Memoirs of a Breton Peasant: Sifting Through the Nostalgia
It’s not often that the words of poor peasants appear in print. And when they do, it’s a cause for …
Category Archives: Book Reviews
Who was Ginette Mathiot? And Why Should You Care?
Ginette Mathiot wrote books that bring up long-lost taste memories in France, much as Marcel Proust’s oft-quoted prattle about about …
Unquenchable: Natalie MacLean’s Terrific New Book on Wine
If, like me – overwhelmed by the hundreds of possible choices in front of you at the grocery store or …
Chartreuse and the Vallée du Désert: The Elixir of Life
While writing my brief “Gherkins & Tomatoes” blog post, “Cookbooks for a Desert Island, or an Autumn Afternoon,” I thumbed …
Ladies of the Pen and the Cookpot: Patience Gray
HONEY FROM A WEED: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apulia, by Patience Gary (Harper & Row, …
Ladies of the Pen and the Cookpot: Isabella Beeton (Part II)
(Continued from August 23, 2010): Brillat-Savarin’s comments about the English being the worst cooks in the world drew a sniff …
Ladies of the Pen and the Cookpot: Isabella Beeton (Part I)
Today in Britain, “Mrs. Beeton” is a culinary trademark not unlike “Betty Crocker,” whom General Mills created in a Frankensteinian moment to boost sales by appealing to Every Housewife.
The difference between the two ladies is that Mrs. Beeton was a real, breathing, living personage who wrote a monster of a book with a monster of a title: The Book of Household Management Comprising information for the Mistress, Housekeeper, Cook, Kitchen-Maid, Butler, Footman, Coachman, Valet, Upper and Under House-Maids, Lady’s-Maid, Maid-of-all-Work, Laundry-Maid, Nurse and Nurse-Maid, Monthly Wet and Sick Nurses, etc. etc.—also Sanitary, Medical, & Legal Memoranda: with a History of the Origin, Properties, and Uses of all Things Connected with Home Life and Comfort, BOHM for short.
Culinaria Russia: A Picture Cookbook for Grownups
I’ve only known two Russian cooks in my life. First there was Olga, the cook who sustained me during my …
The British Melting Pot
I recently ran across these books, mentioned on an interesting British Web site providing glimpses and glances at cookbooks published …
Food Studies: A How-To Guidebook, a Bit Underdone
Since one of my primary interests is methodology for studying food in history, when I learned that Berg Publishers recently …
