Bek's Reads | Book Review #2 | INGREDIENT by Ali Bouzari

The tagline of the book is certainly an apt one!
(Photo of actual cover of my copy be me)

Where do I begin? I love everything about this book. I love it so much, I'm quite speechless! It caught my eye on the bookshelf in the bookstore. Opening up the sample, I knew that I would enjoy reading it. Being a bit of a foodie myself, and always inquisitive about how stuff works, I was thrilled to learn about the science behind the food that we eat, the methods of cooking that we use everyday and for special occasions. How I wish textbooks at uni were this fun!

The author is a brilliant food scientist who has a gift for translating technical language into everyday language. Even though I knew the scientific terms of what he was trying to explain, reading about those terms in simple, plain, everyday language was really helpful. It helped to reinforce what I had already learned before.

You don't have to be an expert in food at all to read this book. You just need a curiosity for how it all works. Ali explains how each essential ingredient in our food works, like how food gets its taste, its structure, its aroma, etc. I'd be giving too much away if I say much more!

To reinforce each concept, there are beautifully illustrated examples of the respective concepts, followed by really professionally captured photographs of food to reiterate the concepts. They're so prettttyyyyyy!!!! 😍😍😍 A lot of the examples are used in the home. You can even put some of the things you have learned into practice and experiment with the food you have in your fridge and/or pantry!

This book has certainly added to my knowledge of how food works. I say well done to the team behind Ali who worked really hard on the book. They have done an excellent job on presenting a topic that can be quite complex in a simple manner.

If you have the chance to pick the book up from a physical or online bookstore, I highly recommend it!

Photo Challenge #4 | Yellow

After a long dry spell, I finally got a subject that fits the prompt of the day again. Today's prompt was the colour yellow.

I was fortunate enough to be able to go for one of the exhibits organised for Georgetown Festival (GTF). GTF is an annual affair that celebrates the rich culture and heritage that Penang was in years past, and is today.

Hopefully it remains as an exhibit and doesn't become a reality

Sure, the yellow is not the main star of this photo. But I thought it was really good with my intention of making these things thought provoking. (By the way, I don't go round looking for things that are thought provoking before using it as my subject. My brain just has a way of looking at things from a very different perspective to many others. I thought it would be nice to have something to write about besides just sharing pictures).

This particular photo (if I remember the explanation accurately) is symbolising humans' activity of attaching all sorts of things to trees and using it at our disposal with no thought of consequences. I took it from an angle which captured the shadow of the real, live plants, which symbolised the fact that real trees might just be a distant memory if we don't change our ways.

The exhibit was called "A Real Fake Forest". It highlighted what the future might look like if we (humans) didn't control the way we used our resources. The trees were made of cardboard, the leaves on the floor were dead leaves, shadowing what the future might look like - dead trees, fake trees. There were other things stuck on the other "trees" too. The walls and walkways were covered with plastic and wind was blowing them to create the illusion of being in a forest, if the patron covered their eyes. The irony of using the plastic sheets was to show our usage of plastic that might one day cover the whole planet if we don't reduce our usage of single-use plastics, and we may have to resort to synthetic forests to enjoy what once was.

We, humans, were put on this earth to subdue it - not in the manner of exploiting the resources given to us by God, but by being good stewards and looking after the other parts of God's creation. If it's hard for you to understand that concept, think about this: what if you entrusted your money to the bank to help you safekeep it, invest it, help it grow, but all they did was use up your money and betray your trust? That is sort of how it is with us exploiting natural resources, and not caring for the earth.

As a Christian, I am convicted to care for this earth, as it is part of God's creation, and that is our responsibility as humans. I therefore try my very best to reduce the need to buy things unnecessarily. If you know me well, I am very good at restraining from buying stuff on impulse. It takes me a long time to consider the necessity of it and the impact it will have on the environment before I choose to purchase something. There are many small ways for everyone to help. We need to take baby steps first, before moving on to bigger steps. When we all chip in a little, we all benefit.

The six R's of sustainability: reinvent/rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse/repair, recycle, replace/rebuy.

Which of the six R's do you already practice?