***SOLD OUT *** MICHAEL POLLAN / Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation
Booksmith moves to First Unitarian Universalist SF:
Fire, water, air earth -- our most trusted food expert
recounts the story of his culinary education.
In Cooked, Michael Pollan explores the previously
uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the enduring power
of the four classical elements -- fire, water, air, and earth -- to transform
the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink. Apprenticing
himself to a succession of culinary masters, Pollan learns how to grill with
fire, cook with liquid, bake bread, and ferment everything from cheese to beer.
In the course of his journey, he discovers that the cook occupies a special
place in the world, standing squarely between nature and culture. Both realms
are transformed by cooking, and so, in the process, is the cook.
Each section of Cooked tracks Pollan’s effort to master a single classic
recipe using one of the four elements. A North Carolina barbecue pit master
tutors him in the primal magic of fire; a Chez Panisse–trained cook schools him
in the art of braising; a celebrated baker teaches him how air transforms grain
and water into a fragrant loaf of bread; and finally, several mad-genius
“fermentos” (a tribe that includes brewers, cheese makers, and all kinds of
picklers) reveal how fungi and bacteria can perform the most amazing alchemies
of all. We learn alongside Pollan, but the lessons move beyond the practical to
become an investigation of how cooking involves us in a web of social and
ecological relationships: with plants and animals, the soil, farmers, our
history and culture, and, of course, the people our cooking nourishes and
delights. Cooking, above all, connects us.
The effects of not cooking are similarly far reaching. Relying upon
corporations to process our food means we consume huge quantities of fat,
sugar, and salt; disrupt an essential link to the natural world; and weaken our
relationships with family and friends. In fact, Cooked argues, taking
back control of cooking may be the single most important step anyone can take
to help make the American food system healthier and more sustainable.
Reclaiming cooking as an act of enjoyment and self-reliance, learning to
perform the magic of these everyday transformations, opens the door to a more
nourishing life.
Michael Pollan is the author of six previous books: Second Nature, A Place of My Own, The Botany of Desire, Food Rules, and the national bestellers, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and In Defense of Food.A longtime contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, Pollan is also the Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley. His writing on food and agriculture has won numerous awards, including the Reuters/World Conservation Union Global Award in Environmental Journalism, the James Beard Award, and the Genesis Award from the American Humane Association.
At First UUSF (1187 Franklin at Geary, San Francisco)
Map Parking (in addition to on-street parking)
SOLD OUT
Tickets available in
the store and online at
Brown Paper Tickets or 800-838-3006
Seat and one copy of Cooked $35
Two seats and one copy of Cooked $40
Co-sponsored by Presidio Graduate School
- Street:
- First Unitarian Universalist Center
- Additional:
- 1187 Franklin at Geary, San Francisco
- City:
- San Francisco ,
- Province:
- California
- Postal Code:
- 94109
- Country:
- United States
