If you were to recommend only one Traditional Foods book what would it be?

[raksmama]

Traditional Food Book recommendations Please!

I am new to traditional foods although we have probably tried to eat this way for a while. We just did not use the name. I am a bit overwhelmed by all the information out there. I’ve gone over the Weston Price website but I’d like to have a book to reads since I hate sitting at the computer for long periods.

If you were to recommend only one Traditional Foods book what would it be?

I don’t necessarily need recipes since I have many and I can adapt many of mine make them more TF.
I’d like a book more on the philosophy and research behind TF and information on what foods are good or bad.

Thanks in advance!

[Magelet]

I really loved nourishing traditions for that. some people find it off putting for various reasons (her opinion/stance on breastfeeding, that it should only be done by mom's with the ultimate nutrition, in particular) (or her tendancy to quote herself....)
Regardless, it is a GREAT book for the basics. This is healthy and traditional, and so is this. This isn't because of such and such reason. I'd say about 3/4 of the recipes are great, and about 1/4 are literally inedible.

I haven't read full moon feast yet, though I know it's supposed to be great. maybe another mama can mention whether that would suit your purposes.

[stephienoodle]

If you want info on the philosophy and the initial research behind it, I'd go with Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price himself. It is a long and slow read, and parts of it may seem not PC, but that is because it was written back in the 1930s. It basically does a chapter on various cultures throughout the world that WAP visited and studied and talks about their diet and health issues. He compares those who ate the traditional diet of the culture and those who consumed modernized foods. The later chapters go into the reasoning and some small studies that were done in some of these cultures.

I got a lot out of reading it even if it took forever.

[bri276]

Originally Posted by stephienoodle

If you want info on the philosophy and the initial research behind it, I'd go with Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price himself. It is a long and slow read, and parts of it may seem not PC, but that is because it was written back in the 1930s. It basically does a chapter on various cultures throughout the world that WAP visited and studied and talks about their diet and health issues. He compares those who ate the traditional diet of the culture and those who consumed modernized foods. The later chapters go into the reasoning and some small studies that were done in some of these cultures.

I got a lot out of reading it even if it took forever.

A lot of the recipes in Nourishing Traditions are crappy. You can get much better ones in this forum! NPD is an old book and does need to be read with that in mind, but seeing the pictures and reading the various healthy diets of pre-industrial communities really helps to give a basic foundation to build on this type of lifestyle.

[organicmidwestmama]

full moon feast- http://www.amazon.com/Full-Moon-Feas.../dp/1933392002

[californiajenn]

Full Moon Feast

[Smokering]

I haven't read many, only Weston Price's Nutrition and Physical Degeneration and then Nourishing Traditions. I liked them both. NAPD was very compelling because of the sheer volume of data, the photographs and anecdotes and so on. NT was rather more usable, in that it contained recipes and wasn't written in the 1930s. (Then again, I've only tried one recipe so far and didn't like it; and the complaint that the recipes are bad is one I've heard a lot.)

And FTR, NT does not state that only women with prime nutrition should breastfeed.

[mbravebird]

For accessibility and inspiration, making you want to understand and enact the new principles, I think "Real Food: What to Eat and Why" is the best.

For a wide range of recipe options, basic recipes and tidbits of interesting research, and as a really good reference book as you change your diet, I think Nourishing Traditions is good.

But I agree that forums and blogs have the best recipes.

I have Full Moon Feast and love it to pieces, but I don't think it would have helped me start out.

[spughy]

I think it depends on the personality of the person reading it... for spiritually-minded people I'd recommend Full Moon Feast (also I would recommend it for the recipes, Jessica Prentice CAN cook!), for anti-establishment types I think Nourishing Traditions would be good, and for more mainstream types I would go for Real Food. I would only recommend Nutrition and Physical Degeneration to someone who could understand the anthropological/historical context in which it was written - Price was writing pre-Watson & Crick and his notions of heredity seem so quaint as to be dismissible (although more recent discoveries about epigenetics can maybe bear some of them out in some sense). His observations are entirely valid within their scope and nutritional analysis is great, and the pictures of course speak for themselves (although my researching background sends up little "cherry-picking!!!" warning signs whenever I look at them).

None of these books is perfect, but for the most practical "how-to-do-TF" on a daily basis I guess NT would be good, if you can stomach the writing style.

[serenbat]

another- is to look for OLD, old as you can find, (YS, thrifts, used books stores, library sales, etc)-pre WWII and even during the war (these are filled with "other" fats that we used and no/very little sugars)- the depression area books also have tons of info in them on using TF style

some OLDER again, "church" cook books (these are big in my area) are filled with hard to find older versions and very TF!