the bakeries that went into shaping this chapter... The author finally moves into Earth which is really his description for allowing nature and microbiology to take its course on food. In particular fermentation is detailed in two forms. The first is through pickling and the author tries to make sauerkraut, kimchi, and various other pickled foods. This seems the most straightforward to attempt at home as its a very slow process but the nuances are discussed and as with all forms of food preparation the author discusses there is an art to it given the science has its limits given the multitude of processes that are occuring. The author then discusses the art of cheesemaking and discusses the health aspects of the cheesemaking process. The author ends with a discussion of alcohol production and he attempts making beer. Given the beer kits involved are slightly more ready made than kits for other forms of food preparation, the first try for beer seems to turn out quite successfully on a a relative basis. The role of alcohol in social settings, its health contents and issues as well as its historic role througout civilization and consumption in the animal world is all discussed in a lively manner. I have always like Pollan's books. They are entertaining and have humor. Despite the lightheartedness of the writing the deeper message is one that should be considered. Cooking doesnt have to be a chore and the spillover effects of moving from processed food to home cooked are countless. For him with cooking - home atmosphere is better, nutrition is better, value for money is better and his experiences are better all the while his social fabric gets stronger. Obviously the message isnt for everyone to prepare all aspects of their food intake but to shift the balance away from always buying prepared and trying to minimize time cooking is a questionable goal. Despite not being active in the kitchen I feel more invigorated to try after reading this. I learnt quite a bit as well as enjoyed the read.

pollan has always taken a macro, bird's eye view of the food on our table. in this book he writes with his same wit, compassion, and knowledge that he's known for but focuses on the ways we get things to our table. this book is at the other end of the spectrum of a cookbook. it asks why we cook things over fire, in water, in an oven, through fermentation. it is as much an anthropological study is it is a culinary one. there are many reasons we cook things in water. pollan explains these reasons from many different angles: there is a biological imperative (kills bacteria); there is a culinary reason: makes inedible foods edible (and tasty); there are poetic observations (the french refer to a liquid just below a boil as "smiling"). while it's not a cookbook, "cooked" has increased my understanding of how food behaves inside the pot, over fire, etc. - which has made me better in the kitchen.

I have been a fan of Michael Pollan's ever since I read Botany of Desire. At the time, I thought he'd never top that book but as his curiosity and passion about food, our food delivery systems, and the fundamental importance of what we eat has increased, he has just gotten better and better. If you are already a Michael Pollan fan, you appreciate his meticulous attention to detail in his research and his lucid prose. I swear, this guy could take the most complicated subject on the planet and make it accessible to his readers. In Cooked, I think he has reached a new peak in his powers of synthesis and observation. Cooked is divided into four parts, analogous to the four elements described by the ancient Greeks: Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Of these, it was the section on Earth (fermentation) that really made me sit up and take notice. He brings up so many important points about how our Western diet fails us every day, making our lifespans shorter and our health more precarious. In its way, Cooked is as important a book about health and nutrition as Diet for a Small Planet was when it first appeared in the 1970s. This book will make you think, give you tools to improve your health, and explain how cooking a meal from scratch in your own kitchen becomes an act of rebellion. So worth your time and the purchase price.

I read Michael Pollan's masterwork Cooked with great interest. This book takes a simple thing – food and how we prepare it – and delves deep into the underlying science and history of this subject. The book first discusses using fire and water for cooking. It covers topics such as the Maillard reaction, which gives food flavor, and the way a stewpot acts as a second stomach, in a sense, predigesting foods and opening up their nutritional value. I found the final section of the book, on fermentation, the most interesting. Fermentation ("cold fire") uses microorganisms to digest foods partially and to create flavors. The book highlights several key fermented foods – in particular, bread, wine, and cheese – and discusses various aspects of the fermentation process. First, considering bread, fermentation allows us to readily use grasses for food and reclaim much more solar energy. The book suggests that ~90 percent of the energy in food is lost at each step of the food pyramid; thus, being able to eat grass directly is a major triumph of the agricultural revolution. Of course, nowadays, we have taken this fantastic process even further and essentially industrialized grass in the form of white bread -- taking out much of the original nutrients, including fiber, and then putting different nutrients back in. Another exciting aspect of baking bread is what Pollan describes as an emergent phenomenon. Most other forms of cooking, for instance, heating by fire or warming in a pot, involve a simple extrapolation of the preparation conditions. Baking bread is different. It is a "system property," where one combines various ingredients and makes something completely different than the original constituents. Pollan also describes how gluten acts almost like an elastic to create cavities in bread that can fill with gas and facilitate rising. The next fermented food Pollan discusses is wine. To make it clear how easy it is to achieve fermentation, he shares humorous stories from his childhood of fermenting grape juice and having the vessel burst. He also brings up a philosophical question of whether we have domesticated Saccharomyces cerevisiae or whether it has domesticated us: alcohol itself, which is the product of many fermentations, is toxic to most organisms, yet we have evolved enzymes and pathways in our liver to break it down. Pollan also talks about how one can understand the different flavors of wine in terms of the various microorganisms available. Humans, in a sense, have co-evolved with wine and can benefit from having a glass a day based on a variety of health indicators. The final section on fermentation talks about cheese. Cheese represents the product of rotting or decay in its extreme. Pollan describes cheese fermentation as a multistep process where, initially, microorganisms aerobically colonize the center of a bit of milk, digesting it partially and raising its pH, but eventually, the increasing acidity fouls the microbes' nest. Then, there is effectively an ecological succession where other species of bacteria replace the initial microbes; this continues to raise the pH. What I found most interesting is that a secondary fermentation then occurs from the outside of the cheese, where yeasts – which are aerobic – send in their hyphae and partially neutralize the increasing pH. The competition between these different fermentations gives rise to new chemistries, flavors, and compounds. Cheese is also unusual in that it represents the nexus for competition between two current groups of people: the fermentos, those who believe in the importance of microorganisms for health and for giving food its flavors, and the Pasteurians, those who want to purge all foods of microbes. Their differences are evident when choosing a vessel for making cheese: should it be made out of old rotten, moldy wood or modern stainless steel? The overall discussion of fermented foods points to the legacy of the agricultural revolution and the great importance of microbes in day-to-day life. Altogether, I highly recommend this book. I find myself revisiting many of the book's points when I enjoy various meals and purchase things at the grocery store.

I'm a baker and make some of the best 100% whole wheat sourdough bread anyone who has tasted it ever had. So I was pretty disappointed with all the myths and hype that Pollan included in his chapter about bread titled: Air. For one: the starter does NOT get lacto bacteria from their air, let alone the baker's hands. It is already on the wheat! Reference Wikipedia's article on sourdough bread for links to the scientific publications that show this. As for the hype, Pollan goes to great extent to praise and uplift this baker in San Francisco. Look: there is no Michelangelo of bread. Yes, it can be VERY challenging, but it does not require genius... Once you know what you're doing, the actual time you need to work to make a loaf is about 15 to 20 minutes. It is actually one of the easiest foods to prepare, once you learn! Other than that, his history of bread looked accurate and was very enlightening The rest of the book was great! Pollan is an excellent writer who takes you on a wonderful journey. He knows how to tell a story while mixing in relevant facts (minus the one I mentioned above) to make the story interesting. Definitely worth reading.

Cooking is not just an activity that involves you sweating it out in the kitchen, but it is an art in itself. If done correctly and patiently, using the right ingredients and techniques, you don’t just whip up great dishes, but create memories that will linger on in the mind of those who are lucky enough to eat it. In Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan, published in 2013, the author explores the impact of four of the most powerful elements of nature – air, water, fire and earth – on the food that we eat. From baking to fermenting, he experiments with some of the best chefs in the world to discover how beautifully these four elements shape and cook the food that we so love to eat. The entire world pauses to read a culinary book that is written by the renowned journalist, Michael Pollan. It is no wonder that after penning down several critically acclaimed non-fiction books based on food and culinary science such as In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, his next piece of work, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, has taken the world by storm. It is difficult to find an author as passionate about food and the role it plays in the evolution of mankind as Pollan. So the book certainly deserves your attention if you love food. Readers have loved how the food systematically breaks down into the four sections of fire, air, earth and water giving ample explanation of how each of them shape and cook the food separately in their own unique way. It will take you on a journey starting from the basic techniques of cooking to how they have evolved over the centuries, and how this evolution has shaped our society and inter-personal relationships. The book also makes a point to remind its readers how the modern man is losing his touch with the real methods of cooking. Relying on processed food to take care of our nutritional requirements weakens us and the entire cycle of ecological inter dependence. In fact, the author claims that by adopting a healthier cooking practice, we can fight health issues successfully and go back to restoring our disturbed relationship with nature. In 2016 Pollan and Alex Gibney turned the book into a 4-part documentary series released exclusively on NetFlix which brought stunning visuals to Pollan’s story. This review was originally written for 27Press.com.

