Review: Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine

Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine by Sarah Lohman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The easiest and often most enjoyable way to get to know a culture is through its food, and the makeup of American flavor covers not just the taste spectrum of spicy, sweet, and umami but also the history of immigration waves and economics.

Sarah Lohman of the Four Pounds Flour blog noticed in old cookbooks there were certain flavor profiles popping up, such as rose water as a baked goods sweetener rather than vanilla because vanilla was prohibitively expensive. She made a timeline of recipes through history and plotted them with Google Ngrams to see word frequency use between 1796 and 2000. These eight flavors were the noticeable peaks (chocolate and coffee were also popular, but they're extensively covered elsewhere), and are organized chronologically by when they appeared in American kitchens.

I was unsurprised to find that some flavors, such as black pepper and vanilla, became common after entrepreneurs and botanists figured out ways to make them more widely available and to actually cultivate respectively. Others, like chili and curry powders, come from the desire for a premixed pack, easy to reach without putting in the effort of roasting and mixing spices anew for each use.

Soy sauce and garlic were both interesting to me because they became widely available due to immigrant groups (Chinese and Italians) but were deemed too "ethnic" until a more "respectable" culture's food became #goals (Japanese and French cuisine). This bias is still around- think about how much people are willing to spend at an upscale sushi place, then try to remember how much you paid at your last dim sum visit.

My absolute favorite parts (which I also noted on Twitter) were when Lohman pointed out that compounds are compounds- regardless of source, vanillin will have the same structure and its atoms won't remember if they were derived from a vanilla vine or processed from leftover lignin from wood. Monosodium glutamate is its own flavor profile and yes, if you intake too much salt you will feel terrible, but the amounts of MSG in food are not the horrifically high concentrations used in early misleading studies of "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome". As someone with a genetics background who lives in the PNW, I am wary whenever some group touts their "natural" foods, as if natural can be quantified and measured somehow when really it's just emotion.

If a heftier read is desired, there's a very comprehensive notes for all sources and a selected bibliography for specific works in the back.

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Review: The Genius of Birds

The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fully deserving of all of its accolades last year, The Genius of Birds finds that sweet spot of an interesting, compelling popular science book without being a bone-dry textbook.

(I always like to see what other reviewers think as I write my own, and I'm a lil' amused to see some people disliked this because it was *too* fluffy whereas others didn't care for Ackerman's extensive literature references. Popular science comes with a broad audience, I suppose.)

The Genius of Birds is divided up by different types of intelligence- as much as we'd like to think smarts is the only thing that counts, intelligence can be considered in different categories- social intelligence (do I know who my relatives are, and do I care? How do I react to my kin, or the hottie next door?), aesthetics (bowerbirds and sexy son hypothesis), spatial (various ways birds might map their world), etc. Ackerman examines current (as of writing/publication) literature and research, interviewing scientists working in the field, and weaves in the natural history of the focus species. Corvids of course appear frequently, but other birds make appearances with sparrows having the final chapter as a species that has co-evolved with our artificial habitats.

Would recommend for people who like popular science books, those with a passing interest in neuroscience of non-hominids, and people who like birds.

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Review: The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World’s Most Coveted Fish

The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World’s Most Coveted Fish by Emily Voigt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Emily Voigt writes in that part-historical examination, part-author's exploration narrative that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks also treads, and the result ended up being a very readable, fascinating book. Multiple threads (the exotic pet trade industry, regulation of endangered species, what is a species and who names them, etc.) are woven together deftly as she starts with an initial question ("Why would someone pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a homely-faced fish?") and ends up diving headfirst into obsessively pursuing the dragonfish, searching for any that may still be in the wild.

I'm a hobby aquarist who has nothing larger than a 29 gallon at the moment, but the monster fishkeepers always intrigue me. Heiko Bleher is the most prominent ichthyologist in the book with an intrepid personality, though Tyson Roberts looms equally large as does Ralf Britz.

Minor quibbles: I'm a little surprised that she hadn't really known much about Linnaeus until she pursued the arowana story (especially if she's a science writer for Radiolab and other places). If you want a deeper dive into the taxonomy of what the Asian arowana is vs. the South American species or how exactly do purchasers of these monster fish take care of them, look elsewhere. Otherwise, it's a well-crafted personal narrative blended with natural history and taxonomy with a dash of travelogue.

