Cookbook

  • This is why other people should read your work: black people and salt edition

    Posted: April 19th, 2010 - 6:01am by Doug Powell

    It's a tiny misprint, but an Australian publisher has had to destroy a cookbook after one recipe called for "salt and freshly ground black people" to be added to the dish.

    Penguin Group Australia pulped and reprinted about 7,000 copies of "Pasta Bible" after the typographical error was found in the ingredients for spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto, The Sydney Morning Herald reported Saturday.

    Bob Sessions, head of publishing, was quoted as saying,

    "We're mortified that this has become an issue of any kind, and why anyone would be offended, we don't know. … When it comes to the proofreader, of course they should have picked it up, but proofreading a cookbook is an extremely difficult task. I find that quite forgivable,” and that if anyone complained about the "silly mistake" they would be given the new version.

    What a tool.

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    Wacky and Weird  |  2 Comments
    Australia, black people, Cookbook, soylent green, to serve man
  • Cookbook recalled for bad food safety advice

    Posted: March 30th, 2010 - 4:38am by Doug Powell

    The New Zealand Food Safety Authority is doing something exceedingly proactive: it somehow got the publisher of The Happy Baby Cookbook to initiate a voluntary recall – not of a food but of the cookbook -- because it contained bad food advice for pregnant women.

    Or NZFSA is following what New South Wales, Australia, did a couple of months ago for a book that has been available since Aug. 2009. Regardless, it seems extraordinary that government agencies are calling people on their food safety bullshit.

    A recall is underway for a cookbook containing recipes for pregnant women made with ingredients the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) considers could be harmful in pregnancy.

    NZFSA principal public health advisor Donald Campbell says while it is vital for expectant mothers to eat a nutritious and varied diet, it is important that they know which of the foods they might normally eat may require extra care or be avoided altogether during pregnancy.

    “Hummus for example is packed with protein, but because most hummus is made with tahini which has been associated with Salmonella outbreaks, we recommend that pregnant women don’t eat it.”

    Other foods that are unsuitable for pregnant women to eat include soft cheeses, ready-to-eat foods from delicatessens or smorgasbords, raw fish and shellfish, cold cuts, deli salads, sushi and foods containing raw eggs.

    I can’t wait for my copy of The Happy Baby Cookbook to arrive. Will any other regulatory bodies take action against food safety silliness that can harm people?

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    Food Safety Policy  |  1 Comment
    Advice, Australia, Baby, Cookbook, food safety, New Zealand
  • The Fat Duck Cookbook has no suggestions on how to avoid norovirus and barfing on expensive food

    Posted: October 9th, 2009 - 12:57pm by Doug Powell

    A review of Heston Blumenthal’s, The Fat Duck Cookbook, appeared in this morning’s edition of the U.K. Independent newspaper.

    Among the highlights:

    “Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck Cookbook is presumably intended as a souvenir for those who have laid out £130 on the Tasting Menu at Blumenthal's Fat Duck restaurant in Bray. At least it will give them a lasting memory of the meal. From several Fat Duck customers, I have heard complaints that they were far from replete after the experience. Though it is called a cookbook, scarcely anyone will ever cook from this volume. Many dishes call for specialist equipment and recondite ingredients. A dessert called Lime Grove requires liquid nitrogen, a Dewar flask, malic acid and high methoxyl confectioner's pectin. Even the simpler dishes call for more time and application than anyone but an extreme culinary obsessive will want to spend. “

    No mention in the review or the book about how to control the spread of norovirus in an upscale restaurant. Fortunately, the U.K. Health Protection Agency has published some suggestions.
     

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    Norovirus  |  1 Comment
    Cookbook, Fat, Fat Duck, Fat Duck Cookbook, Heston Blumenthal, Hpa, Uk
  • A cookbook of recipes to move the poop: The Un-Constipated Gourmet

    Posted: June 29th, 2009 - 1:16pm by Doug Powell

    Baby Sorenne is coming up on seven months, and her poop is changing. As more solids are introduced into her diet, her poop has gone from runny brown to sticky to fully formed turds.

    Yesterday, she started screaming as loud as she could for about 20 seconds. Sure enough, out popped a poop. That was about the fourth consecutive time it’s happened. Really, who hasn’t wanted to scream during a plugged up poop.

    If you’re one of those people, Eat Me Daily reports today on The Un-Constipated Gourmet: Secrets for a Movable Feast, a collection of recipes designed to make you poop by first-time author Danielle Svetcov.

    Svetcov's hope is that the book — which promises recipes you can serve to your "uncorked" friends without them realizing that they're specially engineered for your own digestive needs — will deliver "superfoods with an agenda" so that the "potty-challenged" and those with "bathroom envy" will find themselves "called to duty."
     

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    Wacky and Weird  |  0 Comments
    Constipation, Cookbook, Poop, Recipe, Sorenne, Un-constipated Gourmet