Mar 30 2009
Eat Like There’s No Tomorrow
I am enjoying one of the best books I have ever read. It’s called “Eat Like There’s No Tomorrow” by professional chef Hans Rueffert. Hans has cooked for and hosted several TV food shows and food projects, and his family has owned the Woodbridge Inn and Restaurant in Jasper, GA for years. While his book is all about food, I wouldn’t say this is a cookbook. It’s a food-life book.
You see, Hans had stomach cancer 5 years ago, just after he finished third on the Next Food Network Star TV show. He had most of his stomach and esophagus removed. How ironic for a professional food person and chef to have stomach cancer. What it appears to have done for Hans, as comes through loud and clear in the book, is given him a new perspective on food, and a grace about living. That it’s not about the quantity, it’s about the quality. Of food and life.
This book is beautiful inside and out, the way a person is. Not only is it a gorgeous book to look it, with incredible photos (taken by Hans and his wife Amy) of beautiful vegetables, cheeses, strudels and other recipes, enhanced by thick white glossy paper. It’s what Hans says that makes it a beautiful book as well. He has a charming conversational writing style, like he is sitting right there talking to you. His appreciation for living a quality life – and quality food – is expressed in beautiful thoughts throughout the book.
The focus of Hans’ book, which he introduces immediately, is that “You can’t make chicken soup out of chicken poop.” That is, to cook quality foods, you have to start with quality ingredients. And then he goes on in the book to introduce us to many. He talks about the importance of cooking with fresh ingredients, like peanuts, apples, peaches, tomatoes, Vidalia onions, seafood, and where to get them at their best. He talks about the pleasures of growing a garden.
He talks about farmer’s markets, and buying and eating foods produced locally. And about organic and transitional farming. He talks about how this benefits both our local economy and farmers by supporting them, and also gives us better quality, fresher foods, which actually have TASTE, because they have not been scientifically enhanced to improve their shelf life and transportation.
He talks about children’s palates, and how they prefer fast food because “our taste buds mature as we do, but ONLY if they’re trained,” and how it is up to parents to expose their children to real food.
It is a pleasure to sit and just read this book. You glean so much about food, and those from the South will feel especially at home in it. He introduces a north Georgia onion-garlic thingy that I had never heard of before called a Ramp, but which I am going to go hunting this spring.
OK, and there are actually recipes in the “cookbook” too! I just got the book this week and have not tried any yet, but you bet I will. Blueberry Orange Claufouti (kind of a cake), Vidalia Onion Marmalade, Pork Schnitzel ala Holstein Asperagus, and many more are on my list. Hans’ Dad is German, and the Woodbridge Inn Restaurant serves German food. He talks about the German influence on his cooking and life in the book. And Hans’ philosophy on recipes – don’t use them as is, but take them and make them your own.
This is so true! I have never met a recipe that worked exactly as it was presented. Each one needs to be sinc-ed to your own individual energy. It is nice when a cookbook author lets his ego go and recognizes this.
So…give yourself a gift. Get a copy of “Eat Like There’s No Tomorrow” and savor its goodness for yourself. I know it’s available at Jasper Drugs in Jasper, GA, and not sure from where else. It’s guaranteed to enhance your palate…and your life.