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Review: Goldilocks and the Water Bears: The Search for Life in the Universe

Goldilocks and the Water Bears: The Search for Life in the Universe by Louisa Preston
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

"It was ok" is maybe the most positive I feel towards this book. I'm not exactly sure what audience Dr. Preston is aiming for, but I definitely felt like the prose was intended for a teenager or younger. Science communication often tackles with how to inform your audience without necessarily being condescending; Goldilocks and the Water Bears introduces lots of concepts and helpfully italicizes them when first mentioned, giving off the feel of a textbook. Some of these chapters, like the one describing what defines life and conditions life might need, definitely felt textbook-ish, especially with several italicized vocabulary words per paragraph.

One of my earlier criticisms as I was reading was that I'm finding pop culture references walk a fine line between potentially dated and cool enough to draw the reader in. The first chapter of this book discusses science fiction and how our space fantasies may inspire us to develop similar technologies or look for life in various ways. While not the focus of the book, the short explanations for some pieces of media (like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) were very general- I initially dismissed this as "Well, it is a tangent so best not to linger on it..."

I read a library copy, and an earlier reader had penciled in corrections in a few places (slashing through a comma at one point, correcting numbers elsewhere, and in a later chapter, crossing out "carnivorous" and writing in "allotrophic" in the margins).

I also take issue with the use roughly once a chapter of "Fun fact: [fact here]." If it's a fun fact, shouldn't the fact speak for itself?

Perhaps her TED talk is more engaging, but the prose is very eh. I'd maybe recommend this to a middle or high school reader.

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Review: Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing

Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing by Jamie Holmes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In a "post-fact" society, does it matter whether we know something or not? Although Nonsense was published before even primary season took place, this was an unintentionally timely read. I personally tend to prefer knowing versus the unknown, so learning the uses of and embracing (or at least feeling comfortable with) not knowing seems relevant, too.

In general, Nonsense is a very readable book, perfect for the popular science reader but well-cited with extensive end notes (on a stylistic note, I liked that they weren't numbered in the text because that can be distracting, and reading linearly made them a bit of a reminder of what earlier chapters covered. While some were simple citations, others were longer descriptions of context around quotations or events).

In the first part, Mr. Holmes prompts us to notice how we respond to ambiguity, and how the need for closure catches our attention, makes us assume, and potentially distresses us when the situation is particularly unexpected. The middle section highlights examples of reactions to unexpected or ambiguous situations from natural disasters and hostage crises to the unpredictable world of fashion trends and whether or not more medical tests will really clear up an unclear diagnosis (spoiler alert: it may be more costly for the patient, but for that see The Empowered Patient: How to Get the Right Diagnosis, Buy the Cheapest Drugs, Beat Your Insurance Company, and Get the Best Medical Care Every Time). The final part covers how embracing the unknown is useful: where failure is often the stepping stone to scientific progress and taking away constraints of preconceived notions on your perspective may lead to new insights.

I've seen the phrased tossed around re: graduate school "The more you learn, you realize how little you actually know." This is a lesson I need to be reminded of, and Nonsense reminded me that it's okay if I don't know the answers.

Obtained via Blogging for Books in exchange for an unbiased review- took me longer to get around this than intended, but better late than never.

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Review: The Dim Sum Field Guide: A Taxonomy of Dumplings, Buns, Meats, Sweets, and Other Specialties of the Chinese Teahouse

The Dim Sum Field Guide: A Taxonomy of Dumplings, Buns, Meats, Sweets, and Other Specialties of the Chinese Teahouse by Carolyn Phillips
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy from Blogging for Books in exchange for a review, although this had been on my to-read list way earlier after reading the Lucky Peach Beginner's Guide to Dim Sum. While this blog was intended to be primarily science (with more than the occasional tangent into politics), this book still fits as science communication by taking the language of field guides and applying them to food (which some people consider edible chemistry)!

If you're not familiar with the Cantonese cuisine of dim sum, this is a neatly organized introduction. Dishes are organized by cooking method (steamed savory, baked savory, extras, desserts, etc.) and both Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciations are given. Illustrations and cross-sections are helpful, but as with field guides, some users may find pictures more handy (though that's nothing a Google search couldn't solve). Where this guide shines is in the thorough, sensual descriptions of food from the sheen of a glaze or the crackling of a lightly pan fried wrapper under your teeth.