This is an important book. It is, more than anything else, a social history of cooking woven together by a personal journey. As Pollan points out, cooking is one of the oldest of human activities. There is evidence, certainly more indicative than definitive, that cooking began with our hominid ancestors, likely homo erectus, mastered fire and started cooking close to two million years ago. By this line of thinking, cooking, which transforms foods into tasty treats from which we can extract far more nutrition, had a lot to do with the journey we have been on to develop larger brains and smaller guts. All of this changed in the last 60 years, as we decided to let corporations cook instead of people and as we confused food for what used to be called field rations. In economic terms, we became consumers rather than producers. Pollan explores this history and the recent changes by structuring the four parts of the book in terms of the four traditional elements, fire, water, air, and earth. In fire, he pursues the art of the traditional souther whole hog barbecue. In water he pursues the tradition of braising. In air he pursues bread baking. In earth he pursues several forms of fermentation, pickling, cheese making and brewing. In each of these parts, he combines a personal journey of education with a well researched and well written piece of the natural history. Much of what he says is quite contentious. The corporate food processors, agribusinesses, marketers and Pasteurians (what a great term) continue to hold sway. What requires an explanation is that a series of diseases that were previously rare (e.g. cancer, hear disease, obesity, diabetes) have become common. While much of the science remains to be done, there is growing weight to the argument that it is the change of our status from producers of food (also known as cooks) to consumers of the output of corporate farms and kitchens that is the most important variable in this change. Personally, I cook both because I can and because the food I cook myself gives me far more pleasure that what I buy. I also feel my change from consumer to producer has made me more healthy. You may not agree with everything Pollan says, but his book is certainly worth the read.

A bit slow in the beginning, this text picks up and what it requires of one's patience in occasional redundancy, it more than makes up for in giving words to profound food cultures, the wellness that thoughtful, care driven food preparation blesses the receivers and preparers, and the bright, clear glimpses into the processes for such preparation. This is not merely an exhibition but an exhortation to return to the kitchen and prepare our own sustenance and, for those who have done it regularly and with some bit of confidence, there is a smiling resonance and spark of curiosity here for the things not yet true. It's meditative, investigative, and practical all at once. What more do you want?

It was overall a good book with a good mix of history and some anthropology. Did our love of alcohol force us to grow food or vice versa? Lots of interesting stories and cooking, baking, and brewing ideas. I may try to make a starter based on his bread recipe on the back. I loved the history of bread making section. It is scary what the put in "bread" so making your own avoids you competing with beavers for food. LOL. Lots of good information. I think it could have been a shorter book but it was worth the read.

Michael Pollan's Cooked is a masterpiece that you must read if you love to cook and want to explore the origins of grilling, brazing, bread baking, or fermentation. Michael's curiosity and pursuit of these origins goes to his disciplined hands-on approach to doing everything. It may be more than you want to know but it will never be less than a thorough introduction to how to do what the experts do in everything from whole animal grilling to making cheese and beer. Michael loves people and appreciates their expertise and accomplishments. His attitude reflects what a Korean kimchi teacher told him and it explains why I can't make good bread when I'm angry: "Hand taste [as opposed to tongue taste], however, involves something greater than mere flavor. It is the infinitely more complex experience of food that bears the unmistakable signature of the individual who made it--the care and thought and idiosyncrasy that that person has put into the work of preparing it. Hand taste cannot be faked. Hyeon Hee insisted, that hand taste is the reason we go to all this trouble, massaging the individual leaves of each cabbage and then folding them and packing them in the urn just so. What hand taste is, I understood all at once, is the taste of love." Jerry Woolpy

In "Cooked" Michael Pollan takes a look at the major processes that go into food preparation which he breaks into four categories - fire, water, air and earth. As with other books by Pollan there is a deep message in the writing and an underlying goal of the author to revitalize the reader's interest in our historic food culture and the approachability of it at the individual level in modern society. The book sets the stage in the introduction asking the question of why to cook. He notes that the amount of time spent in the kitchen by people has declined dramatically in the last 50 years and how the argument of division of labour and time optimization might hold partially true- being totally removed from preparing what we consume to survive is much much more complicated than such simple economic logic. The book sets the stage by discussing the BBQ. It is a perfect opening to reinforce the author's introductory criticims of modern food preparation as the social atmosphere defined by BBQs will always be an obvious reminder of the deeply social aspects of certain kinds of food preparation. The author researches heavily and takes the reader with him through his journey of finding the authentic BBQ. In reading the chapter i have a much larger where to eat next list... But the author combines food journalism of BBQ today with a historical account of the roast in our history and discusses some fairly deep concepts about what makes us human. The author introduces the idea that what makes us human is actually the ability to cook as by cooking we reduce the time and energy spent in digestion and allows for people to have evolved much larger brains that require economy of eating time. Not a central thesis of the book by any means, just an illustration that the philosophy of the author and examples all weave together to bring purpose to the writing. The author then goes into water and boiling food. This is less adventurous and seems slightly more introspective. Cooking food by boiling it is a more recent human invention as its dependent on a vessel to boil the water in after one has discovered fire. It is also a more domestic form of food preparation and as a result has more gender role connotations. The atmosphere of the campfire is different from the atmosphere of the person preparing a stew. Nonetheless the author discusses how all cultures boil food in various forms to both cook and improve flavour and at its core is a fairly common practice. The chemistry of what happens is discussed and the lessons learnt in terms of process. The author details how for himself the slow process of the food preparation filtered through to the family time enjoyed while talking and slowly eating the slow cooked meal. The author then moves into air and discusses baking. Baking is a form of food preparation that was subcontracted out of the kitchen hundreds of years ago (compared to roasting and boiling for example). The author gives himself the project of learning how to bake and starts in his home state of California. It is really interesting and it makes me feel like i am bread deprived. The science of breadmaking is really interesting and the industrial process of making the flour has the effect of reducing the nutritional content. The process of recombining nutrients to the bland white breads in modern supermarkets is discussed and shown to be predominantly a failure in terms of achieving nutritional goals. The author starts with a successful baking of a white flour sourdough and eventually works with original wholeweat cultures. I read this chapter and want to try the bread as well as all the bakeries that went into shaping this chapter... The author finally moves into Earth which is really his description for allowing nature and microbiology to take its course on food. In particular fermentation is detailed in two forms. The first is through pickling and the author tries to make sauerkraut, kimchi, and various other pickled foods. This seems the most straightforward to attempt at home as its a very slow process but the nuances are discussed and as with all forms of food preparation the author discusses there is an art to it given the science has its limits given the multitude of processes that are occuring. The author then discusses the art of cheesemaking and discusses the health aspects of the cheesemaking process. The author ends with a discussion of alcohol production and he attempts making beer. Given the beer kits involved are slightly more ready made than kits for other forms of food preparation, the first try for beer seems to turn out quite successfully on a a relative basis. The role of alcohol in social settings, its health contents and issues as well as its historic role througout civilization and consumption in the animal world is all discussed in a lively manner. I have always like Pollan's books. They are entertaining and have humor. Despite the lightheartedness of the writing the deeper message is one that should be considered. Cooking doesnt have to be a chore and the spillover effects of moving from processed food to home cooked are countless. For him with cooking - home atmosphere is better, nutrition is better, value for money is better and his experiences are better all the while his social fabric gets stronger. Obviously the message isnt for everyone to prepare all aspects of their food intake but to shift the balance away from always buying prepared and trying to minimize time cooking is a questionable goal. Despite not being active in the kitchen I feel more invigorated to try after reading this. I learnt quite a bit as well as enjoyed the read.

pollan has always taken a macro, bird's eye view of the food on our table. in this book he writes with his same wit, compassion, and knowledge that he's known for but focuses on the ways we get things to our table. this book is at the other end of the spectrum of a cookbook. it asks why we cook things over fire, in water, in an oven, through fermentation. it is as much an anthropological study is it is a culinary one. there are many reasons we cook things in water. pollan explains these reasons from many different angles: there is a biological imperative (kills bacteria); there is a culinary reason: makes inedible foods edible (and tasty); there are poetic observations (the french refer to a liquid just below a boil as "smiling"). while it's not a cookbook, "cooked" has increased my understanding of how food behaves inside the pot, over fire, etc. - which has made me better in the kitchen.

