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 All Thumbs Book Reviews
Full Moon Feast: Food & the Hunger for Connection
By Jessica Prentice, Chelsea Green Publishing
Review by Sally Fallon
Part autobiography, part recipe book and part philosophical treatise
on traditional customs and food ways, Full Moon Feast is an
informative adventure through a year of full moons--from the Hunger
Moon in late winter, to the Wolf Moon at the end of the year.
Each moon provides a platform for Prentice to expand on the subject
of food, society and health. In the chapter on the Sap or Sugar Moon,
which occurs when the sap begins to rise in the trees, Prentice discusses
real whole sweeteners from maple, sorghum and palm, versus white sugar,
a sugar that is addictive and leads to a kind of slavery of poor health.
Discussion of sugar leads to a natural segue into the work of Weston
Price.
Many interesting facts emerge throughout the text. For example, as
the outrage over slavery grew among northern settlers in the late eighteenth
and early nineteenth centuries, maple sugar came to be seen as a socially
responsible alternative to the refined cane sugar being imported from
the Caribbean. Prentice quotes from a 1903 farmer's almanac: "Prepare
for making maple sugar, which is more pleasant and patriotic than that
ground by the hand of slavery and boiled down by the heat of misery."
In the chapter on the Milk Moon, we get more on Weston Price via a
discussion of raw versus pasteurized milk, followed by wise musings
on the sacred feminine as embodied in the dairy cow.
The Wort Moon introduces us to wort cunning--knowledge of worts (that
is, herbs) and treats us to delicious lacto-fermented beverages based
on summer herbs like verbena, sassafras, yarrow and rose hips.
In the Corn Moon, Prentice explores the subject of grains and bread
and looks at the harsh legacy of GMO seeds on local communities and
sustainable farms. And in the Blood Moon, she treats us to a profound
discussion on the subject of meat eating and vegetarianism.
Full Moon Feast provides a wonderful way to introduce the concepts
of traditional diets in a non-preachy way, and in a wider context than
simply that of health and fitness. Prentice understands that the way
we eat, the way we farm and treat our animals, the way we cook, serve
as metaphors for our life and culture.
The icing is a collection of wonderful recipes, from maple roasted
nuts to pot roast to after dinner mints.
Full Moon Feast is a classic. Don't miss it!
About the Reviewer
 Sally
Fallon is the author of
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct
Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats (with Mary G. Enig, PhD), a well-researched,
thought-provoking guide to traditional foods with a startling message: Animal
fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors in the diet, necessary
for normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection
from disease and optimum energy levels. She joined forces with Enig again to
write Eat Fat, Lose Fat, and has authored numerous articles on the
subject of diet and health. The President of the Weston A. Price Foundation
and founder of A Campaign for Real Milk,
Sally is also a journalist, chef, nutrition researcher, homemaker, and community
activist. Her four healthy children were raised on whole foods including butter,
cream, eggs and meat.
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