Food is Culture

Food is Culture
Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Total Pages : 166
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780231137904
ISBN-13 : 0231137907
Rating : 4/5 (04 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Food is Culture by : Massimo Montanari

Download or read book Food is Culture written by Massimo Montanari and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Elegantly written by a distinguished culinary historian, Food Is Culture explores the innovative premise that everything having to do with food--its capture, cultivation, preparation, and consumption--represents a cultural act. Even the "choices" made by primitive hunters and gatherers were determined by a culture of economics (availability) and medicine (digestibility and nutrition) that led to the development of specific social structures and traditions. Massimo Montanari begins with the "invention" of cooking which allowed humans to transform natural, edible objects into cuisine. Cooking led to the creation of the kitchen, the adaptation of raw materials into utensils, and the birth of written and oral guidelines to formalize cooking techniques like roasting, broiling, and frying. The transmission of recipes allowed food to acquire its own language and grow into a complex cultural product shaped by climate, geography, the pursuit of pleasure, and later, the desire for health. In his history, Montanari touches on the spice trade, the first agrarian societies, Renaissance dishes that synthesized different tastes, and the analytical attitude of the Enlightenment, which insisted on the separation of flavors. Brilliantly researched and analyzed, he shows how food, once a practical necessity, evolved into an indicator of social standing and religious and political identity. Whether he is musing on the origins of the fork, the symbolic power of meat, cultural attitudes toward hot and cold foods, the connection between cuisine and class, the symbolic significance of certain foods, or the economical consequences of religious holidays, Montanari's concise yet intellectually rich reflections add another dimension to the history of human civilization. Entertaining and surprising, Food Is Culture is a fascinating look at how food is the ultimate embodiment of our continuing attempts to tame, transform, and reinterpret nature.


Food is Culture Related Books

Food is Culture
Language: en
Pages: 166
Authors: Massimo Montanari
Categories: Cooking
Type: BOOK - Published: 2006 - Publisher: Columbia University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Elegantly written by a distinguished culinary historian, Food Is Culture explores the innovative premise that everything having to do with food--its capture, cu
Anything That Moves
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: Dana Goodyear
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-11-04 - Publisher: National Geographic Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The popular New Yorker writer combines the style of Mary Roach with the on-the-ground food savvy of Anthony Bourdain. Dana Goodyear’s narrative debut is a hig
Food, Culture, Place
Language: en
Pages: 212
Authors: Lori McCarthy
Categories:
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-10-10 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Many homes in Newfoundland still have well-stocked pantries of bottled moose or rabbit, freezers of corned capelin, and eider ducks at the ready, waiting for a
Food Culture in Southeast Asia
Language: en
Pages: 175
Authors: Penny Van Esterik
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-08-30 - Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Southeast Asian cuisines, such as Thai, have become quite popular in the United States even though immigrant numbers are low. The food is appealing because it i
Hot Dog Taste Test
Language: en
Pages: 184
Authors: Lisa Hanawalt
Categories: Comics & Graphic Novels
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-05-04 - Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The new book from the James Beard award-winning cartoonist and designer/producer of Netflix’s Bojack Horseman Lisa Hanawalt's debut graphic novel, My Dirty Du