This is not a book for the quick cook, someone who just wants to get the job done with minimal time or fuss. This is a book for a person who is curious about cooking, its history, some of the chemistry, the basic concepts behind it. It's for the person who is willing and able to get excited about cooking. The books organization into four sections based upon the classical physical elements, while not perfect (as Pollan himself notes when he points out that beer, filed under the "earth" category as a fermented food, actually makes use of all four elements), is nonetheless pleasing and somewhat helpful. The four basic elements he lists are fire, water, air, and earth, with the four basic preparation techniques being barbecue/grilling (fire), stewing/braising (water), leavening (air), and fermentation (earth). He interviews and learns from cooks specialized in each of these areas, and passes their knowledge on to his readers. He includes information from the natural sciences, about the biological and chemical mechanisms underlying the transformations we call "cooking". He goes into various theories as to how various forms of cooking came about, including a fairly extensive section about what is called the "Cooking Hypothesis" of human evolution.

I must admit that Pollan ir preaching to the choir here. I'm a dedicated amateur cook, and almost everything we eat is mostly scratch-cooked. I love experimenting with different techniques and improving my game, and I'm particularly looking forward to using info from the "Air" chapter to improve my "artisan" bread's taste, texture, and nutrition. I've read reviews that say that it's all very well to read about cooking, but it's rather like watching food shows on TV: people do that while eating processed food or take-out, because they think it's inaccessible. What's sad is- it's really not, at least for most people. Home from-scratch cooking is cheaper than eating out if what you buy is of any decent quality, and while Pollan rhapsodizes about mono-tasking in doing this, personally I use timers so I can both cook the onions for a half hour AND catch up online, stirring them once every 5 min or so. They really can amuse themselves most of the time! Similarly with all the other cooking he does- one does NOT have to dedicate 5 hours to brewing beer; one simply has to be around for those 5 hours while the process goes on, and intervene periodically. As with barbecue, and braises, and breads, and cheese, and even more so with wild fermentation of veg. So: I don't think people don't cook because of the crazy amount of hands-on time; hell, I've made Beef Wellington from scratch, including the puff paste, taking no more than around 45 min/day... but PLANNING. There's such an emphasis on getting food on the table in 30 min! 20 min! 15 min! that "slow food"- which doesn't take all that much more time in task, but takes longer elapsed- is scanted. I mean, there's pretty much nothing that I can make in 30 min from start to finish that I'd want to eat. Maybe a grilled cheese sandwich? but that depends on having decent bread, which I make... Anyway. I've done barbecue- at least semi-authentic; many, many braises and stews; a LOT of bread (we never buy bread, though I vary between stuff made in the bread machine and the more artisnal approaches which I am working to improve); and wild fermentation of excellent sauerkraut, kimchee, and various other veg, plus some cheesemaking (nothing aged yet; I don't have a "cave"), and both beer and wine. None are hard or especially complicated, though the cheese, beer, and wine can be a tad fussy, as can sourdoughs. Still: not actually inaccessible for anyone not living in a food desert, or working 3 jobs to try to make ends meet (and even then, if one can get decent veg and meat, a slow cooker will do wonders and needs no babysitting). I also very much appreciated that Pollan put this into a more modern context, rather than blaming women for stopping cooking. My own mother pretty much stopped from-scratch cooking when I was a kid (I'm now in my mid-50s), and relied more and more on stuff like hamburger helper, plus a few "shortcut" meals that were pretty awful. And she was not employed outside the home, so that wasn't the reason; I think it was simply the times, and the advertising. Pollan suggests that men and kids get into the kitchen; I support that! At one point I made a Family Rule: no one got to complain about dinner unless they were cooking 1 meal a week for the family. It worked great! and got my husband and kid into the kitchen. I digress. I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to exploring more about breads in particular. But right now there's a cabbage calling my name that needs to get shredded, salted, and start fermenting.

We spend less time cooking than ever and more time idolizing others who cook -- see the dozens of shows and dedicated TV channels. How does this make any sense? Clearly, there is something in the experience of cooking, even if it's not "time efficient," and making something from scratch and on your own that draws us in. Better, not just us, but also our families and those close to us. Michael Pollan, in his usual engaging style, takes us on a journey of cooking with fire, water, air, and earth. You'll learn the intricacies of a southern barbecue (fire), the tricks of best known fermentos (earth), transformations in braising (water), cooking a great loaf of bread (air), and much more. It is both a very educational, and an inspirational and approachable read - something you could try in your own kitchen, and trust me, you will want to.

The book certainly has many interesting tales of food origins, preparations and the various social and historical aspects related to them. However, the details are tedious and overwhelming. While some will find this book is the best thing since sliced bread (my bad pun....) I think most readers will find it over baked.

A delicious and informative deep dive into how so many products we consume on a daily basis are made - all accompanied by the stories of the author actually carrying out learning the skills to make barbecue, bread, beer, cheese and a variety of other recipes. There is equal parts science and the history of food and equal parts witty observations about how the culture of cooking and consumption has evolved over time. The book will leave you with a deep gratitude towards home cooking and the great effort that goes into making a delicious dish. It will also leave you yearning to increase your own cooking chops and try your hand at some of the recipes mentioned within the book. Off to try brewing my own batch of beer now - cheers!

Rarely does a book make me look at the world, my life or myself in a different way. This book, as several others by this author, does just that. In "Cooked" Pollen posits the theory that cooking not only allowed ancient humans to enlarge their diet as they changed from a hunter/gatherer society but to change the very humans themselves. By cooking, one way or the other, those ancestors managed to do part of the work of digestion outside their body so they, like our relatives the apes/monkeys don't have to spend hours every day chewing to get the nutrients they needed from their food. The way he attacks the issue is to divide cooking into fire, water, air and earth. To illustrate each one, he finds an expert to teach him about the way those elements work. He learns to barbecue, braise, bake and brew and relates the usually self-mocking ways he does it wrong before he learns to do it right. Along the way, he gives the reader a grounding in how each method of cooking has changed and what we have both lost and gained by the change. It's not a quick read but is surely is a good one.

This book is not only a history of how humans moved from eating uncooked food to cooked food but a detailed explanation of why. I love details. This book certainly fulfilled my need to know who, where, why, what, when, and how that can benefit me immediately in my life and diet today. He opened up a whole new way of viewing food and diet through the discussion of "gut microbiota". A knowledge of the "gut microbiota" along with the bacteria, fungi, archaea, viruses, and protozoa is so helpful in understanding what a good diet is. It sounds like this would be very technical, and it is, but it is presented in such a way that it is very easy to understand, and associate to our nutritional needs. The book is so easy to read! Much about his personal experiences as he discovers 'how to cook' to make it healthy and taste good. I like the taste good part! If you are really interested in really learning how to take care of your dietary needs this is a must read.

By learning from experts to barbecue whole hogs, braise cuts of meat. bake bread, pickle vegetables, make cheese and brew beer, Michael Pollan explores the history, science, and social and cultural impacts of cooking. Recommended for those who love to cook, seek inspiration to do more of their own cooking, or would enjoy an interdisciplinary investigation of how we nourish ourselves. Pollan's versatile, colorful, and well-researched prose never fails to educate and entertain.

Pollan's previous books are all worthwhile and interesting. I bought a lot of his little Food Rules books as "stocking stuffers" and small gifts. Very nice little gifts. This book is his best yet...by far. It raises the investigation of how cooking has influenced (...actually made possible) human life and culture. Every page semms well written. Some of the observations rise to the level of philosophy other seem like poetry. If you feel about barbecue, it is easy to see it as a brilliant religious treatise. (I personally am "BBQ Southern Orthodox" but accept that other belief systems may exist no matter how wrong-headed.) If this book doesn't make your heart sing, your mouth water and your bile rise against those who are making our food system less flavorful and nutritionally deficient, then you have no soul. Buy the book, read it, lend it, gift it to others.

Not for me. I felt I was being preached to. Give me good information, details and facts and let me decide how to Incorporate the ideas into my life. Unfortunately, I thought the book was lacking in the factual details. Seemed more like opinions with little to back them up. Plus, I could get past what, to me, seemed like arrogance.

Glad I had faith in the author to pursue the subject in an irresistible manner, since I thought the subject sections seemed a bit limited. Not so!!! Cooked food has given man an evolutionary advantage...something I never remotely considered. And did you know that in medieval times Englishmen were thought to be gourmet as opposed to the lowly French? And how about the fact that humans contain more microbial cells than human cells? And did you ever hear that the biological flora in your gut might be responsible for obesity, and that it is important to "feed" this flora if you want to remain in optimal health? Why do some cheeses smell like dirty feet...or worse? The answer may surprise (and disgust?) BTW I learned that disgust is a singularly human emotion. If you have a restless mind, and interest in both cooking and cooking history, this book is for you!

