How We Eat or Vaginas

How We Eat: Appetite, Culture, and the Psychology of Food

Author: Leon Rappoport

Tracing culinary customs from the Stone Age to the stovetop range, from the raw to the nuked, this book elucidates the factors and myths shaping Americans' eating habits. The diversity of food habits and rituals is considered from a psychological perspective. Explored are questions such as Why does the working class prefer sweet drinks over bitter? Why do the affluent tend to roast their potatoes? and What is so comforting about macaroni and cheese anyway? The many contradictions of Americans' relationships with food are identified: food is both a primal source of sensual pleasure and a major cultural anxiety; Americans adore celebrity chefs, but no one cooks at home anymore; the gourmet health food industry is soaring, yet a longtime love affair with fast food endures. The future of food is also covered, including speculation about whether traditional meals will one day evolve into the mere popping of a nutrition capsule.

Gastronomica

The focus of How We Eat is welcome...fun to peruse because it contains so many small pieces of information that are interesting to those of us who love to cook, eat, and talk about food and eating.

Table of Contents:

	Acknowledgments	11
	Introduction: A Half-Baked Notion	13
Chapter 1	From Myths to MacAttacks	29
Chapter 2	You Are What You Eat	51
Chapter 3	Feeding Frenzies	77
Chapter 4	The McDonaldization of Taste	107
Chapter 5	From the Raw to the Cooked to the Haute Cuisine	131
Chapter 6	Champagne Slippers, the Twinkie Defense, and He-Man Diets	161
Chapter 7	The Road to Wellville	183
Chapter 8	Concluding Reflections	205
	Sources	213
	Index	219

New interesting book: 365 Foods Kids Love to Eat or The Longevity Diet

Vaginas: An Owner's Manual

Author: Carol Livoti

An engaging, thorough, and much-needed explanation of the working vagina, Vaginas is a book of accessible facts written by down-to-earth authors whose only agenda is female education. The authors (the mother is an ob/gyn, the daughter a writer) avoid the flowery language and feminist agenda of other books on the subject. They take readers from the mood swings of puberty to the hot flashes of menopause with warmth, humor, and candor. Subjects include the lowdown on hymens, a word on waxing, tips on retrieving lost items, heavy periods, working out the vagina, significant problems (STDs, ectopic pregnancies, fibroids, yeast infections, herpes), ways to keep an aging body performing, and the fun stuff — sex.

Publishers Weekly

This empowering, sex-positive guide to womanhood is for anyone who has ever found herself uninformed or misinformed about her own machinery. Topp, a single, 20-something writer, teams up with her mother, Livoti, a seasoned gynecologist, to demystify the female reproductive system. The younger author felt lucky to grow up with a mother who was knowledgeable and forthcoming about the female anatomy, especially when she reached her teen years and realized that most of her friends weren't so lucky. Too many women are uncomfortable discussing their private parts with friends or even doctors, say the authors, and this can lead to misconceptions about their own bodies. Despite the catchy title, this is a deep examination of the body. Starting with an overview of the basic organs, then moving into menstruation, maintenance, menopause and medical problems, the authors investigate every nook and cranny of those elusive female parts. They explore sex, contraception, STDs and abortion from a nonjudgmental, pro-choice, woman-to-woman perspective. Although the snippets of banter between mother and daughter (as well as the anecdotes from the life of an ob-gyn) add little, this is a never condescending and always articulate resource. Agent, Erin Reel. (Oct.) Forecast: Vaginas' winning mix of spunk and practicality should make it a popular women's health seller. It's received advance praise from Candace Bushnell and Eve Ensler. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

A mother-daughter team, ob/gyn Livoti and Topp have collaborated on a reassuring book that aims to decrease women's insecurities about their physical selves. Besides dealing with the vagina, the book covers topics like contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive health, and problems related to other areas of the reproductive system, e.g., the uterus and cervix. This easy-to-read manual is filled with edifying sidebars based on Livoti's years of medical practice, and while it refers to studies from medical journals, it does not offer any references, suggested readings, or web sites for readers who might want more information--ironic, given its aim to empower women. Still, the book informs without being too technical. Recommended for public health libraries, especially those with consumer or women's health collections.--Rebecca Raszewski, Drexel Univ. Health Sciences Libs., Philadelphia Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.