If you want to know what's in season go to a farmer's market. Last week Russ Parsons of the Los Angeles Times visited the school I teach at to give a lecture, sign books and have lunch with a few staff members.
How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table by Russ Parsons is a highly informative, enjoyable and accessible read. I told Russ that my 8 year old daughter Kamilah took my copy of the book and has made it part of her summer reading. Her reading level in English is at least at High School level and she is fully trilingual. Sorry if I sound like a too proud papa, but Kamilah is a wonderfully interested child and I'm really complementing Russ Parsons' abilities as a writer, if he can capture the imagination of an 8 year old, competing with Harry Potter and High School Musical- he's done a fantastic job as a writer.
I highly recommend the book for teachers and cooking instructors from junior and senior high schools to professional culinary schools. It is the kind of book that is added to library collections. The school I teach at has a copy of it for the library, as well as Russ Parsons' How to Read a French Fry. Books that are on the shelves of cooking school libraries are ordered by the librarian because they have reference value and can be used for educational purposes. The vast majority of cookbooks published these days do not make it on the shelves of professional culinary libraries or bookstores.
Russ Parsons wrote an article about farmer's markets in Los Angeles which can be found in the archives of the LA Times food section. Daily Dish, LA Times food blog Chat online with Russ Parsons on Thursdays.
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