If you are looking for a book that explains what cooking actually is and how it affects your food in mostly laymen's terms this book is for you. If you are looking for a cook book this is probably going to be a disappointment. A few years ago I read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" By Michael Pollen and loved it. I have since read some of his other work and enjoyed it but always felt that the rest of his work was just ok. So I approached this book with kind of mediocre expectations but buried deep high hopes. I was not disappointed. Much like "The Omnivore's Dilemma", "Cooked" is a fun ride through Michael's own life and experiences with cooking. Michael manages to combine a personal story with a bit of history, philosophy, basic science and a touch of mysticism. Personally, I could do without the mystic parts but the rest is great.

I'm only half way through this book but really like it. Cooking our food, touching and preparing it, is so representative of a life that is not linear (like just buying packaged prepared food and eating it) but organic and changing, and that is the beauty of it. It's never the same. With all the technology and science...we still understand very little about why the fluid nature of things just works better for our health and our environment. Nice to see things moving back that direction...or hoping anyway. The benefits of cooking our food is much deeper then just nutrition...which we never really needed science to tell us in the first place. Well worth reading as we find our way back to eating whole foods that we cook ourselves.

I hasten to note that I haven't read every word. My interest in the book is topical, that is certain subjects are of considerable interest. I discovered a writer who has a pointed and interesting attitude toward his subject. It stands him in good stead. What I think impresses me the most is his apparent eagerness to jump in and get down to the basics. Pollan doesn't just study and write about his topics, he creates and experiences them up close. His reseach appears to be impeccable, and if readers don't always agree, it's clear that thats okay with Mr. Pollan. And that's as it should be. Diet and cooking and eating and nutrition are among the most important and controversial subjects of our time and Pollan doesn't hesitate. Whether you agree with him or not, an excellent product.

How do you say a cooking book is a page turner but this one is. Just fascinating. The historical background to developments in cooking told in an easy conversational way makes this a pleasure to read. Pollan's adventures in BBQ, cheese making, bread baking,fermenting things from beers to vegetables makes one envy his life. Who wouldn't want to track down experts in all these varied fields and learn from the best...spending months perfecting one thing at a time......seriously, its all I can do to get a quick meal on the table. However, he has awakened a reverence for cooking that I took for granted and now I am cooking so many things from scratch much to my dogs, and families, delight. A fabulous book I'm recommending to everyone.

One of the better books I've read this year, both in terms of writing style and content. The author includes scientific/biological facts as well as philosophical/religious musings and interesting bits of cultural history. Not only is it a highly entertaining read, but it has both inspired me to try new ways of cooking and caused me to rethink the food I serve to my family. This is not a diatribe against the typical American diet, but rather an exploration of what cooking can be. This book is a nice complement to Salt, Sugar Fat (http://www.amazon.com/Salt-Sugar-Fat-Giants-Hooked/dp/1400069807). Of the two, I enjoyed this one more, but I highly recommend both. There is little (though some) overlap. I suggest reading this one second. Salt, Sugar Fat helped me understand why our diet looks like it does today, whereas Cooked inspired me (in a positive way) to make changes to how I eat.

I do not buy many books any more. But, I bought two copies of Cooked, one for me and one for a daughter. He brings together excellent narrative that is fun to read, deeper insight into each topic he addresses, and linkage to associated issues. In this case his review of fire, water, air and water goes into practical experience he gains on each topic as well as the science of what is happening in each case. He makes cooking a great deal more then putting a meal on the table. How does cooking fit with man's evolution,what is happening inside the thing we are cooking as well as what is happening inside us when we eat it. If you cook, read Cooked, If you cook, read Cooked. And if you just want a good story, read Cooked

What an appetite stirring read! An insightful and engaging exploration into the history, philosophy, science and methods of the culinary craft. Pollan once again displays his ability to seamlessly weave different facts and ideas together to form a powerful narrative about human's relationship to nature as bridged by the act of cooking. I know I will never look at a dish or food product the same way again! I have to admit though, it did took a while for me to take to the book (and I did complained about it!), but maybe Pollan's fondness of slow cooking was transposed to his writing. "Cooked" is definitely a book that you'd want to savour with intent, as it gets more and more interesting and fascinating with each turn of the page. In the end, it all redeemed for what seemed to me like a laggard start. I also loved that he even touched on some of the political economy, ethical and social issues accompanying some of the culinary crafts. Enough for it to be though provoking without overwhelming the unsuspecting reader. This book should go into every foodie's must-read list.

I had read Omnivore's Dilemma, which turned me into one who paid attention to food and to a fan of Michael Pollan's. I ordered this one, with some trepidation, not sure it could hold my interest, but found it riveting. Each section, cooking with fire, water, air, and fermentation seemed less likely to do so, yet each was more exciting than the one before. It is a testament to Pollan's writing ability where he examines a subject but through the eyes of an expert who is always a fascinating character. One come away with a sense of history of cooking, a philosophy, and even a broader sense of the process of life. Buy the hard copy, share it with friends, and revisit it from time to time.

I found this book extremely interesting. The author writes well and makes the subject both compelling and informative. I learned so much and enjoyed doing so. Highly recommended!

I have read all his books, I always enjoy them. He is well researched, intelligent, thoughtful, and writes in a delightful easy style that still requires the reader to think and be engaged. Love his stuff, I highly recommend anything he has written!

As usual, Michael Pollan explores the world of food in a way that makes you seriously consider what is on your plate. This book is interesting on many levels, culinary, scientific, cultural, sociological. It will inspire you try new things from baking bread to making kim-chi and braising meats. There has been some criticism of this book that he is sexist in his exploration of the kitchen and who should be cooking in it. After reading you understand that his criticism is more of the food industry and less of the women who decided to leave the kitchen and go to the workplace. He believes that all of us, not just women, should be in the kitchen, concerned with what we eat and how we eat it.

For those familiar with Michael Pollan, this is certainly more of the same. Same good writing and same focus on food, which Pollan rightly recognizes as a key part of human development and culture. Others have criticized this work as tedious and repetitive, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Granted, it is not a pot-boiling page-turner. It is a well researched, thought provoking, look at the creation and evolution of ways to transform raw plant and animal material into tasty and healthy nutrition for the human animal. He also highlights the cultural and social aspects of cooking as key elements of our human development. Both the food transformation and the cultural/social aspects of cooking are losing importance in western societies. Pollan argues this is to our collective detriment. Reading this thoughtful book may not make you change your food purchase and consumption habits -- and it's certainly not likely to make you a master chef, baker, brewer, etc. -- but it will give you a new perspective on the place that cooking has held in our past. A place that may or may not remain so important in the future.

This book is wonderful! Michael Pollan is a beautiful writer; his descriptions fill your mind with glorious pictures, his prose is heart-warming, his history is eye-opening and you feel smarter just reading his books. The four parts are Fire, Air, Water and Earth. We are taken into each way of cooking historically and how each has evolved in different cultures. We happily learn about the importance of cooking our food, to ourselves and our families and to end the hold the food industry has on us and the harm the convenience is doing to us. I wish everyone would read this book, I know everyone would enjoy it.

Michael Pollan is one of the top science writers in the world. And for good reason: all of his books, including this one, have compelling stories and astonishing new insights. Pollan takes Richard Wrangham's idea that cooking helped to make us human and has expanded it more than I thought possible. At first I was not sure I would like it, page after page about southern barbecue, and large parts seemed like a cookbook, but toward the end I was absorbed by the ideas about the interaction of human digestion, microbes, and cooking. Lots of footnotes for those who want to know more!

I bought this book after watching the Netflix series and while I enjoying the series and the book, the book has a depth that could not be contained in the hour segments on the series. The chapters were broken up well but the Fire and Water chapters seemed to be missing the depth the Air and Earth had. Overall I would still recommend to anyone who enjoys a cooking challenge and I'm excited to try a recipe or two myself.

For all home cooks and chef wannabees this is a fantastic book. M. Pollan has created an information source for the "what happens when" type of basic kitchen/food questions that speaks directly to the chemistry of cooking. What happens to fats under different heats, how does the introduction of one element radically change the chemistry of another, etc.. Pollan's talent lies in being able to bring clarity to otherwise obscure culinary issues while wrapping the whole confection in his beautiful prose. A truly marvelous book!!

Michael tries his hand at whole hog barbecue, bread making, stewing, pickling, and beer making. In the process he takes you through his apprenticeship, his attempt at going it alone afterwards, and a history of each of these activities. Really neat stuff to read if you like food and drink, and like to cook. While I probably won't be trying any of his recipes, it's not because I couldn't. After reading this you can try anything he did with the "easy" to use recipes in the back of the book. Easy that is, compared to what he did, and what others do. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This was a gift for my 32 year old brother and his wife. They do a lot of home cooking, and found this book to be actually quite inspiring. I have yet to get my own chance to discover its possibilities, but I hear rave reviews from them. And the food looks delish!

