March 13, 2008
Los Angeles, CA

Pause the travel story for a day and to present time:

I got Jennifer McLagan’s review of Wok the Dog today, its pretty thrilling I must say. Here is her review:

Toronto, March 2008

I was intrigued when Charlie asked me to endorse her photography show “ Wok the Dog”.
Why would a cookbook author have anything to say about a photography exhibition?
However, when I saw Charlie’s work I realized that we were both thinking about the same
issues.In my books, Bones: Recipes, History & Lore, and Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes, I am trying to connect people with real food and its source. With her photographs Charlie too, is showing people where their food comes from.

In her photographs of markets, Charlie reveals that many peoples still have a direct link to
their food. They have instinctive, natural understanding of food and eating that is passed on
from generation to generation, a culture of food. Here in North America, we have so distanced
ourselves from our food we no longer understand that meat comes from living animals. The
consequences of this lack of knowledge are disastrous.

Food has ceased to be a pleasure to be celebrated, shared and enjoyed. We see food as fuel, a
necessity, even a medicine. We break it down into bad and good components and turn to
scientists, celebrities and advertisers to tell us what and how to eat. We outsource the
preparation of our food to large industrial corporations. The result is that we have never been
less healthy and we have lost the visceral appeal of cooking and eating.

Look closely at Charlie’s images; let them inspire you to take back control of what you eat. Go
out and shop in markets, seek out small suppliers and buy real food. Most important of all –
cook your own food!

Only by cooking and sharing meals will we establish a culture of food.

Jennifer McLagan

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Can’t thank you enough Jennifer! I really appreciate it doesn’t even began to express how much your thoughtful words mean to me. 🙂

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