287205 Mon May 21 11:01:10 -0700 2001 10 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1543581 Has anyone had a chance to read the new edition of Simple Cooking? I just finished it. Firstly, 11 or 12 of the 16 pages are devoted solely to criticism of the book "Fast Food Nation." (Two of the remaining are devoted to an index, leaving around two pages actually concentrated in a meaningful way on cooking.) I have all John Thorne's books, and I normally enjoy the newsletter, but this one leaves me cold and disappointed, and not just at the meager offerings we had to wait three months for. A jumble of long-winded paragraphs on smoking, prohibition, obesity, and Thorne's outdated opinions on finding a job. (In HIS day, he says, kids would have been lucky to find any job, let alone one in a bright, happy place like McDonald's.) He posits McD's as a modern day saloon - a meeting place for men, women, and children - recast without the sin. He makes cunning, irrelevant statements like "[We don't] head for Kentucky Fried Chicken to eat a salad" and thinks, I guess, that this sort of thing renders Eric Schlosser's arguments about the fast food diet moot. And he mocks the idea that having soda as the national drink in schools is bad. It's a specious argument, he seems to be saying, to complain that we drink more soda than milk now because teenaged boys never paid for milk as they do for soda. Huh? (By the way, I paid for milk all through grammar school and high school.) He basically says that he's been there and done that and grown bored with fast food. That's great, but for an awful lot of people, McDonald's isn't a phase. It's lunch, and dinner, and even (God help us) Egg McMuffins and hash browns, five days a week. Also: Thorne has little to say on the labor and food safety issues addressed in the book, other than to point to a Times article that indicates that food poisoning can come from fruits as well as meats. Mon May 21 11:01:10 -0700 2001 0 John T. 1 1543584 Hey, John, cut me a little slack! If a writer is going to reach for the stars, he's bound to fall into the sewer now and then. It's the name of the game. Mon May 21 13:20:32 -0700 2001 1543581 0 John Thorne 2 1543585 Hey, I'm a huge fan -- don't misunderstand! You can love Coppola and still be depressed by Godfather 3! Mon May 21 13:28:52 -0700 2001 1543584 0 John T. 3 1543593 Heh, great come-back! I too am a huge Thorne fan. See my blurbs on his books at link below (search down the page for "thorne") Link: http://www.chowhound.com/reading/reading.hmtl Mon May 21 17:37:08 -0700 2001 1543585 0 Jim Leff 3 1543596 Godfather 3?! My God, I am going to kill myself. Mon May 21 17:52:48 -0700 2001 1543585 0 John Thorne 4 1543598 "Godfather 3?! My God, I am going to kill myself." No, I didn't mean it like that!!! ... okay, bad choice of movie. I should have just shut up while I was only a little behind. I'm sorry, I am overly sensitive to criticism the fast food book because of my own lifelong problems relying on that stuff. Plus I was grumpy. Please don't cancel my subscription! I'll be good! Mon May 21 20:57:40 -0700 2001 1543596 0 John Tracey 4 1543599 Well, I just got home from a 3 hour commute (after a 2.5 hour morning commute), and John Thorne's comments about killing himself over the Godfather crack made me laugh outloud. So now I'm DEFINITELY a lifetime subscriber. Unless he bans me. Mon May 21 20:58:34 -0700 2001 1543596 0 John T 1 1543623 I admit I'm not familiar with John Thorne's books, but...You bought a 16 page book? You paid money for it? Tue May 22 20:37:13 -0700 2001 1543581 0 ironmom 2 1543625 Hi Ironmom! You're in for a treat! The sixteen page "book" is actually a Food Letter called Simple Cooking that's put together and published by John and Matt Thorne. John writes a lot of the pieces that appear in it. It's amazing how much he can pack into this newsletter. I haven't seen the one discussed here yet, since I get the paper, not electronic version. It was through a link on the Simple Cooking site that I first found Chowhound over four years ago. But there are five "real" books: Simple Cooking, Outlaw Cook, Serious Pig, Home Body, and the newest, Pot on the Fire. He writes like a dream and is one of my favorite food writers. He used to live in Steuben, Maine but a few years back he and his wife (that's the "Matt") moved to Northampton, Ma. If you like this sort of writing (with many recipes) you'll really enjoy these books. Chowhound provides a link to his site, and I'll give it here too. Obviously, I'm a real fan. Enjoy. Link: http://outlawcook.com Tue May 22 21:27:09 -0700 2001 1543623 0 Pat Hammond 2 1543641 It's a newsletter, I subscribe to the electronic edition. Worth every penny -- believe me. Wed May 23 09:03:54 -0700 2001 1543623 0 John T. 1 1543954 I should note that John Thorne has "snipped" parts of the original post here (not entirely accurately, I might add) for use on his Web site. :) Mon Jun 04 10:41:42 -0700 2001 1543581 0 John Tracey