Michael Pollan is one of our best living non-fiction writers. Smart, engaging, authentic and informative. I listed to this book on tape and felt his enthusiasm for the subject come through the pages of the book. Wonderful for a road trip.

I more than loved this book, and I am a huge fan of the writing style and philosophy of Michael Pollan. It's a hugely entertaining read and more importantly, and wonderfully eloquent and practical essay about how real people are reclaiming our food system from big agribusiness. This is not a preachy book, but the ideas here gave me so much hope and creative ideas about how to eat and cook in a more wholesome and environmentally sound way. If you find yourself drifting a little during the first part about BBQ, please push on, you won't be dissappointed.

Michael Pollan has a way of inspiring us to want something better, something more than we aspired to before we took the time to read his books. COOKED is no different. You will want to eat a barbecue pork sandwich (even if you're vegetarian!) . You will want to try your hand at braising and baking and brewing because if Michael can do it so can you. And even if you never actually do it, you'll still think about what it would be like. And you'll like it.

I had read Michael Pollan's previous books and found them informative so I really could not wait to dive into Cooked. I was not disappointed. I am very interested in food and how our food is processed. His previous books have opened my eyes to how we have been brainwashed by big corporations into thinking what are eating is healthy for us. Cooked goes even further by explaining how eating natural foods and preparing food naturally benefits us. I appreciate the detail and education that Pollan delivers in this book. If you are looking for a book that will help you further you search for the truth in food then Cooked is a must read.

Cooked is like the greatest declaration of love for cooking I have ever experienced. It is like a Born to Run, but for food, it just makes you want to you bake, ferment, and enjoy food. And yes - it is an eye opener in the evils of modern food production which is needed. What I love most about it is that Pollan writes how he learns to cook - we get to participate on his journey. This makes it so much more enjoyable as you don't get the "expert and teacher talking down to you" but a welcoming text.

I happen to enjoy Michael Pollan's writing style, so I was not at all surprised that he could take a subject that seems very simple to document, and still make you really think about what you are reading. Michael has a "gift" of being able to allow the reader to view everyday things in a totally different light, once you have read "Cooked" you can not go back and unread it.....your view of humanity may be forever changed. I must say, that not everyone wants to know what is behind the curtain, but for those people that want to make informed decisions Micheal is able to inform the reader and yet give you the freedom to make your own everyday life decisions.

This book is very well researched and gives us an inside view into how our food is processed from the birth of the animal to its ultimate arrival on our dinner table or to the seed being planted in the earth to the cooked vegetable being presented for our consumption. It will allow me to be a more conscious consumer, especially researching how the animals are raised. I will never again eat meat from the poor animals who are mistreated in factory farms which provide most of the food in the supermarkets. This book is a public service.

This book is just delightful! A really fun, good read, and extremely informative. Honestly, I believe anyone who is the least bit interested in feeding oneself or others should read this book. It will change how you look at food and how you view preparing food in order to enjoy it. I actually have come back here on Amazon in order to buy a hard copy. I bought it first for my Kindle, but I think I need a hard copy to keep in the kitchen, to dog-ear and underline :) Don't hesitate, buy the book; you will not be sorry!

Pollan writes beautifully, his words flow off the page fluently, like a narrative, but talking not of non-fiction but the grounding and sobering reality of how disconnected in our daily lives many of us in western society have become from the food that we eat. He discusses how specialisation and commercialisation of food preparation and production have made us feel that we no longer have the skills or knowledge to complete the basic task of nourishing ourselves with a home-made healthy meal. Using the age-old earth-fire-water-air model of elements, he is able to demonstrate the beauty and inherent and contradictory simplicity-and-complexity of the transformations of basic ingredients into nourishing meals with a chapter each devoted to roasting, basting, bread and fermentation to explore these in depth. He writes from experience, having spent time with experts in each of these fields of cooking, and narrates the stories with skill and succinct detail. In 'Cooked', Pollan creatively explains and then demonstrates and advocates for a passive resistance to the destructiveness of commercialisation and specialisation of meal preparation that leave individuals feeling isolated, helpless and dumb in a wonderfully structured and exceptionally written book.

First the drawback. There were times when there was too much explaining on a topic. At those times I became bored, which was unfortunate as I was enjoying the subject matter. Enough of that. Thought provoking, thought provoking, thought provoking. There were many times I would simply stop and ponder what he was talking about. I have made reference to the book many times over as it relates to daily life. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. My daughter and I read it simultaneously and would then discuss certain topics. Informative.

I don't agree with Pollan when it comes to food politics, but that didn't make much difference when it came to this book. COOKED may turn out to be his masterpiece. Pollan's ideas have become so politicized that many of us tend to ignore or overlook Pollan as a writer. And the guy is GOOD. REALLY REALLY GOOD. This is a fine work of art. Gorgeous prose, thoughtful analysis (again, I mostly don't agree). I'm not sure there's a better writer working in the US today (of either fiction or non-fiction).

I was disappointed when I turned the last page that there were no more to turn. I will order another of his books as soon as I finish this review. The writing is scientific yet folksy. He entertains while informs and motivates. I already roast my own coffee, brew my own beer and cook from scratch because I want to. Now I know why I feel good about involving myself in the process of cooking. I will now attempt to make my own sauerkraut. Even if you never make more than coffee for yourself this book will make you think about and appreciate all that goes into putting a good meal on your plate. Recommended.

Michael Pollan is an excellent writer, and it is just a pleasure to read or listen to any of his books. This book represents a lot of work and research on his part.... it really flows in practical way through history of cooking -- I have listened to it several times - My wife and I play it while cooking in place of music and always learn something new ... I am impressed with his scientific depth, but does not bury you with too much - he gives you just enough to make what he says credible Wish could have some critical negative thing to say to balance out .. but can not think of anything..

I always enjoy Michael Pollan's books. Some of them have permanently changed the way I see important issues, especially Second Nature and Omnivore's Dilemma. I've been trying to learn to cook (healthy and tasty cooking for one) and going along for the ride with Pollan is highly entertaining. I may have been enlightened on a technique or two, also, in a usefully broad way. I do wish the recipes at the back were a little more practical.

So, you have to be quite a lot of a food geek to truly enjoy this book; however, this wasn't a problem for me. Mr. Pollan divides the book into four elements: fire, water, air, and earth, and this acts as a conceit on which to frame a hugely complex topic, helping him to break it down, like fat and muscle over a fire perhaps, or wheat acted on by tiny microbes (forgive the food analogies, but this is what the book is all about). He takes what could have been a boring topic - the physics and biology of cooking, takes it on the road and adds some quirky places and interesting characters and sprinkles everything with a good dose of philosophy about life and the human condition.

For me this is a spectacular book - some reviewers suggest that it is not quite up there with some of Pollan's other books - for me "Cooked" is his most moving achievement. This is one of those books I want all of my friends to read - and they are! - I am a foodie and I like to cook. This book has enhanced the way I think about and emotionally connect to doing something I already love to do. I am most grateful. I am also a published author (a number of best sellers) and Pollan's prose and story telling are just wonderful! Don't hesitate to buy and read "Cooked."

I learned so much from this book. The multiple dimensions to Polan's lessons are wonderful. And he is such an entertaining writer that I found myself smiling, amazed, curious, frustrated and sad at various parts. There was so much in this book that it would have been difficult to have finished were it not for his writing skill. He has an intimate and comfortable way of relating to the reader. This is the first book of his that I've read, but have meant to read his work for years.

And their importance in our modern diets. This is a great first book on the subject.

Pollan's a word crafter. He comfortably mixes history, philosophy, anthropology and story-telling with practical, specific cooking practice. I have succeeded in using his recommendations to consistently make amazing, artful whole wheat boules, starting from wheat berries and a starter culture (purchased from King Arthur). My loaves are better than Tartine's. My pulled pork has also benefited from Pollan's tips. This book is the cure for pop tarts.

Little about cooking and more about the author's experiences. Didn't finish. Compared to his other books, this one is very boring.

Terrific book (though I purchased it as cd's)...Pollan is a great journalist and leads us on a compelling journey to which we get to tag along almost smelling...tasting...savoring as we go along. Includes anthropological, scientific, artisanal, and foodies perspectives..Pollan kept me entertained throughout.

