6 books that Canada Reads panellist Roger Mooking loved reading
The chef and TV host is championing Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi on Canada Reads
Roger Mooking is a chef, television host and recording artist. He has hosted Man Fire Food on the Food Network Canada and Cooking Channel, Greatest of America on Travel Channel and Everyday Exotic on Cooking Channel and co-hosted Heat Seekers on Food Network alongside chef Aarón Sanchez.
Mooking is championing Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi on Canada Reads 2021.
Canada Reads will take place March 8-11. The debates will be hosted by Ali Hassan and will be broadcast on CBC Radio One, CBC TV, CBC Gem and on CBC Books.
Mooking is an avid reader and told CBC Books that he uses reading and books to get his regular information fix. "I take everything with a grain of salt and there's nuggets to be held in anything. So books are just information I use to load the brain with ammunition."
Here are the books Mooking has loved reading over the years.
Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
"This book is about a controversial social and literary experiment, one where this white guy in 1959 deduces that the only way he can sympathize with the Black cause is to turn himself Black. Through a medical intervention, he took pills and actually stained his body with black stain — to the point where he was indistinguishable to even himself in the mirror and to everybody he encountered.
It's a very interesting and well-documented book. It's in the U.S. Library of Congress as a testament to race and racism.
"He then manoeuvred through the American South, in the Mississippi and New Orleans, as a Black person.
"It's a very interesting and well-documented book. It's in the U.S. Library of Congress as a testament to race and racism."
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
"It's a story of a seeker, seeking a guru. When he encounters the guru, he realizes that the guru is something that he totally did not expect. But he is nonetheless inspired by this guru. The guru teaches the seeker about 'leavers' and 'takers.' You can subdivide the planet into these two types.
It's a story of a seeker, seeking a guru.
"It's an explanation of how we got here, where we are now. Some of the things in that book are still very relevant and very poignant to today."
The Parable of The Sower by Octavia Butler
"Butler is a Black woman who wrote this post-apocalyptic book. She is a very forward-thinking person. She's smart and maybe even clairvoyant. Interestingly enough, the book, although written back in 1993, is set in the early 2020s. She predicted that we would be facing climate change, economic and social crisis and the characters in the book are facing these issues.
It's a very interesting book and Butler was a genius.
"It is a truly post-apocalyptic story in that there's war in the streets. There's no water. People are killing each other for resources. They're walking on the highway trying to find their way to Canada, and they believe north is where there might be freedom or safety or open land.
"It's a very interesting book and Butler was a genius."
Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley
"Malcolm X was a very polarizing figure in American civil rights movement. What I like about this book is it follows him from his early life to his adult life. This includes his joining and then leaving the Nation of Islam.
Malcolm X was a very polarizing figure in American civil rights movement.
"What I love about this book is it shows that life is dynamic. You have to adapt and it's about survival. He shows a stubborn will and an intellect, but he has a willingness to change. He was a smart, funny and clever human being as well."
"But this is the pillar of storytelling about the life of Malcolm X, as written by Alex Haley, the author of Roots."
The Taoist Classics by Thomas Cleary
"This is a comprehensive translation of Taoist philosophy. It includes a whole bunch of Taoist texts. Cleary, who is a scholar and academic, tries to decipher the deceptively simple but cryptic writings of Taoist philosophy.
If you are not familiar with Taoist text, they're written very simply, but they're heavily coded
"When I read this book, I just open a page and see what's before me. If you are not familiar with Taoist text, they're written very simply, but they're heavily coded.
"Academics and scholars for centuries have been trying to decode the actual meanings as people just can't do it. It's too much power."
The Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran
"This book includes the writings of Khalil Gibran, the Lebanese American author. I recently discovered Gibran was also a prolific painter. He really is humanitarian at heart. The spirit of his humanitarianism is in all of his texts.
"He's most famously known for a book called The Prophet. Gibran has written a lot of incredible stuff over the years. This book compiles a bunch of his lesser known works into one body of work.
This man was born to write and pour out his soul.
"This is another book where I just open the page and read what's written — and there's always something incredible.
"This man was born to write and pour out his soul. You really sense that in every word, phrase and story."
Roger Mooking's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
The Canada Reads 2021 contenders
- Rosey Edeh champions The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk
- Scott Helman champions Two Trees Make a Forest by Jessica J. Lee
- Devery Jacobs champions Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead
- Paul Sun-Hyung Lee champions Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
- Roger Mooking champions Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi
