FOOD FIGHT
VICTORINO MATUS's exploration of the cult of celebrity chefs ("Bam!" August 20 / August 27) deftly describes the decline in the number of cookbooks being published, which has been brought on by the availability of recipes for free on the web. It is even more disheartening that the gastro-celebs who actually get published now are receiving outrageous sums for books that they sometimes have nearly nothing to do with. On one hand (as a trained chef as well as food editor), I applaud Rachael Ray for getting her viewers back into the kitchen and interested in food again; using frozen onions is better than running out to the local fast food establishment. At the same time, I agree with chef Anthony Bourdain's quest for real food that hearkens back to the days of Child and Pépin, but the majority of the Food Network viewership just isn't going to "get" that.
When Johnny Carson went off the air, he was replaced by the Food Network; Rachael and Emeril and Giada are there neither to impart culinary wisdom nor their Nonna's recipes--they are there for strict entertainment value.
This is yet another nail in the coffin of the "family around the hearth" ideal; when that tradition is bolstered, however, a return to serious cookbook publishing and serious home cooking will happen as well. Until then, there's always the used bookstore.
ELISSA ALTMAN
Newtown, Conn.
POTTER THE PIOUS
LISA SCHIFFREN's review of the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter books ("Magic Alert," August 13) made me wonder why some conservative Christians have consistently denounced the fantasy world J.K. Rowling created as Satanic and occult. If the series is a "traditional struggle between good and evil, freedom and slavery, love and death" as Schiffren describes it, it is puzzling why some Christians have condemned the books over the past decade. Shouldn't they instead embrace these "pro-life, pro-family, anti-cult-of-death" books?
C.S. Lewis, with his beloved Narnia chronicles, and J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, both created fantasy worlds imbued with magic, wizards, and similar elements employed by Rowling. Lewis's and Tolkien's books are revered by many Christians as Christian allegories, while Rowling's have earned vituperative denunciations from many of the same people.
This is odd, since it appears that the Potter series celebrates both the caring and vigorous virtues of which Gertrude Himmelfarb has written. Friendship, compassion, and love are demonstrated along with courage, bravery, and honor. Certainly any children, Christians included, could read much worse than books that deal with themes such as these.
JASON SCHLABACH
Grand Rapids, Mich.
DEPT. OF INJUSTICE
EDWARD BLUM's "The Justice Dept. Run Amok" (August 6) reveals that the citizens of Port Chester, N.Y., are being abused by the Justice Department, which is effectively forcing the city to gerrymander one or more of its voting districts to assure the election of a Hispanic selectman.
Compounding the injustice to Port Chesterites is the government's selective enforcement of the law, which has led the DOJ to demand elections favoring the same, mostly Hispanic, illegal immigrants whom the government has failed to expel from this country.
After the government gets around to enforcing immigration laws, perhaps then it can reassess whether or not the legal Hispanic population of Port Chester has been disenfranchised. Until then, Americans from coast to coast should demand that the government simply do its job and cease trying to pick the victors of every local election.
VANCE P. FRICKEY
Denver, Colo.