I am a big Michael Pollan fan so i really liked this book. His analysis of food and our social attitudes towards it is always thought provoking. However, be warned, if you are expecting a cookbook, this is not it. He does have recipes for certain types of food preparation, but even he states that you will probably never do the things he describes in the book. It is more of an analysis of food preparation and our current paths regarding food. I recommend the book to anyone interested in food.

I was already pretty aware of the food I eat and deliberately think through every food purchase. Part of me expected this book to be another one of those warm and fuzzy promotions of local farms and the slow food movement. It's actually a refreshing change from that, with some of that theme still throughout but not at all central to the book. Michael Pollan has written some pretty mind-opening books on food, and this will be my 2nd or 3rd one that I have completed. He reads the audiobook himself, and has such a great soothing, emotive voice that this is probably one of the few books that I would rather listen to on audiobook than read myself for that very reason. In the book Pollan takes you through the basics of making food - soups, bread, fermentation overall, meat roasting etc and talks about the history of cooking overtime. He speaks honestly and openly about his own misconceptions and you feel like you are expanding your knowledge with him as the book progresses. I don't think there has been a time since listening to this audiobook that I have started a meal by cooking up some onions in oil on the stove and not thought of Pollan. When you read the book, you'll know what I mean!

As a long-time Michael Pollan fan, I looked forward to reading his new book, and was not disappointed. He follows his common structure format by telling stories about cooking using the format of the four basic elements - Fire (barbecue), Water (soups & stews), Air (bread) and Earth (fermentation of vegetables, beer and wine). It was a enjoyable read, and, like all Pollan books before this one, taught me many new things about agriculture and food. I highly recommend it.

This is another Michael Pollan classic like Omnivore's Dilemma. Pollan discusses the consequences of our societies' outsourcing cooking of the food we eat. He also goes into detail how cooking evolved and how food is changed through cooking. A very informative and interesting book. Well written in Pollan's concise style from his extensive first hand experience in learning how to cook in the home kitchen.

Given as a gift to grand daughter

This is a book that can appeal to the cooker and the eate rand the sci-foodie (did I make up that word). Pollan looks at the four basic elements of ancient science, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. By looking at cooking methods using each of these elements in order, He describes how each has been used in a variety of ways to enrich our experience in cooking and eating daily " bread:". Read and develop a new view of how our food and drink is created. 'b

I'm nearly finished with this delightful book. I love Michael's romantic, passionate and informed sense of food. He has such wonderful writing style that I find very fun to read. He's gifted writer and story teller. Add in his deep, science-based understanding of food, and it's place in history, and I think you have winning book by all measure. If you love food and want to be inspired to cook more, I can't recommend this title enough.

Pollan uses barbecue, bread, beer, kimchee, and stews to write some very interesting things about food. Fast food, factory farming and marketing, and eating alone are his targets. His goal is more food prepared and shared by its consumers. Food is more than fuel. It is also a necessary tool for social intercourse. The health of our bodies and our culture will improve if we follow his recipes.

As a big fan of Michael Pollan's other works, I was looked forward to this book and I was not disappointed. It made me think about food and cooking in a new way. And I mean new, even in regards to his other books that made me think about food in a new way. His earlier work was about where food come from. This is about what you do with it once you've got it, and it was an eye-opener for me. It has inspired me to learn how to cook, and I've already tried two of the four recipes included in the book. I highly recommend it.

Pollan's books are a great blend of history, humor and insight. I really dig this book, even more than Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma".

I love food so this was something I had to read. My first food book was purchased at Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, NY - a History of food. This is similar except it focuses on cooking methods, and how each major breakthrough may have contributed to the evolution of humans. From fire, to using clay pottery (for making stews and broths previously impossible to do), etc. Great read for any food fanatic.

If Eat, Pray, Love were a book about cooking, it would be Cooked. Can't believe how many times this year I've referred to this book in conversations about food. If each of us had a year to indulge in everything we want to experience and learn about each form of cooking we wouldn't need this book. Thank goodness Michael Pollan has provided this vicarious experience for us. It should also be a movie!

This is my favorite Pollan book to date. He explains what happens to food when we prepare and cook it, provides a history of various cooking methods and relates amusing anecdotes about the various characters and food artists who have devoted their lives to perfecting their crafts. I am inspired to expand my repertoire and try out some of these techniques. Anyone who has dabbled in cooking at all will enjoy this book.

The author manages to drag out interesting but simple concepts with lengthy storytelling, I preferred the Mr. Pollan's early books that were richer in educational content.

The topic is interesting, I thought the book would be more about how food is prepared, but there are many tangents into personal stories (like full chapters on BBQ). I'm not too passionate about BBQ, or the process of BBQing so it is a bit of a slow read for me.

Pollan is a relative rock star in the field of food writing and like most “stars” some people love him and some people hate him. There is something about his approach to writing about food makes me uneasy. He makes assumptions about audience, referring to “we” and “us” and that always makes me nervous in any piece I'm reading. Pollan’s argument is compelling enough – “we” need to think about the food we consume. In Cooked, he’s telling “us” (among other things) that we need to start cooking again and stop eating "fast" food (not just McDonald's but easy to cook, pre-prepared microwaveable meals). One of the many problems with Pollan is that his stance can come off as patronizing to anyone who already works to live ethically in the world or to anyone for whom cooking, brewing, etc. are already every day or regular parts of life. Pollan’s work is clearly aimed at a specific audience, an audience that can afford the resources (time, money, effort) to opt for slow-cooked pork, slow-baked bread, and home-brewed beer. The NY Times review of Pollan’s Netflix series (based on Cooked) identifies a portion of my unease with this text, “there’s a disconnect that’s never addressed (by Pollan)…(and) there’s a gentrification to Mr. Pollan’s brand of culinary advocacy.” And for many of us, his food-shaming falls short of the mark. Pollan’s approach in Cooked made it clear that I’m not his audience.

Michael Pollan is a wonderfully detailed writer of a topic that is so basic and visceral. Studying the history and biology of food and people as he does, even the "non-foodee" is compelled to try his/her hand at baking a loaf of bread. After a couple attempts at my own sourdough, I figured it out... now my family wants me to be a professional baker!

I HAPPENED UPON IT AT THE LIBRARY UNDER THE 'NEW BOOKS' SHELP................AFTER READING A FEW PAGES IN FIRE, AND THEN AIR..............I IMMEDIATELY BOUGHT A COPY. POLLAN IS A GENIUS. THANK GOD HE CAME ALONG IN MY TIME. GOT MMY POT OF STARTER HUMMIN' AS WE SPEAK. SO EXCITED CAN HARDLY CONTROL MYSELF. AND BOUGHT A TOUGH OL' HUN' O' MEAT TO DO HIS STYLE UNDER ' FIRE'.

I bought this based on an excellent podcast by the author, which was informative and dense with information, but the book was almost tedious in places and I ended up skipping many paragraphs just to get on with it. The author loves to write and wrote as if he was paid by the word, and the book would have been far better if it had been half to a third as long.

We read this book loaned to us by a neighbor and loved it so much we sent a copy to our daughter in Ireland. She has been a vegitarian for a long time and loves cooking. My husband has made our bread for years and is now focusing on sour dough. It was interesting to learn what is involved in cooking from a chemist's point of view. The same bacteria are everywhere, Who knew?

Michael Pollen did not disappoint with this book. I have read his other books and really enjoyed this one! Pollan definitely does his research and then wraps it into an interesting and intriguing novel. If you love to cook, this is a must read! He explores the history of four cooking methods and weaves the history into his story of learning how to execute that method.

I do not like to cook, but this book I think I could have learned to cook well. This is not a cook book, but I would definitely read others by him. He just makes you think about food, the world, the joy of eating, and family time. It is worth the time!

Loved the natural history of cooking and the impact on socialization of humans. It reconnected me with my Italian family heritage and my mother dedication to cooking and dinners. It was her sincere expression of love.

As strange as it might sound, this book actually made me cry at points. Having undertaken my own personal adventure to get closer to the source of what I eat, a number of the methods and recipes were very familiar. This isn't a bad thing as Pollan was able to give voice to those difficult desribe emotions that arise from making something of your own. Reading passages, I was reminded how well some food trials have worked out and that feeling of accomplishment cannot be replaced by any other feeling. It also calms you when things don't work out perfect or even edible. While this is certainly an intellectual vision of cooking, the heart is never far behind.

I have learned so much from reading this book . I am amazed and spell-bound as I read how cooking changed mankind. I always understood it was the eating of meat that lead to the brain expansion but now see how the breaking down of grain and nuts through cooking did as much or more. This book makes me understand food in an entirely new way. Excellent.

