This book is a memoir of nostalgic recollections of a fifteen-year period spent “out of state and country.” Eric Ball, now having settled back into his native state of New York and since having spent quality time in Greece (and more specifically, the island of Crete), aims his pen in the direction of the means by which to lead a good life, revolving around the concept of we are what we eat. He proceeds to describe the challenges he has faced and is still facing in his attempts to approach the preparation of family recipes and old recipes, but in accordance with a healthy, ethical, sustainable, Mediterranean lifestyle.
As the author states in the very beginning of this book of approximately 330 pages, his writing style is creative. Though it is employed in the description of true events, this writing is mostly structured and reads as a series of narratives. The titles Ball has chosen for his prologue, twenty-four chapters, and epilogue are all telling, and his stories savory and spicy. In much the same way as the famous Greek, Cretan-born writer, Nikos Kazantzakis, reports his life story to painter El Greco as if he were his grandfather, Ball chooses to engage himself in a dialogue with the Christian saint protector of cooks, Euphrosynos.
The main thread Ball unfolds deals with his significant choice of living in an American suburb (in upstate New York) so as to be able to live and eat well alongside friendly, generous, unpretentious people. To support his choice and guide us through his edible adventures, Ball starts off his book by referring to his “salad yard rebellion” and special relationship with wild greens, namely the complexity of ecological and biological processes as well as a negotiation with nature in terms of what to grow and how.
Next, Ball proceeds by peering into his own soul that is made of… soil, in search of any potential psychological dirt that relates to the core ideas of growing but also dying. He profoundly says “no thanks” to traditional American yet unhealthy fast foods and proceeds to hunt down government regulations of food and agriculture, so as to be equipped to speak out for freedom and against poisonous decisions particularly in terms of industrial-food tricks. His experience in bilingual kitchens allows him to firmly advocate for homemade production of both drinks and food, something that also relates to his own family’s farming memories.
Making dishes from scratch (and not just based on cookbooks or written recipes) is something Ball associates with his Greek parea (circle of friends) and their cooking insights. Into the mix of this discourse, he adds the element of improvisation: in the kitchen world, one should not rely merely upon measuring ingredients and strict instructions, but rather more so upon oral descriptions, in an effort to approach nostalgia creatively. This is also a valuable means to avoid the regionalism and non-authenticity that frequently characterize culinary history books. In terms of purity, Ball does specifically speak to the significance of olive oil, as well as addressing how the type of milk, for instance, plays an important role in the quality of cheese, the grape to that of the wine, and the flour to that of the bread’s dough.
Ball holds in high esteem the Cretan model of hosting, where one avoids rigid schedules so that one can participate wholeheartedly in generating an event’s own rhythms and sense of time throughout the eating process that is marked not merely by eating, but also with conversation, the collective good mood of those present, and occasionally with the playing of music, singing, and even dancing. He also highly respects and appreciates impromptu gatherings where communal high spirits and collectively creative ecstasy prevail. To that, he also adds his preference for slow eating and drinking, enjoying, in other words, every shared moment, while the Greek filoxenia (love of hosting others) prevails as an essential art form, which both male and female hosts practice.
Of course, the path he has chosen to follow has not been the easiest one. Geographic, cultural, and familial dislocation has challenged his ways and has even brought on some hot tempers among his loved ones. Despite all that, Ball insists upon maintaining his process of cooking and passing down knowledge gained “off” borders. This includes, for example, attempting to discover similarities between the greens grown in Greece, China, and the USA. This way he balances healthful ways of eating abroad with cooking at home. As a tirelessly open-minded chef, he is capable of treating the vine, for instance, more than one way, by stuffing grape leaves, for example.
For the toxic-world folklore scholar, this book is significant as it manages to both bridge and emphasize the interconnection between the culture of food and that of language, religion, superstition, music, and poetry. Ball’s writings are supported by theoretical frameworks that raise important questions: what is the future of the environment? how can one potentially change the world via both eating and living right?
Moreover, along with the personal wanderings described, political, environmental, ecological, sustainable cooking-related questionings arise and call for place-based, conscious consumers. The reader is presented with an opportunity for meditation upon the issue of how health relates to food since it is not only a matter of what but also of how one eats. To this aim, important also are the fasting rules of the Orthodox Church, daytime siestas, and the physical outdoor activity which characterize the traditional Greek lifestyle. As an honorary Greek, Ball suggests turning the living room into a dining area, while combining a rigorous mind with a generous heart.
All in all, values and virtues cannot be separated from the culture of eating. Some of those highlighted in this volume include the significance of family, hospitality, sociability,y and conviviality. Ideas of freedom are also associated with the culture of food, since those events provide an opportunity for the heart to rebel against the authority of the rational mind which drinking allows, along with music-making and philosophizing. In this way, via his personal culinary odyssey, Ball approaches eating as if it were a sacred custom, a contemporary form of an ancient Greek symposium. His very creative work nicely blends ideas and offers nutritious juices for an empirical, “know thyself” process, showing how nothing about “eating right” should be Greek to us.
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[Review length: 1058 words • Review posted on November 14, 2013]