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Beef: The Untold Story Of How Milk, Meat, And Muscle Shaped The World (2008)

by Andrew Rimas(Favorite Author)

3.28 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0061353841 (ISBN13: 9780061353840)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

William Morrow

review 1: Take a rambling long ride from the times of our stone-age ancestors who domesticated wild cattle, to the modern Masai tribesmen who struggle to keep their stone-age culture alive. Along the way you can run with the bulls in Spain, make cheese with medieval monks, and import cattle into the New World with conquistadors. Be sure to rest a spell and try a new recipe or two, from the basic Rib Eye Steak to Homeric Roast Beef, Cheddar, Steak Tartar, and of course: Beef Jerky.
review 2: Meh. That's the best I can come up with. Though, to be fair, I don't exactly know what I was expecting. I typically do not like novels written by journalists, and this was no exception. While well written, much of the anecdotes and armchair anthropology seemed to be largely fill... moreer. The whole thing could have been a nice National Geographic piece. And even given the 200+ pages, I feel like the reader only gets hints at very intriguing topics each worthy of its own book. Like being allowed to smell the grilling steak without getting to see or taste it.Not as witty and engaging as Pollan (alas, another journalist turned author), and not as intensely researched as Paul Roberts (The End of Food), "Beef" does manage perhaps to cultivate a sense of appreciation for cattle in the reader. Rimas and Fraser wimp out when it comes to offering novel ideas to address potential problems with the current beef and dairy industries without really citing from the growing body of work that is attempting to do so.I can only assume then that the intended audience are those who know absolutely nothing about cattle and don't care to know much more about them other than their cultural significance (to the West anyway, and to the Masai).My patience was really only tried this once from page 136:"The center of much of the morning's excitement was a towering bull the color of Marquinia marble... 'It's a crossbreed' [Jerry:] said, a hungry glimmer flashing across his eyes... It was truly a glorious cow."Okay guys, I know "cow" has become the colloquial term for "cattle", but when you're writing a book called "Beef" you need to get it right. A bull is not a cow. That's as crazy as... well... tits on a bull. less

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