Anne Mendelson

I read this primarily for the historical account of milk through the ages, not for the recipe part of the book. I thought it was interesting to see how the use of and attitude towards this food item has changed and morphed through time, and how our modern view on it has been tainted by commercialism and advertising. I am one of the lucky ones who can digest lactose, so I grew up with milk products of various kinds, even though people here where I live also bought into the hydrogenated vegetable oil (margarine) hype and modern misunderstanding of butter and which types of fat are "healthy".

I thought the history part of the book was a bit on the lean side. Anne Mendelson could have skipped the recipe part and instead filled the rest of the book with a more in-depth account of how milk is viewed outside the U.S. I realize this wasn't the original scope of the book, but I think I would have enjoyed it even more if she had done that. Just my personal preference.… (altro)

I love to read both food books and nonfiction, I LOVE dairy, I like to cook and I am a biologist. Basically this book should have combined all my favorite things and yet I can't decide if I really like this book or I really don't...
Hmmm...the book is a little dry at the beginning but then it picks up, the tone shifts, she has an agenda (she doesn't like the way we process milk which is why I picked this book up so that is fine with me but others may not like it) but then she seems pretty grumpy about the history of milk which doesn't make the reading fun. Yet there were things I really liked and I feel like it got better as it went a long. I ended up with 3 stars.
PS - this is really more of a recipe book with history mixed in… (altro)