Pollan writing, with such verve and enthusiasm, and from hands on personal experience, gives a lively account of the several methods of transforming raw edibles into food---what we eat and drink. Along the way he gives some historical and anthropological data which makes this one of the best cultural histories on the market. The audio version is also excellent.

Another great from Michael Pollan. I was entranced to know that we get more nutrition from cooked food and that the advent of cooking changed us because of that. Also, that fermenting is cooking. I always learn so much from his books, and who isn't interested in food? and his writing always keeps me interested. I recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this book! Inspiring and informational, Pollan does a great job of illustrating his message that cooking is the middle ground of who we are a part, not apart, from nature.

Micheal Pollan tell his personal journey of learning about food. The book is divided by elements, fire (cooking food) water (boilibg food) earth (fermenting food) and air (steaming food) as a nutrition major I love micheal pollan and have read many of his books. This one in particular is great because it looks at food preperation in ways I personally had never considered before.

Loved the entire book! Bought two copies as gifts too. They also love it!

Love this book and the documentary that goes along with it. Everyone should read this and become more educated about the food they are consuming.

Good book but Pollan repeats himself a lot even within a paragraph. It seems an editor should have pointed this out. Had the duplication been removed the book would have been a little shorter. Most readers would understand the concept if presented only once.

Fantastic read. This is now the third book I have read by Michael Pollan.

Loved the book, but don't appreciate Amazon's manipulation wouldn't let me finish the Kindle edition until I wrote a review.

Great information. Michael Pollan is an excellent writer. You don't have to read the book in its entirety. You can read the chapters you're interested in and then browse back through the rest. The subject of food and cooking has caught me attention the last few years, so learning about the food's history and chemistry is fascinating.

A book to really open your eyes to the terrible state our food industry has brought to the average American diet. How much better we could eat by preparing our own food instead of rely in the highly processed food promoted and sold by the food industry. Most food is prepared for the industries ease and profit, not our health.

I first fell in love with Michael Pollan when I saw him review his book Botany of Desire more than a decade ago--and I have enjoyed every one of his books since. In Cooked, Pollan reflects on the lost art of cooking, which is being replaced by commercially processed foods that cater to busy lifestyles at the expense of nutrition, flavor, socialization, and the shared traditions of cooking that are passed down from generation to generation. Calling on the elements of fire, air, water, and earth, Pollan researches the best aspects of barbecue, simmering pots, baked bread--and makes a case for bringing cooking back into the home. This is an important book, which celebrates an endeavor too important to lose.

As always, Pollan has written a very engaging story about his cooking journey, a journey similar to my own. This is a great read and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to improve their health and well-being through food. Also very inspiring if you are just beginning to cook.

Pollan writes really well and researches in detail. Some of the detail is a tad heavy going but this book gave me such an education, particularly on the subjects of fermenting and microbial DNA! A good read for anyone who loves good food and has an interest in nutrition.

This is an eye-opening book! As a 'foodie', I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about food, chemistry and the food industry...but I realize just how little I really know. The book is absorbing and really easy to read, even while it works its way through complex scientific concepts and data, and leavened throughout with Pollan's wicked humor!

Michael Pollan has done a wonderful job researching many of the foods we eat everyday. He gives an interesting perspective that enhances my appreciation for barbecue, bread, cheese, wine, beer, and braising. My favorite book remains Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food".

Another hit for Michael Pollan! What an amazing book. This puts everything into perspective not just for chefs but for anyone who eats food....and wait, that's everyone. I learned so much about the origins of cooking which now explains why we have developed certain ways of eating and cooking. Also it gives a wonderful perspective about cooking in the world. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about the world we live in.....and food will always be a part of it.

This is an incredibly interesting book, encompassing much more than the origin of some of our most popular foods. It is introspective and informative. And, as always with Pollan's book, highly entertaining and educational. It's one of those books I read slowly so it will last. Excellent book!

Although I haven't finished reading this book, it is excellent!

As a big fan of the Omnivore's Dilemma I had high hopes for this book. While good, it didn't have the same impact on me as Pollan's other books. It's more of a history of cooking, which is fine, but it seems to focus so much more on the cooks themselves as opposed to the process. A good read, but not a page turner.

I found this a predictably wonderful Michael Pollan story of cooking food. Full of fascinating people and experiences of the author in his own experiments with cooking. Actually, for me it was a " page-turner", hard to put down. I think it is especially for people already fascinated with cooking and food.

This book started a bit slow for me, but then it picked up. A delightful read about learning to cook that is less about recipes and more about the raw ingredients, chef's behind the best products and the learners experience. I'm particularly motivated to try whole-grain bread making,

While my initial reaction to the beginning of the book was less than enthusiastic, I grew to enjoy and appreciate it as I read further. I am now very glad that I finished the book. As an experienced and committed cook, I appreciated the author's description of various types of cooking. It's well-written and engaging.

I am really enjoying this book, I have been listening to this book on audible, will most likely purchase hard copy as well.

nop

Well worth multiple readings. Layers to discover about the marvels of transforming our food and making connections with culture and each other.

I highly recommend the book and seller. It arrived quickly and was in the right condition.

This book is absolutely fascinating and the structure is excellent. Michael Pollan is able to walk the line of cutting edge thought about food without stepping too far into fringe theories or getting too wrapped up in his own line of thought. This is engaging, well written, and insightful.

Pollan's easy writing provides great insight into primary food preparation methods. He notes that we have become disconnected from the sources and inputs resulting in the food we eat -- to our disadvantage. This exploration may help to re-establish that connection.

This book is amazing and started me on a crazy cooking journey. I want all my friends to reed it.

bought this a special request for an 8th grader book project. Kid loves it, I did not get a chance to read it

As always Michael Pollan wrote a book that makes you think about what you eat. This book is large but it captures you and you can't put it down. If you want to know more about the history and the health of our food system read this book.

A nice look at how the food industry has affected us in ways that we normally don't think of. As a teacher the last 2 sections were especially interesting as sources for discussion with students.

I am a Pollan disciple. If he writes it, I want to read it, and as soon as I finish reading, I head for the kitchen and start cooking. He has had a profound effect on the way I feel about food and its importance to my emotional well-being as well as to my physical health.

Spoiler hand taste is love Maybe not so much love but the character of the maker. Each of us has the ability to be influenced and influence our food As a father of two autistic children who are sensitive to the industrial food complex I wonder how their lives might b

Good book.

Michael Pollan obviously had fun writing this book. He takes us through his hilarious travels to discover the essence of how the use of fire, water, air and the earth rendered humans a dominant species. He's concerned about our growing distance from direct, physical engagement in transforming raw stuff into cooked food and the nourishment such food provides as opposed to opening a package that has been processed elsewhere. A great read!

Thoroughly researched, informative, absorbing, challenging -- and as always, wonderfully well written. As in his other books, he discusses the interactive impacts of culture, environment, and political forces, this time with a different focus. A great read!

As described!

Michael pollan never disappoints, providing historical and philosophical insights wrapped up in wit and wry humour - my humour, my politics and concerns are all catered for nicely - and I don't mean he smooths the way by reinforcing my beliefs, not at all - his prose gives me pause for thought and laugh out loud moments during the course of the read. Although as i am an ecologist I can see he's missed the point on some issues, it doesn't detract from the book. I highly recommend this author.

Very good book, lots of very interesting information about why our food industry is the way it is. It also has plenty of information about fermentation and its importance to our health,, as well as how-to information about preparing food.

Micheal Pollan, presenting a new ways to look at old things. Get your microbiome in order and learn how to eat healthy and sustainably without going paleo on yourself.

I am a beekeeper and during the evenings and off-season, I build lots of beehive equipment in my magic elf shop. When I am building hundreds of boxes, and thousand of bee frames, it's a perfect time to listen to audio books - I don't have time to read being so busy! If some elevator-awkward voice read this book, I would never have purchased it. Having attending many of Michael's talks, having him read his own book is the way it should be, because he knows what to emphasize, and how to pronounce all of the words. Not knowing how to express and emphasize the contents drives me nuts, and when the reader mispronounces obvious words - it drives me nuts. This is a great reading of another great Michael Pollan book. It passes my time in a productive way, and I heard the entire book in two work sessions. Great book, as usual.

Informative and interesting read.

Food4thought!

It's an interesting read. It is in the same style, with interesting meanders to the side. There is a good story and details on both the cooking and the histories. For me, slow, I need time to digest all the food.

I saw the Netlflix docuseries made after this book and had to buy this. Fantastic read. Highly recomened

This is a fantastic book. Well worth buying and reading and studying. Fascinating information about the biology of bacteria and fermentation, the "umami" flavor, the evolution of flour, among many other subjects. Honestly researched with great suggestions for furthering your knowledge on the subjects written about.

