290564 Wed Oct 16 12:47:58 -0700 2002 17 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1577724 I just finished "Near a Thousand Tables", by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, which is subtitled "A History of Food." It was interesting and anthropological -- and the writer evidently loves food, which makes for good reading. From the invention of cooking, to plant- and animal-breeding, to the great world movement of foodstuffs to their non-native parts of the world, to modern-day issues around genetic modification and the Green Revolution, it makes for a good read. I would appreciate any other recommendations for such historical reading. Three others I would recommend: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser is a terrific, polemical-but-shy-of-dogmatic account of the rise and operations of fast food franchises and my favorite book about food; Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan isn't only about food, but about human interactions with apples, potatoes, marijuana, and tulips and very entertaining; The Vanishing Land by Robert West Howard is an interesting history of the development of the food industry and farming in the U.S. particularly. Wed Oct 16 12:47:58 -0700 2002 0 JackS 1 1577726 Thanks for the tips. You might enjoy "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee. It is really more about the history and science aspects but it is very interesting and a great reference book. Wed Oct 16 13:11:14 -0700 2002 1577724 0 LizR 2 1577750 I think the suggestions offered are great. You might want to include readings from MFK Fisher and Elizabeth David. Also Gourmet Magazine's Endless Feasts, a collection of essays from the past 60 years offers a balance of writings and is good reading. Also from the social cultural viewpoint, The Best Thing I Ever Tasted (Sallie Tisdale)and American Appetite-The Coming of Age a a Cuisine (Leslie Brenner). Mort Rosenblum's Olives and A Goose in Toulouse also provide a history within a contemporary context making learning fun. This should keep you occupied for a while! Wed Oct 16 17:12:10 -0700 2002 1577726 0 ciaogina 1 1577727 I really enjoyed Schlosser and Pollan's books; I haven't read Howard's, but I'll have to look for it. Here are the food books I've enjoyed most over the past few years. Only the first two are historical. The Last Days of Haute Cuisine, by Patric Kuh, a history of haute cuisine in America. Cod, by Mark Kurlansky. Far exceeds expectations. Best Food Writing 2001, an anthology edited by Holly Hughes. Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain. Much better than his follow-up, A Cook's Tour, which is rather hit-and-miss. The Man Who Ate Everything, by Jeffrey Steingarten Wed Oct 16 13:15:38 -0700 2002 1577724 0 david in NOLa 2 1577741 I agree with David's suggestions. I might also add Mark Kurlansky's "Salt", a history of how salt has affected the course of civilization including food. Wed Oct 16 15:26:54 -0700 2002 1577727 0 Seattle Rose 2 1577769 And though not exclusively about food, Kurlansky's "A Basque History of the World" has a tremendous amount of interesting information about food history in the Basque region. Wed Oct 16 19:23:53 -0700 2002 1577727 0 Paulette 1 1577747 There are many great books about food and cooking, but the greatest, as far as I am concerned is Down And Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. Favorite book about eating is hands down, The Tummy Trilogy by Calvin Trillin. jake Wed Oct 16 16:37:43 -0700 2002 1577724 0 jake pine 1 1577763 I second the recommendations for Mark Kurlansky's "Salt: A world history" and "Cod: A biography of the fish that changed the world"; also the writings of Elizabeth David and MFK Fisher. You might also enjoy: Barbara Haber's "From hardtack to homefries" and Mark Pendergrast's "Uncommon grounds: the history of coffee and how it transformed our world" And on a lighter note: Samuel Chamberlain's "Clementine in the Kitchen" and Pascale le Draoulec's "American Pie: Slices of life (and pie) from America's back roads", both of which