New cookbook 'Jiggle!' aims to bring gelatin back in style

American society is inundated with food. There are thousands of options of what to eat and a myriad of ways to eat it. So why does food need defending? In In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan distinguishes between real food and processed food and how the reliance on the latter leads to a society plagued by Western diseases.

From our reliance on industry and science to dictate what we should and shouldn’t eat to the loss of traditional food cultures, the Western diet has wreaked havoc on Americans and created one of the unhealthiest societies in the world. But we can reverse the damage if we repair our relationship with food and support the health of the food chain.

Salt is one of the cheapest, most commonplace items: It sells for less than a loaf of bread, and during winter, we scatter it liberally on roads and sidewalks. However, there was once a time when salt was considered rare and valuable. In Salt, Mark Kurlansky argues that throughout much of human history, salt was a precious commodity—one that significantly shaped civilizations.

In this guide, we’ll present Kurlansky’s history of salt, describing the role it played in nourishing our ancestors, driving innovation, building empires—and even provoking rebellions. You’ll learn why salting food isn’t just about improving its flavor, why salt harvesting causes sinkholes, and how salt played an important role in several independence movements. Throughout this guide, we’ll supplement Kurlansky’s history of salt with relevant concepts in chemistry, food science, and geology. We’ll also update the book’s ideas with recent research on how we harvest and use salt today.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan explores how we answer the question, “What should we eat.” It traces four types of food chains from a food’s origin to the dinner table. He focuses on how food production in the U.S. has evolved from small farms to a mass production system of huge corn and animal farms operated on factory-based principles. This system has produced cheap, tasty but less healthy foods, while making it difficult for us to make better choices by obscuring our food’s origins and ingredients.

We have a viable alternative in true organic food, but to make better choices and influence change we must do the work of educating ourselves and giving up our addiction to convenience and unhealthy foods.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan explores how we answer the question, “What should we eat.” It traces four types of food chains from a food’s origin to the dinner table. He focuses on how food production in the U.S. has evolved from small farms to a mass production system of huge corn and animal farms operated on factory-based principles. This system has produced cheap, tasty but less healthy foods, while making it difficult for us to make better choices by obscuring our food’s origins and ingredients.

We have a viable alternative in true organic food, but to make better choices and influence change we must do the work of educating ourselves and giving up our addiction to convenience and unhealthy foods.

Is “no-kill” meat the way of the future? There are two types of artificial, or “no-kill,” meat: meat made from plant proteins and meat made by growing actual animal meat cells in a laboratory. Studies indicate that artificial meat could be good for the environment, but both types are expensive and tend to appeal only to niche markets.

After publishing Entangled Life in 2020, biologist Merlin Sheldrake made a meal out of two copies of the book. He dampened the pages of the first copy, inoculated it with fungal spores, and feasted on the mushrooms that burst from its pages. He then macerated the pages of the second copy and fermented them into a beer he drank.

Sheldrake’s process of transforming these copies of his book embodies the themes he explores throughout its chapters. He examines what we know and don’t yet know about fungi, these mysterious organisms that transform their surroundings—and us. He argues that fungi are an understudied group of organisms that expand our imaginations and offer promising solutions to modern-day problems such as mental illness and environmental destruction. In our guide, we’ll present Sheldrake’s insights into fungal biology and why fungi matter. Throughout our guide, we’ll supplement Sheldrake’s insights with recent research on fungi and offer steps you can take to contribute to our scientific understanding of fungi.

Salt is one of the cheapest, most commonplace items: It sells for less than a loaf of bread, and during winter, we scatter it liberally on roads and sidewalks. However, there was once a time when salt was considered rare and valuable. In Salt, Mark Kurlansky argues that throughout much of human history, salt was a precious commodity—one that significantly shaped civilizations.

In this guide, we’ll present Kurlansky’s history of salt, describing the role it played in nourishing our ancestors, driving innovation, building empires—and even provoking rebellions. You’ll learn why salting food isn’t just about improving its flavor, why salt harvesting causes sinkholes, and how salt played an important role in several independence movements. Throughout this guide, we’ll supplement Kurlansky’s history of salt with relevant concepts in chemistry, food science, and geology. We’ll also update the book’s ideas with recent research on how we harvest and use salt today.