I'm a fan of Michael Pollan's writing: it's never preachy, and always very thoughtful and well researched. What I particularly enjoyed about Cooked is how he ties the concept of cooking in with the other books he's written. I feel Pollan is adept at pinpointing what is wrong with our current food system. The solutions are very simple, but overlooked by our society. This book has also inspired me to make my own kraut!

Michael Pollan is a national treasure.

Yet another masterful treatise by Michael Pollan. Everything you should know about how cooking transforms but was never in one place before. The chemistry alone is fascinating and helps explain the magic of processing food.

Another great Pollan book with some great thoughts on food. He lays out the information so well. This may indeed be my favorite of his books to date.

As always, at least for me, Michael Pollan delivers the goods. His writing style, along with the information that has been researched to the max, is a great read. He is the one author that makes me really think about our food sources and how they get to the table. Thank heaven he has committed his writing to a topic that helps all. Do I sit and read his books cover to cover--absolutely. Then I go back and read every section on it's own. I have all of his books and will continue to buy his books, which will hopefully be a very long time.

Michael Pollan is a journalist who writes about food. This book tells some of the ways that food is cooked. Real food, not edible foodlike substances. This is a very good, well researched book. I recommend it.

Good to know and explore so much about whats behind the way we eat-makes you think!

I first read him in "Botany of Desire". It's a book I've reread. In "Cooked" he covers a vast territory and while maintaining an overall scheme still manages to dig down and present nuggets you come upon almost by surprise. The overall surprise for me though is his apparent assumption that many if not most people don't cook their own food. I am not a culinary genius nor even that adventurous but all my life I have liked trying new things both the cooking and the eating of them. In this regard I found "Cooked" a very satisfying book though I suspect it might be less so for either an expert cook or for the person who doesn't expect to ever have to cook their own food.

I'm still reading this common sense book. It's practical discussion, practical advice from a personal perspective. If you've read other Pollan books (Botany of Desire, for example) you know what you're getting. I'm enjoying it.

This is more than a cookbook. It is a history of some of the most important foods in our diet, how they came to be and how they possibly influenced the evolution of man and his culture. I is a wonderful new perspective on the foods in our diet, how they are important and how modern man has so perverted some foods so that they are less than useless. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in anthropology, comparative cultures and, for that matter, anyone who is interested in eating.

Pollan is a good story teller. I enjoyed reading the book. I do wish he had used some simple recipes in the last section. The ones he used were just too complicated. They certainly were not for someone wanting to start cooking with the family for the first time.

I have just finished the first part of the book, looking at how controlling fire changed the path of human evolution! How fire/bbq, started the process of digestion a little earlier...releasing more calories and nutrients for our growing brains! How gathering around the hearth for a meal spurred our social development... I'll get back to you all when I finish this book! This is the 3rd of Mr Pollan's I am reading. The first two rocked/shook/changed my world! Read this book! And, read more of Mr Pollan's books!!!!

Loved all his previous books. This is more same ole same ole, cook book stuff. Not groundbreaking insights as he usually provides. A filler for the contract.

Great read especially if your a food lover. There is a lot to learn about the history of food and how it relates to human development.

Superb book that teaches you the history of cooking and makes you want to do it, yourself!

Michael Pollan can make anything a page-turner. The premise of this book was very interesting to me in general, but I was surprised how absorbed I was in it at certain points. Definitely worth the read.

I found this book about the four general methods of food preparation quite interesting. I come from a cooking and baking family and have cooked and baked myself for almost fifty years. My mother was a weekly baker of bread, and my son in law is a sometime brewer of beer, but I had only rudimentary knowledge of the science behind the activities of roasting, stewing, leavening, and fermenting until I read this informative and entertaining book.

Its a great read that is about more than just food. Pollan brings in other literature, cultural, social aspects of the human endeavor as influenced by food or as food influences the other human dynamics. Pollan is a gifted author whose word crafting skills are top drawer.

I loved this book. It was a loving tribute to primal cooking and how simply elegant the art of slow cooking is.

Fantastic book. I checked it out of the library, found it hard to put down and ended up ordering a copy. This is more than an essay--it also has some great descriptions of how to do things in the kitchen.

The section on Fire is interesting, some things I learned from Air I can't wait to try, and Water just confirmed some things I have been doing, but the section on Earth was just plain inspireing.

Michael Pollan seeks to understand the four basics--meat over wood fire, slow cooking in pots, bread making and fermentation. He compares these methods to the four ancient elements: fire, water, air, and earth. He goes to the experts in each field and learns how to do each.

Mr. Pollan is very readable and gives an amateur cook's perspective on cooking. I really liked the way the book was divided into primary elements and how he wove his material through those themes.

I am a big Michael Pollan fan, and this book was another winner. Perhaps a little less "heavy" than his last couple of books, but enjoyable nonetheless. I enjoyed reading about his attempts to learn to cook in certain ways, and have even been inspired to have another go at doing sourdough bread from scratch. Definitely a good read.

I originally bought this book hoping that it would give me a few useful recipes. Once I started reading though I found that this book is much more than just a cookbook. This book was not only entertaining but very informative of the processes of fermentation and many other cooking actions. Having recently made my own bread, I became further informed of the cellular reactions taking place to make dough rising possible. This book was altogether wonderful, so for anyone who is on the fence about purchasing this book, it is definitely worth your money.

I love Michael Pollan's writing style. he always thoroughly researchs everything he puts in his books. I read this book once and passed it on to 3 friends so far. when I get it back I will reread it and highlight and makes notes. always a pleasure. thank you Michael!

I listened to it on CD. Was captivated from beginning to end.

Lots of reference in this book to: Catching Fire by Wrangham, which you've got to read! But, I loved Pollan's other books too: Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. I liked this one is better than In Defense of Food. Good "food" for thought.

Lots of information and beautifully written. I am a fan - have read several of his books and will watch for next one.

I must admit this book has opened up whole new worlds for me. While I found it very interesting reading, informative, fun, and easy to get through, Its main impact has been to get me into home fermentation. I've brewed beer for a while, and that was probably part of the reason I bought this book, but after reading the chapter on fermenting food, especially the conversation with Sandor Katz, I had to try that, too. There're not very many books that inspire me to take up a whole new hobby, but this is one. Its not only about all the ways to cook food, but it also provides food for thought. One of my favorite books.

Starts off slowly but the back half is amazing and enlightening. Especially for the non-cook, this book enlightens about cooking and fermentation in ways that are truly unbelievable.

This is a great book. It's not so philosophical as "The Omnivorous Dilema", his book from 2006, the first one that made me read and think about how great this guy is, how easily he makes his points and how much research he does before writing something. Then came his also wonderful "In defense of food: an eater's manifesto", in 2008, that made eating simple again. Now "Cooked" goes even further in making food and eating the center of an also very important thing we do: living.

Just a fun read. I have always ate well but now I got some delicious was of doing other meals. Ha sorry that's what I pulled away from the book the most. But really informative on how man does things with his food.

Wonderful book if you're interested in food and how to choose what to buy.

It helps to like science, for there is much to learn. It helps to like food, for there is much to cook. It helps to care about our society, for there is much to be repaired. Prepare to salivate.

Always fun, always insightful. Great thoughts on our favourite pass time. We listened to it so I can't say much about how it would read, but listening it was captivating.

The man can write! For a factual history of food this is a much enjoyed, much mentioned, often quoted book for me. The reader comes away craving real barbeque, dying to try new braises and stews, appreciating breads, cheeses, wines and beer in a whole new way.

The book brings you back to the basic food origins and evolution over the years of food. It's illuminating into the history of food and cooking, and the importance of taking time to recognize the importance of what your putting into your body on a daily basis.

Full disclosure: I am a nerd. Where most people buy romance novels to read on the beach in Hawaii, I bought this book about nutrition science and the history of cooking. In hardback. I found it very engaging- especially because my partner is currently suffering from some mysterious GI ailment that the doctors think may be IBS related to some food allergy. I especially love Michael Pollan's theory on why gluten intolerance is so prevalent and also his proselytizing about fermented foods which I have taken to heart. Or to stomach rather, and tried to incorporate more into our diet.

Lot of valuable information. The first section on fire was a little boring(my opinion) as I am not a big meat eater. Overall the book ha a a good message as well as a lot of tips on cooking. I like the fact that this book explains how we deviated from the act of cooking in the last few decades and went for the easy 'fast food ' option. This book definitely made me rethink on how I cook and how often and I am definitely going to cook healthier and more often.

I actually listened to the audible version of the book while doing other things (things that didn't require much mental engagement) and really enjoyed all four sections of the book. I learned new things from every section fire, water, air, and earth.