Books about our most loved subject, food...
Jan 11, 2010 4:17:14 GMT
Post by Jazz on Jan 11, 2010 4:17:14 GMT
Is there a thread about food books? I searched the food branches and the library and couldn't find one. I love to cook, eat, and read about food and here are some of the books that I enjoy. Perhaps you have some favorites?
Historical:
The Physiology of Taste, Brillat Savarin, 1785? A fascinating book from the man who is the author of many of our aphorisms about food:
"Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are."
"He who plays host without giving his personal care to the repast is unworthy of having friends to invite to it.
"To invite people to dine with us is to responsible for their well being as long as they are under our care."
"The pleasures of the table are for every man, of every land, and no matter of what place in history or society, they can be a part of all his other pleasures, and they last the longest, to console him when he has outlived the rest."
The Victory Cookbook, wartime edition, 1943. This belonged to my mother, a young war bride. As our economy is now fragile, many contemporary cookbooks are moving back into how it was done in those times of care and need to be conservative.
The Belly of Paris, or, Le Ventre de Paris, Emile Zola, 1873. This is an absorbing novel of des Halles, written at the time when it was alive and flourishing. This market serviced all of Paris and was only recently banished to the suburbs in 1970. Fascinating detail. It is a part of Zola's Rougon-Maquart series of novels.
The Food of France, Waverly Root, 1958. Rich and textured writings of his travels in France.
Remembrance of Things Paris, edited by Ruth Reichl. This is a series of essays from Gourmet magazine over 60 years. I love 'Les Halles, A Last Look", by Naomi Barry, 1968. You feel as though you were there.
Some others:
Two excellent books by Michael Pollan,
The Omnivore's Dilemma He goes to spend a week on three farms in the U.S., a simple small farm, a huge 'mainstream' farm, and an organic farm...organic now in the US is really 'big' organic. Two farms in California supply most of the US and Canada. His goal was to labour at each farm, at all levels ,and finally to produce a meal. Then, give his thoughts.
In Defense of Food Really, a defense of food as it used to be thought of, not the processed garbage. His opening philosophy, "eat food, not too much, mostly plants'.
A biography and autobiograpy of Julia Child,
Appetite for Life, Noel Rily Fitch...a rich and energizing read for me , (I've read it often), especially the chapters on Paris, Provence and Marseillles. She was quite a woman and certainly changed eating in North America forever. It fascinates me that when she went to Paris for the first time that she could barely cook and spoke only a few words of French. Ten years later, her first cookbook, 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. The story of her meticulous and hard work is outlined in fascinating detail in this book.
My Life in France, Julia Child and Alex Prudhomme. (her nephew). Very good.
The Ethnic Paris Cookbook, /Charlotte Puckette and Olivia Kiang-Snajne. Good recipes that I am exploring, a touch oof an introduction to each of the ethnic areas of Paris and, beautifully illustrated.
The Edible City: Toronto from Farm to Fork An excellent series of essays, most intriguing if you live in Toronto.
Historical:
The Physiology of Taste, Brillat Savarin, 1785? A fascinating book from the man who is the author of many of our aphorisms about food:
"Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are."
"He who plays host without giving his personal care to the repast is unworthy of having friends to invite to it.
"To invite people to dine with us is to responsible for their well being as long as they are under our care."
"The pleasures of the table are for every man, of every land, and no matter of what place in history or society, they can be a part of all his other pleasures, and they last the longest, to console him when he has outlived the rest."
The Victory Cookbook, wartime edition, 1943. This belonged to my mother, a young war bride. As our economy is now fragile, many contemporary cookbooks are moving back into how it was done in those times of care and need to be conservative.
The Belly of Paris, or, Le Ventre de Paris, Emile Zola, 1873. This is an absorbing novel of des Halles, written at the time when it was alive and flourishing. This market serviced all of Paris and was only recently banished to the suburbs in 1970. Fascinating detail. It is a part of Zola's Rougon-Maquart series of novels.
The Food of France, Waverly Root, 1958. Rich and textured writings of his travels in France.
Remembrance of Things Paris, edited by Ruth Reichl. This is a series of essays from Gourmet magazine over 60 years. I love 'Les Halles, A Last Look", by Naomi Barry, 1968. You feel as though you were there.
Some others:
Two excellent books by Michael Pollan,
The Omnivore's Dilemma He goes to spend a week on three farms in the U.S., a simple small farm, a huge 'mainstream' farm, and an organic farm...organic now in the US is really 'big' organic. Two farms in California supply most of the US and Canada. His goal was to labour at each farm, at all levels ,and finally to produce a meal. Then, give his thoughts.
In Defense of Food Really, a defense of food as it used to be thought of, not the processed garbage. His opening philosophy, "eat food, not too much, mostly plants'.
A biography and autobiograpy of Julia Child,
Appetite for Life, Noel Rily Fitch...a rich and energizing read for me , (I've read it often), especially the chapters on Paris, Provence and Marseillles. She was quite a woman and certainly changed eating in North America forever. It fascinates me that when she went to Paris for the first time that she could barely cook and spoke only a few words of French. Ten years later, her first cookbook, 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. The story of her meticulous and hard work is outlined in fascinating detail in this book.
My Life in France, Julia Child and Alex Prudhomme. (her nephew). Very good.
The Ethnic Paris Cookbook, /Charlotte Puckette and Olivia Kiang-Snajne. Good recipes that I am exploring, a touch oof an introduction to each of the ethnic areas of Paris and, beautifully illustrated.
The Edible City: Toronto from Farm to Fork An excellent series of essays, most intriguing if you live in Toronto.
