Review: An Onion in My Pocket: My Life with Vegetables

An Onion in My Pocket: My Life with Vegetables by Deborah Madison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of the first cookbooks I was given when I got married in 2000 was Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. My family was worried that I was marrying a vegetarian and wanted me to be prepared.

Deborah Madison has long been connected to vegetarian cooking although she isn't a vegetarian exactly, she has just found herself in spaces that have a lot of produce to offer and where people don't eat a lot of meat. Her spiritual practice at the SF Zen Center included a long stint running the kitchen which would eventually lead her to open Greens in cooperation with the center, and somehow in between there she also worked at Chez Panisse, a job she just kind of fell into.

All along the way, she's been writing cookbooks that captured several decades of vegetarian cooking in America, from the hippie dippie years of brown breads and lots of cheese to where we are now with our coconut everything and broader access to ingredients.

The memoir chronicles her journey with food, ingredients, cooking, restaurants, cookbooks - and also a deeper exploration of what is enough, what nourishes, and the importance of community.

View all my reviews

Review: Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land

Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land by Noé Álvarez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Noé Álvarez, a Mexican-American with Purépecha ancestry, participated in a 6,000-mile ultramarathon relay through North America in 2004 that sought to bring awareness and healing to indigenous peoples from Canada to Guatemala. The author also surrounds the run with more about his life - from his childhood in Yakima, Washington with parents who worked in backbreaking agricultural jobs, to flailing as a first-generation college student, to the places he created for himself after this journey. He follows up in the end with many of the other runners, and it seems to have been a transformative experience for all of them (or, these are people who are most likely to seek out such an experience.)

I liked experiencing the individual stories of the runners, the challenges of trying to pull it off for this higher purpose when individuals are not so high-minded, and various indigenous places and traditions they got to interact with along the way. (Did I watch all the videos on the internet about Purépecha language and history, mostly in Spanish? I did! They were never conquered by the Aztecs and from my limited understanding are the ancestors of the people who would attempt to reclaim land in the Zapatista movement.)

It was interesting to see North America through an indigenous, feet on the ground (literally) perspective. That lens connects to the natural world and the rich history more easily, but doesn't shy away from the tensions of borders, military movements, police presence, poverty, and control.

Side note, or personal note - the community in which I grew up in rural Oregon was heavily populated by seasonal workers, and I had several classmates who were only in school half the year until their parents were able to relocate more permanently. I grew up maybe 5 miles from at least one "migrant housing" situation. I did a project in high school where I interviewed a man who had grown up as a child of a seasonal workers and ended up going to college, etc., and was at that time working for the State of Oregon in the employment office, often assisting people who were new to the area for similar reasons. This is backbreaking work, but I never really saw it from the inside. Like most parents who hope their children will be in a better situation, both my parents didn't want us doing that kind of work. They both had to spend their summers working in agricultural jobs to help their families make ends meet, as soon as they were able, and until they either got better jobs or left home. My Dad picked beans and worked at a maraschino cherry plant. My Mom picked beans, cucumbers, and berries (but quickly found a fast food job instead!) We still picked fruit in the summer and canned/froze it for our own consumption but that is very different from the demands of the industry itself which only thrives if you can push your body to the limit as Álvarez describes his mother doing in this book. It sent me on my own path of reflection.

I believe the publisher sent this to me way back in the beforetimes, the author did a lot of virtual book talks, because it came out in March.

View all my reviews

Reading Envy 090: Readalong of East of Eden

For the past few months, readers have been participating in the first-ever Reading Envy Readalong, of East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Two of those readers, Ellie and Jeff, were brave enough to join Jenny on a rainy evening to discuss the book. This conversation contains spoilers and no summary of East of Eden, so you may want to catch up before you listen.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 090: Readalong of East of Eden.

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner
Or subscribe via iTunes by clicking: Subscribe
Or listen through TuneIn
Or listen on Google Play
Listen via Stitcher

If you are interested in appearing on the podcast: FAQ

Thanks to everyone who read along! Feel free to take the survey about the readalong if you have feedback or want to nominate a book for next time.

Books discussed, other than East of Eden:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
The Loved Ones by Sonya Chung
The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck
The Long Valley by John Steinbeck
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters by John Steinbeck
Genesis 4

Related episodes:

Episode 074 - The Books We Didn't Love in High School with Blaine DeSantis
Episode 077 - No One Messes With a Wolf with Shawn Mooney
Episode 081 - Reading Envy Readalong

Stalk us online:

Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Jenny is @readingenvy on Instagram and Litsy
Ellie is @elliedottie on Litsy
Jeff at Goodreads
Jeff on Twitter
Jeff is @jeffkoeppen on Litsy

Reading Envy 039: Paranoid Squint

Jenny is joined by Fred, who wanted to talk about his greatest writing inspiration - Tim Powers. Jenny squeezes a few books in at the end!

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 039: Paranoid Squint

Subscribe to the podcast via this link: Feedburner

Or subscribe via iTunes by clicking: Subscribe

Books discussed:



The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Into the Valley by Ruth Galm
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Other mentions:

Protecting Project Pulp
Starship Sofa
"The Way Down the Hill" by Tim Powers (may be found in Strange Itineraries in print)
The Devil's Dictum by Frederick Gero Heimbach
Declare by Tim Powers
Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books by Michael Dirda
Classics for Pleasure by Michael Dirda
The Planetary Omnibus

Stalk us online:
Jenny at Goodreads
Jenny on Twitter
Fred on Twitter