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Reviews: |
BARBARIANS AT THE PLATE:
TAMING AND FEEDING THE MODERN AMERICAN FAMILY
(Perigee Books, 2005)
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NEW!!!! – BARBARIANS FEATURED IN CURRENT ISSUE OF NICK JR. MAGAZINE: “...an easy-to-follow book created with busy parents in mind. Realistic strategies for cooking, planning, and serving tasty, healthy and simple meals are based on [the author’s] experience as a mother of two, plus lively interview with families all over the country.” February/March, 2006 THE NEW YORK TIMES: “... full of helpful hints...and child-friendly recipes that adults can tolerate.”
“When
Diet Books Don’t Work, Try a Cookbook Instead,” by Marian Burros,
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SALON.COM: “Too busy to cook? A new book argues that your kids may be missing out on more than just veggies. Plus: Healthy, stress-free recipes guaranteed to make your family ask for seconds. The home-cooked family meal is quickly becoming a thing of the past. A recent survey conducted by the University of Minnesota shows that the number of American families who regularly eat dinner together has dropped by more than one-third since 1970, as busy parents opt instead for the convenience of restaurant meals or takeout in front of the television. But Marialisa Calta, a food writer and working mother, is on a mission to turn back the clock. And while encouraging American women to unleash their inner Betty Crocker might not seem progressive, Calta's serious commitment to helping parents embrace domesticity, at the dinner table at least, has landed her in the ranks of a quiet revolution taking place in small towns and cities across the country....Calta's new book, ‘Barbarians at the Plate: Taming and Feeding the Modern American Family,’ takes readers into the kitchens and dining rooms of a dozen families across the country as they attempt to make a healthy, home-cooked meal every (well, almost every) night. With unpretentious advice and simple menus drawing on pantry staples such as beans, chicken stock and pasta (and featuring a special section on that Nixon-era workhorse, the slow cooker), ‘Barbarians’ offers an antidote to the fussy, labor-intensive Martha Stewart mentality that intimidates many home cooks. ‘You don't have to chain yourself to the stove,’ she writes. ‘If you are organized enough to get your tired self dressed and to work every day you have the tools to get food on the table.’ Around that table, Calta believes, parents and children share much more than food -- they exchange stories, learn about each other's lives, and hone social graces that serve them in school and beyond.”
“The
Dish About Family Dinners,” By
Sarah Karnasiewicz, |
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THE
“....Marialisa Calta, author of Barbarians at the Plate, gives me hope.”
“Family Meals, Easy on the Guilt,” by Maureen Fitzgerald, THE
“When the shoemaker's children go barefoot, a cliché is born. When Americans can't sit down to a home-cooked family dinner, an institution dies. Marialisa
Calta -- the nationally syndicated food columnist living in a Interesting, but obvious. After all, microwavable take-out meals have long been the bread and butter of most double-income families. Therefore, isn't Calta's premise more deja than new? Who cares?
Her format, ideas, banter, vignettes and conclusions go down easier
than the trendiest cookbook with dreamy photographs and impossible
recipes. What a pleasant, affirming read. What a coup for |
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“Don’t
Let Family Dinners Go Belly Up,” |
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OTHER REVIEWS: THE “You don't need to be fancy, but try to be civilized. Grabbing pizza slices from the kitchen and disappearing to separate rooms doesn't count, nor does snacking in the minivan. Put out place settings...Set the stage for a good experience. ‘Everybody likes having a place where they are welcomed and wanted and where they belong,’ says Marialisa Calta, author of ‘Barbarians at the Plate: Taming and Feeding the Modern American Family.’”
“Nurturing
the Routine of Bringing Family Back to the Table,” by Maggie Jackson,
“Pungent, funny and useful, it includes more than 100 ‘kid-friendly’ recipes that [Calta] guarantees are – unlike many supposedly easy-cook recipes – really easy to make.” August, 2005 |
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THE
( “But really, ‘Barbarians at the Plate’ is more than a cookbook. It’s a recipe for preserving the family amidst the bustle of everyday life.”
“ THE
“...a parenting book, a cookbook, and an inspirational volume all rolled into one.”
“Family Meals a Good Defense For Fighting Stress, Even Illnesses,”
by Dayle Hayes, THE
“’Barbarians at the Plate’ offers much more than just recipes and cooking tips. Each chapter also has a vignette of families and their dinner struggles and strategies, whether it’s putting food on the table, making children try new foods, or simply getting a conversation going...Even non-cooks will enjoy these voyeuristic peeks at family life.”
“A Recipe for Getting Together,” by Emily Seftel, CATHOLIC DIGEST: “Part cookbook, part survival manual and part voyeuristic peek into our neighbors’ kitchens, this volume is a smart, funny and practical field guide to the endangered species known as the family meal.” July, 2005 LIBRARY JOURNAL: “Calta’s book might be subtitled ‘The Importance of the Dinner Table,’ for she strongly believes in family meal eaten together. Yet she recognizes the realities of today’s hectic lifestyles and offers workable solutions....any busy parent will find dozens of ideas and easy recipes here. Recommended.”
PW ANNEX: “A down-to-earth handbook for weeknight family dinners. Snobbery-free and realistic, Calta gives tips for civilizing tale-out...and speeding up simple dishes like macaroni and cheese while still cooking from scratch... Tips for dinner conversation, healthy substitutes and recipe variations are scattered throughout ... this is a beginner-accessible cookbook that will encourage even the most time-crunched mother.”
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