include recipes. Happy reading! Wed Oct 16 18:29:34 -0700 2002 1577724 0 ju 1 1577770 Anything by John Thorne. His stuff is historical/personal/anecdotal, and a great read. Wed Oct 16 19:41:05 -0700 2002 1577724 0 lissar 1 1577819 In addition to the great suggestions here (esp. Trillin, Thorne, Steingarten), I'd like to add a somewhat denser book I haven't seen much about: A Mediterranean Feast, by Clifford A. Wright. It's HUGE, over 800 pages, and it truly is a history of food, with a good deal of text plus many recipes dating back hundreds of years. It's really a scholarly book, but you don't need any special knowledge to enjoy it. Of course, many of the recipes are unappetizing/unappealing/impractical because of the historical bent, but I think it's absolutely fascinating. And it comes complete with a million footnotes, which I like to look at to find more books! Allie Link: http://www.cnn.com/2000/FOOD/news/05/10/med.feast/ Thu Oct 17 12:31:45 -0700 2002 1577724 0 Allie D'Augustine 2 1577822 Clifford Wright also has a website you can check out. Here's a link . . . Link: http://CliffordAWright.com Thu Oct 17 12:50:55 -0700 2002 1577819 0 Seattle Rose 3 1577826 Wow! This is a great site; it's going on my bookmark list! Thanks -- there's LOADS of info here. Allie Thu Oct 17 13:10:43 -0700 2002 1577822 0 Allie D'Augustine 2 1577894 The website had a sample recipe "Spaghetti alla Bottarga". They didn't tell us just what "Bottarga" is. Not very user-friendly, I'd say. Fri Oct 18 13:05:27 -0700 2002 1577819 0 Sharuf 3 1577895 It's dried fish roe, common in Italian cooking. (I'm not a fan of it myself; it's very strong and salty and fishy tasting and just sort of odd -- and yes, I am an anchovy fan! :) There's a more complete description in the link below -- the first site I found on Google that didn't appear to be written in Italian. --Allie Link: http://www.italgroup.net/foodproducts.htm Fri Oct 18 13:26:41 -0700 2002 1577894 0 Allie D'Augustine 4 1577897 This is also eaten in Spain though not very widely. In Spanish they just call it Hueva which means egg. It is made from either Mullet (Hueva de Mujol), Tuna (Hueva de Atun), or other fish roe. I love it. There is a Tapas bar in Madrid that specialized in it. Their menu is very limitted, but amazing: - Various types of Hueva sliced paper thin - Mojama (Tuna Loin Cured in Sea Salt) also sliced paper thin. An amazing taste which is sort of a cross between Jamon Serrano (Proscuitto)and a kipper. - Salt roasted almonds - Olives - Bread - 10 different kinds of sherry nutty dry, nutty sweet, pale bone dry, and sweet (Amontillado, Manzanilla, Cream) The combination of the salty pungent fish products and the complex wonderful sherrys is amazing. One of the most memorable tapas bars I have ever been to and I've been to a lot. Now if I could just remember the name... Also, for anyone interested in these or other Spanish food see the Tienda web site. I seem to plug them every couple of months. Link: http://www.tienda.com/food/seafood.htm Fri Oct 18 14:00:02 -0700 2002 1577895 0 StriperGuy 4 1577926 The only varieties I found here are the tuna (which has a stronger flavour) ones either dried or in a pate form. The one I recommend is bottarga di muggine in a pate because it has a more delicate flavour. It makes a great pasta sauce, just brown some garlic in olive oil and mix with cooked pasta grating the bottarga and a little lemon peel on top. No cheese and preferably use squid ink linguine Fri Oct 18 20:25:04 -0700 2002 1577895 0 Gotoulfila 3 1577896 I didn't know either, but it was not hard to find the answer. Mullet eggs. Fri Oct 18 13:27:43 -0700 2002 1577894 0 AlanH 1 1577821 You can't be well-read on the subject of food without having read the late M.F.K. Fisher. Her two best books are, IMO, The Art of Eating which is a compilation of several of her books; and the Time - Life series volume on Provincial French cooking. Her special forte was giving you the human context - a LOT of human context for the food whe was writing about. Thu Oct 17 12:46:19 -0700 2002 1577724 0 Sharuf