L.A. Son


L.A. SonL.A. Son: My Life, My City, My Food

by Roy Choi

Reviewed by Jo Bradley
This is an unexpectedly engaging memoir/cookbook, the story of chef Roy Choi’s life growing up in a traditional Korean family in L.A. in the ’70s. It takes us through various phases of his life: from “golden child” to juvenile deliquent and thug, and finally to chef. His perspective on the humor in life shines through even during the most hair-raising parts of his tale. Continue reading

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

In Defense of FoodReview by Sarah Newell

In Defense of Food asks us to ponder the simple question of how we humans managed to feed ourselves for thousands of years, yet now struggle more than ever to nourish ourselves with readily available foods.  As a journalist, not a nutritional scientist, nor a government agency, author Michael Pollan is able to look at the broader historical, social and political picture of food in America.  Through this lens, Pollan is able to defend “real food – the sort of food our great grandmothers would recognize as food” against many of the “edible foodlike substances” that exist on the market.

While certainly a stark reality, Pollan is not a pessimist.  In fact, he provides his simple solution to the problem at hand within the first seven words of the book – “Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants.”  With these shockingly simple words, Michael Pollan takes us on an eye-opening and yet affirming journey, showing Americans how political the food system really is.  Continue reading