Friday Night: Book Love

I recently read The Food Explorer by Daniel Stone, which turned out to be a delightful intersection of three things that I love: food, horticulture, and adventure stories.

The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats is a biography of David Fairchild who spent the turn of the 20^th century collecting plants from all over the world with the goal of introducing new foods to grow in the United States. What may have been his greatest, or at least his most showy, accomplishment is the introduction of the Japanese cherry trees that bloom so beautifully in the spring in Washington D.C.

Stone takes us through Fairchild’s life from his youthful obsession with travelling to Java to bumping into and bonding with the right kind of people to get him there to being the guy who could send the next food explorers out on their adventures. He was dedicated and affable, the right kind of nerd to get a job done while being attractive to the people who would be willing to pay for his projects.

While Fairchild may have begun as a somewhat obsessive and socially awkward young man, he was taken under the wing of Barbour Lathrop, a wealthy bachelor who made him kind of a personal project. And took him around the world multiple times. Lathrop wasn’t the only influence from which Fairchild benefited (he married into Alexander Graham Bell’s family), but he really seemed to take good care of the resources people invested in him.

As Fairchild settled down and stopped globetrotting, he was responsible for sending out other successful food explorers, such as Wilson Popenoe, who was obsessed with avocados, and Frank Meyer. While few people may have been acquainted with Fairchild (or Popenoe) before The Food Explorer was published, Meyer’s name is more familiar. Meyer, an extraordinarily obsessive, and probably quite clinically depressed individual, is the one who brought the tasty, sweeter lemon from China, the one that was eventually named after him.

It’s hard not to feel like David Fairchild led a rather charmed life. He attracted patronage and made influential connections, but he was no manipulator or freeloader. Sometimes, he seems like a loveable goof, others like a naïve genius. We know what he thought because he wrote so much down. We know what he accomplished because we’re still eating and enjoying a lot of it today.

I don’t like to give too much of the content away when I write about a book I enjoy, but try instead to tell you what I like about it. I try to say what it is about the style or the story that I enjoyed. In the case of The Food Explorer when I think back on the way it was written, I feel like Daniel Stone did the hard work of letting a good tale tell itself. The presence of the author is not in embellishment or sensation, but in the appreciation of a good story, the life of an interesting man who made positive contributions to the world he lived in.

If you like The Food Explorer by Daniel Stone, you might also like The Garden of Invention by Jane S. Smith and The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan.

One year ago: 14 Favorites with Citrus Fruits

Thanks to Jenna, Keith, Cate, and Julia for giving me this book for Christmas!

...And Such

“Do more than one fun thing a day!” - Marjorie Ketcher


I just finished reading an inspirational book titled Wild Dogs, a Naked Man, and Such by Marjorie Ketcher and Jim Ehle. Jim is a friend of mine, and I’m glad we’re pals, because it’s likely I never would have learned of this story on my own. It’s subtitled Inspiration for Reluctant Adventurers, and is about Marjorie’s solo (solo!) ride across North America on Old Blue, her trusty bicycle. It’s a little book, but it’s a big story full of more guts than glory, and I don’t think I’m giving too much away by telling you that the most important part of it all is the “Such.”

Whether you’re a hard-core adventurer (reluctant or otherwise) or just an armchair wannabe (like me - I don’t even own a bike), you probably can understand the thrill of tackling a personal goal. And you’re going to need fuel to get through it all. I like these Almond Butter Granola Bars that I adapted from a recipe in Bruce Weinstein’s The Ultimate Candy Book. They’re dense and chewy and full of vitamins, complex carbohydrates and protein with a little high-glycemic-index kick. I think they’d be good on the road, but they’re also good to grab with your morning coffee if you’re a little slow to get started (like me).

If you’re a reluctant cook, these bars are also easy to make, requiring very little cooking. I made the Granola for mine, but you can use whatever granola you like. I also made the almond butter, which simply involved coarsely chopping and very lightly toasting some almonds and pulverizing them in the food processor until they turned to butter. I added a very small amount almond oil (about 1 teaspoon to about 2 cups of almonds), which seemed to help the almonds adventure on to a spreadable stage less reluctantly. You could certainly buy your almond butter, or use peanut butter or another nut butter.

If you use a glass or metal dish or pan to make these bars, be sure to grease it well and/or line it with parchment or wax paper. I use a flexible silicone baking pan (8” x 8”) and they never stick to it. (I spray it with a little nonstick cooking spray for insurance.) I don’t think I’ve ever actually baked anything in this pan, so I don’t know how it performs in the oven, but for sticky recipes like this one (also homemade caramels, etc.), it does reliably well. I’m thinking of naming it Old Blue in honor of Marjorie’s bicycle.

I know these granola bars are good because I make them pretty regularly and usually eat most of them myself. I know Marjorie and Jim’s story and philosophy are inspirational because I’ve already began to think of many “journeys” I’ve been reluctant to begin. And I started shopping for a bike today. I don’t know where things might go from here (although I could do without wild dogs or a naked man), but I do know it will be such and adventure!

Almond Butter Granola Bars
Adapted from The Ultimate Candy Book by Bruce Weinstein

You could replace the almond butter with peanut butter and the almond extract with vanilla.

Vegetable or canola oil or nonstick cooking spray plus parchment or wax paper for the pan
½ cup light corn syrup
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
¾ cup almond butter
½ cup powdered milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 ½ cups granola

1. Coat an 8” x 8” baking pan (or a smaller one) with vegetable oil or cooking spray. If you are using a glass or metal pan, you may also want to line it with parchment or wax paper. Coat the paper with oil or spray as well.

2. Place the corn syrup and brown sugar into a medium sized saucepan. Heat over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Raise the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook at a boil for 30 seconds.

3. Remove from the heat and stir in the almond butter and the powdered milk until the mixture is smooth. Add the almond extract and the granola and stir until well combined.



4. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and carefully press the mixture into an even layer. It will be quite stiff and still quite hot. To make thicker bars, do not press the mixture all the way to the edge of the pan. It will be stiff enough to hold its shape. (Here is where a slightly smaller pan might work well.)

5. Cool on a wire rack, then chill until the bars are firm enough to cut. Cut into 12 bars. Individually wrap the bars and store in an airtight container or zip-top bag in the refrigerator. The bars are very stiff and can be hard to chew when cold, so remove them from the refrigerator for a while before enjoying.

Makes 12 servings. These bars freeze very well.