Type of Cookbook

The best way to describe this cookbook is as a specialty cookbook. However, the focus is not on desserts, ethic foods, or other topics. This book focuses on the lifestyle of a “MILF” and how to obtain “MILF-hood”. The MILF Diet by Jessica Porter, could be considered a lifestyle book more than anything as the recipes are almost secondary to Porter’s teachings of this certain way of life. Prior to the recipes, there are almost 100 pages of how to live the MILF style of life. For example, there is a whole section in a chapter dedicated to how to chew food. This part uses chewing a handful of rice to try and teach the reader the proper way on how to chew. Porter suggests that you should not be that hungry before eating as it encourages faster eating. She also states that one should chew about 100 times or until “this mouthful of rice … has been dissolved into a sweet liquid”(Porter 23). This language/ rhetoric is very much like a life coach. The goal of the diet is not only to lose weight but to emphasize femininity and the sexiness that comes with the title of a MILF. 

 

About the author

A MILF is often referenced as a “mother with whom I’d like to fornicate”(Porter 2). The “more” proper definition is “a sexually attractive older female, generally between 30 and 50 in age and not necessarily an actual mother”(Porter 2). The author, Jessica Porter, sees herself as a form of a MILF as she has created this diet that is supposed to lead women into “MILF-dom”. Porter was a private chef specializing in whole foods “and the manager of The Way to Health Program at the Kushi Institute in Becket, Massachusetts”(Simon and Schuster 1). Along with that, she is a certified hypnotherapist, specializing in hypnosis for childbirth(Simon and Schuster 1). She created this diet because she “grew up on TV dinners and Tang crystals”(Porter 12). She started to worry about her weight in her early teen years and she didn’t think her image fit the ones in the media(Porter 13). She created a way of whole foods cooking and eating and after a few years of doing it, she moved to Massachusetts to study whole foods deeper(Porter 16).

(Maragaret Malandruccolo, 2012)

Book Relevancy 

This book was published in 2012. I am not too familiar with the time as it was nearly ten years ago and I was only 11 at the time so I wouldn’t really know worldly events that took place. However, this seems like the time when fad dieting started to pick up traction as media began to have a large influence in people’s lives. Also, around this time there was more traction being gained on women’s empowerment and their voice started to be heard more. This book certainly contributed to both of these. It promotes women independence and femininity. Unlike other diets, I don’t believe this book creates a particular image that would bring women down and feel ashamed that they are not. The goal of this book is to feel good about yourself as a person, not to fit a certain image. The title “MILF” comes from a lifestyle and feeling, not what you look like in the mirror. 

Book audience

Based on the title, this book has a pretty specific audience. It aims for women between the ages of 30 and 50 or so(Porter 2). It is most likely targeting women in the middle to upper class based on the ingredients, resources, and time required for the diet. For example, there are 96 ingredients on the MILF shopping list in the book(Porter 62). There are things that can be found in just any kitchen but there is also a lot that is very uncommon. Also, Porter states that the diet is best when you get organic ingredients, which is another sign of the target audience. This can also relate to culinary capital as this diet aims toward wealthier people. Because this book is more of a lifestyle coach, more time is needed to carry out the tasks in it. The first people that come to mind are women who might not have to work because their partner makes enough money to support the whole family. This would also show  how it is for a wealthier audience.

New Found Balance

Food and Recipe

The recipes in this book are for whole foods eating so the recipes are vegetarian and vegan. Many of the recipes are not very complex but they have strange ingredients from the shopping list which can be hard to find(Porter 62). They are not very difficult but some require equipment that’s not found in an average person’s kitchen like steamer baskets, a mortar and pestle, a sushi roller, and other equipment(Porter 52). However, there is a good amount of instruction to help the reader through cooking such as cutting instructions and how to roll sushi for example(Porter 174). 

Sources

Fruits and Vegetables: Getting to the root of the problem! (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2019, from http://www.newfoundbalance.com/fruits-and-vegetables-getting-to-the-root-of-the-problem/

The MILF Diet. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2019, from https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-MILF-Diet/Jessica-Porter/9781451655711

Porter, J. (n.d.). Welcome. Retrieved from http://hipchicksmacrobiotics.com/author.html

Porter, J. (2013). The MILF diet: Let the power of whole foods transform your body, mind, and spirit– deliciously. New York: Emily Bestler Books/Atria.