Culture of the Fork: A Brief History of Everyday Food in Europe
Author: Albert Sonnenfeld
We know where he went, what he wrote, and even what he wore, but what in the world did Christopher Columbus eat? The Renaissance and the age of discovery introduced Europeans to exotic cultures, mores, manners, and ideas. Along with the cross-cultural exchange of Old and New World, East and West, came new foodstuffs, preparations, and flavors. That kitchen revolution led to the development of new utensils and table manners. Some of the impact is still felt -- and tasted -- today.
Giovanni Rebora has crafted an elegant and accessible history filled with fascinating information and illustrations. He discusses the availability of resources, how people kept from starving in the winter, how they farmed, how tastes developed and changed, what the lower classes ate, and what the aristocracy enjoyed.
The book is divided into brief chapters covering the history of bread, soups, stuffed pastas, the use of salt, cheese, meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, the arrival of butter, the quest for sugar, new world foods, setting the table, and beverages, including wine and tea. A special appendix, "A Meal with Columbus," includes a mini-anthology of recipes from the countries where he lived: Italy, Portugal, Spain, and England.
Entertaining and enlightening, Culture of the Fork will interest scholars of history and gastronomy -- and everyone who eats.
Publishers Weekly
In 1492, Columbus knew nothing of ragout. But perhaps he did enjoy the occasional sliced eel or roasted partridge, according to Rebora's investigation of food habits in Europe, from about 1400 to 1700. A professor of economic history at the University of Genoa, Rebora takes a scholarly approach and a learned tone in considering the impact of peasantry, population booms and modes of transport on the evolution of meals, drinks and, of course, spices. His is a quirky effort, though: no particular topic is treated in any great depth, resulting more in a pocket guide through the fourth dimension than a cultural treatise. This will be a disappointment to those who feel they haven't learned enough about the history of olive oil in four pages. Still, for those seeking the perfect dinner party conversation topic, the book is a godsend. Divided into 18 chapters, each on a different food type ("Stuffed Pasta") or trade passage ("The Sugar Route"), it offers countless delicious factual tidbits. The fork first appeared in Europe during the Middle Ages as a "single-pronged wooden utensil" used for eating lasagna, for instance, while 15th-century France had no plates diners used mensa, rounded disks of bread. Sonnenfeld offers a workmanlike translation despite the difficulties of, say, 60 different Italian words for various types of sausage. Etchings and woodcuts of ancient cheese graters and soup spoons, frying pans and coffee pots enliven the text, and a thorough bibliography refers readers to such Italian works as The Pleasures of Gluttony and Primitive Bread. (Nov.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A lively stroll through (mostly southern) European culinary history. Eskimo languages have 50 words for snow, suggesting an important feature of the cultural and physical landscape. In the same spirit, there are "sixty specifically named Italian words for pork or beef sausage," to say nothing of the countless ways of naming noodles. Rebora (Economics/Univ. of Genoa) has a fine time touring through the Italian kitchen, pausing here to offer recipes like the kind Christopher Columbus might have enjoyed as a young man (panned partridge from France, lamprey from Portugal, marzipan from the Baltic), there to ponder the history of the fork (which, he tells us, was invented in Byzantium and introduced in the 14th century in Italy, where some clerics viewed it as a "shocking overrefinement"), and there to tease out the origins of local culinary traditions (French settlers brought couscous to Puglia, where it eventually mutated into orecchiette, the ear-shaped pasta associated with that far-southern Italian region). All this is far from the usual whirlwind tour of food history found in the frontmatter of many cookbooks, for Rebora packs his text with learned asides on the biochemical and cultural bases for lactose intolerance, with the transmission from one region to another of methods for curing and treating meat (which led to all those Italian sausages, to Serrano ham, to Turkish pasterme, to German wьrstel, and on and on), and other arcane data. He argues that the image of the European Middle Ages as a time of endemic hunger is wrong: "I believe," he writes, "that the people mostly had at their disposal adequate food, produce, and goods"-if nothing like the astounding choice that accompaniedthe exploration of the Americas and Asia. Nicely balancing recent encyclopedic treatments such as the Cambridge World History of Food, Rebora's slender volume should be of interest to foodies, cookbook collectors, and historians alike.
Books about: Vertical Reflexology or Mineral Miracle
Love in the Time of Cholesterol: A Memoir with Recipes
Author: Cecily Ross
A food writer's moving portrait of how she and her husband cope in the aftermath of his heart attack and bypass surgery
For the millions of readers coping with a loved one's medical issues, this moving account by food editor Cecily Ross will strike a deep chord. With honesty and humor, she tells the story of her husband's unexpected heart condition, his recovery from bypass surgery, and the dramatic toll it took on their lives.
In 25 chapters with two heart-friendly recipes at the end of each, you'll join Cecily and her husband, Basil, as they swear off doughnuts, learn how to meditate, flirt with vegetarianism, and come to better appreciate the simple pleasure of sharing a meal. This glimpse into the lives of a man who survived a life-threatening illness and the woman who supported him throughout his recovery offers consolation and courage to the many who face this disease every day.
Cecily Ross is a senior editor and writer for Canada's national newspaper, The Globe and Mail. Her work has been featured in the New York Times. She lives in Ontario, Canada.
Publishers Weekly
Ross, food critic at Canada's Globe and Mail, chronicles the prelude to and two years following her husband's heart attack and open heart surgery. She and Basil meet while working at a magazine, fall in love and marry. Yet it's the younger of the two (he's 39 and she's 46) who falls victim to heart disease, though he's in denial about the problem and brushes off his initial heart attack ("The pain was awful, but it's gone now," he tells Ross, and then hops in the shower). Though Basil is "an extremely private person," Ross writes with unabashed detail about her husband's health, dwelling on every hint and clue to his ultimate diagnosis: unstable angina, likely caused by an arterial blockage interfering with blood flow to the heart. As the couple deal with their frustrations with medical personnel and Basil's growing depression and anxiety, Ross remains a staunchly devoted wife. While the book humanizes the clinical aspects of heart disease, Ross's recipes (though enticing enough) lack nutritional stats and are not well connected to the narrative (the segue from surgery to Date and Walnut Loaf is one example). However, families coping with heart disease will no doubt find that the reassuring love tale of Basil and Cecily rings true. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Ross, a senior editor and writer for the Globe and Mail (Toronto), offers a wonderfully written, heartfelt story about life after her husband's heart surgery. This event turned the couple's world upside down: not only did they have to change how they ate, but they also had to learn to deal with daily anxiety and fear. Ross does a great job of describing the denial that people often experience when they suspect a heart attack and how and why they often don't seek medical attention sooner rather than later. Not that the book is all doom and gloom-Ross includes hilarious observations, such as her story about dog park etiquette, and food is a recurring theme. Each chapter concludes with two of her favorite recipes, many of which this reviewer has dog-eared for future reference. Social support systems and books for spouses and caregivers of heart disease patients are generally lacking; this book offers those audiences an inside look at what to expect after such a diagnosis. Highly recommended for all collections.-Howard Fuller, Stanford Health Lib., Palo Alto, CA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