I've read various 'field guides' over the years, both actual for-the-field and books in the style (consider The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep by Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe, though they might actually intend it to be used to identify cryptids). The parts of The Dim Sum Field Guide that tickled my biological fancy were identifying each type as a genus with variations listed as species (and if there weren't any, Sui generis or a class of their own). "Nesting Habits" describes how the dish is usually plated, though dumplings may be "nestled together", etc. I can see how this was intended for use in the food field, but as with a birding trip, do your homework. Rather than taking this guide to dim sum with you, I suggest reading beforehand and making a list of what you're interested in trying if it makes you feel comfortable. In my experience, though, you can often just point at what looks good on carts passing by!

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Living in a Safety Blanket?: Or, the Physical Echo Chamber

Between looking at last night's election map and reading this NYT piece, I've been thinking about cliquishness, diasporas, and fear (among other things, anyway).

I've lived in three and a half places throughout my life: most of the time in cities smaller than 100k (with the exception of my ~2 months in Boise, which is the half). For the majority of my life, it's been in red state country, though my time in South Carolina was definitely in a university bubble.

When I think about if I'd ever return to my hometown, or if I ask high school friends if they'd ever go back, the first response is usually a solid NOPE. Part of it may be lack of opportunity (in my case, scientific jobs are mostly re: nuclear energy or agricultural, and there aren't major publishing houses where creative friends could work), part of it could be there are more attractive wages elsewhere (minimum wage is $7.25/hour, though cost of living is also cheaper). The Idaho Statesman did an article on this millennial flight, and I agree with people in my peer group:

“It’s frustrating that the Legislature always questions why people leave, but then they ruin things we care about: higher education, women’s rights, a living wage, affordable health care, LGBT rights, the environment,” Moroney said. “That’s a hostile environment to come in as a young person if you want to see change.”

 Anecdotally, several people in my HS friend group ended up in the PNW. I absolutely love living in Oregon. Based on local measures, I can tell the community here cares about education, LGBT rights, and stewarding our environment. But I'm in western Oregon. Earlier this year, the Malheur Wildlife Refuge was occupied by people protesting federal ownership of lands. Granted, the leaders of the occupation were mostly from out of state, but this happened here, not the South or wherever we imagine conservative bogeymen to be. (Anecdotally, Idaho's seen an increase in doomsday prepper types, so there's that).

I defended my masters last month, and am trying to figure out where to apply for jobs- realistically, anywhere. I've jokingly said to my significant other, "Oh, what if that dream job ends up being in Alabama?" and he responds with "Nope, wouldn't be worth it." He grew up on the gulf coast and worked outside of the university bubble in South Carolina and knows how awful people can be.

But I wonder: is there any hope for deep-rooted attitudes to disappear if the people who have casual thoughts never encounter someone different from them? For instance, to many evangelicals, a woman who has an abortion has committed murder. And maybe, she's a slut who should've kept her legs shut. Statistically, they (and you and I) know someone who's had one, and the women who do usually have children already. But there's no one visible to dispel the notion of Slutty McSlutface, why shouldn't they continue to believe it? This is partly why I'm vocal about mine in social media- to put a face on the Other.

A thread on r/asianamerican a few weeks ago was from a Californian who noted that all his friends lived in diverse city enclaves (Seattle, DC, SoCal). However, Cali cost of living is high and much of flyover country is cheap. Moving would be something to consider, except they didn't want to raise their young child in a place where they'd be a minority, where they'd be the only Asian, etc. They feared their child would be subject to racism.

Honestly? I can't say their fear is entirely wrong- after all, the murder of Vincent Chin happened in Michigan. But, if Joe Schmo from Somewheresville, IA never grows up with people who are different from him, what's to prevent media shorthand- stereotypes- from filling in how he sees them? He might not realize how badly some things affect people different from him if he doesn't have a face to it. As I recall from an argument a decade ago with an uncle: "Why should I care if gay people can get married or not? It doesn't affect me..." Increased empathy and countering bias are benefits from a diverse classroom.  Avoiding the midwest won't help it magically become more diverse.

At the same time, though, my feelings of fear for my safety in a Trump presidency aren't gone- and it's not necessarily fear of what Trump will do, but rather the people who voted for him that are okay with violence. I've seen a few cases on my feed of conservative friends saying "Stop calling me a racist, misogynistic bigot, because I'm not!" and sure, I'm not afraid of them wanting to jail me. However, I feel like they enabled the smaller but more vocal number of people who slash tires, who intimidate brown people, who are okay with punching people they disagree with in the face. I understand the need to live where I don't feel threatened.

But at the same time, I see the need to educate people, to be a blue girl in a red state. To be an advocate for those who the majority harm.

There isn't an easy answer, and I don't see myself sleeping well tonight either.