Gill Holcombe
Författare till How to Feed Your Whole Family a Healthy, Balanced Diet: Simple, Wholesome and Nutritious Recipes for Family Meals
Verk av Gill Holcombe
Taggad
Allmänna fakta
- Kön
- female
Medlemmar
Recensioner
Statistik
- Verk
- 3
- Medlemmar
- 109
- Popularitet
- #178,011
- Betyg
- 3.2
- Recensioner
- 4
- ISBN
- 8
First, I got upset at many of Holcombe's, dare I say, utterances. She complains of food myths but perpetuates many on her own. I hate books that claim, without substance to back it up, that healthy food is cheaper than unhealthy; it is actually cheaper to keep yourself in meat than salads (as meat has become so popular but produce prices have soared), with grains and lentils being the cheapest. Honestly, do you really think I am cooking a meal for under $1.00-$1.50 a portion? No? I can easily get junk for that cheap or just live on carbs... well, if that wouldn't kill me - but there are people who do not have health issues that require special diets.
I also hated her claims of the gross and sometimes non-food items in junk food. It's like the "100% Beef" McDonald's scandal all over again. Her book represents the downfall of the fact-checkers at publishing houses, as well as the assumptions that the populace are stupid and do not know what is in their food. However, I will not rage on every stupid claim Holcombe makes - two is enough.
The real kicker is the recipes. Her audience is clearly the amateur family cook but her recipes are written for people who are more advanced - though the advanced would never eat that crap. She lists ingredients with no proportions: while it makes sense to remind family cooks that they can adjust recipes, her target audience requires quantities to start off with as they learn. Beginners (often even intermediates) cannot be told "just throw in some cumin, chili powder and oregano" and have it taste good - ratios take time. Not all recipes are without proportions but a significant number, especially where spices are involved.
Worse, merely reading her recipes I could see missing ingredients that are crucial to the chemistry of the cooking process: missing leaveners and the like. The woman doesn't even understand the use of salt (it is one thing to say it is overused, it is another to claim it does nothing in a dish), salt being the most basic ingredient. I am hardly an advanced cook, certainly not trying to portray myself as a professional, yet even I can see she is either missing or even wrong regarding some of the fundamentals.
There is also no transferable knowledge. You use her recipes or get no help.
I wouldn't even recommend taking this book from the library. Do not waste your money or time.… (mer)