Epicure and gourmand Brillat-Savarin was one of the most influential food writers of all time. His 1825 book The Physiology of Taste defined our notions of French gastronomy, and his insistence that food be a civilizing pleasure for all has inspired the slow food movement and guided chefs worldwide. From discourses on the erotic properties of truffles and the origins of chocolate, to a defence of gourmandism and why 'a dessert without cheese is like a pretty woman with only one eye', the delightful writings in this selection are a hymn to the art of eating well.
"M. F. K. Fisher, Julia Child, and Alice Waters celebrates the accomplishments and friendships of three women who changed the way Americans think about food and cooking, dining and pleasure." "In a series of three overlapping biographical portraits, Reardon reveals the private lives behind their public personas. Tracing major developments in their careers and quoting extensively from letters they exchanged, she recounts the times and places at which their lives intersected and shares testimonies of the friendship and respect that grew among them."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This beautifully illustrated collection of food writing includes delectable scenes of cooking and feasting from novels and stories, poems that use food to tempt and seduce, and fine writing by and about great cooks. Napoleon famously declared that an army marched on its stomach; less familiar is the idea that great authors were as eager to feed their stomachs as their imaginations. Far-ranging in both time and place, this exploration of literary eating and great writing about food will amuse, surprise, and make the mouth water. The anthology begins with examples of hospitality, ranging from Chaucer's convivial Franklin to Walter Scott's bountiful breakfasts and dinner with Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Ramsay. Next comes eating to impress--dazzling banquets from Flaubert to F. Scott Fitzgerald--and some great fictional love feasts (there is no doubt that in literature food and love go together rather better than love and marriage). Many of our most vivid memories of food in literature were laid down in childhood, and nostalgia is to the fore in such classic scenes as Pinocchio aching with hunger, Ratty and Mole picnicking, enchanted Turkish delight in Narnia, and a seaside picnic from Enid Blyton. A section on distant times and places ranges from seethed tortoise in ancient China to seal's liver fried in penguin blubber as a treat for Captain Scott. Those who relish simplicity rather than excess will enjoy Sydney Smith's delicate salad dressing and Hemingway's appreciation of oysters.
The Pleasures of the Imagination examines the birth and development of English "high culture" in the eighteenth century. It charts the growth of a literary and artistic world fostered by publishers, theatrical and musical impresarios, picture dealers and auctioneers, and presented to th public in coffee-houses, concert halls, libraries, theatres and pleasure gardens. In 1660, there were few professional authors, musicians and painters, no public concert series, galleries, newspaper critics or reviews. By the dawn of the nineteenth century they were all aprt of the cultural life of the nation. John Brewer's enthralling book explains how this happened and recreates the world in which the great works of English eighteenth-century art were made. Its purpose is to show how literature, painting, music and the theatre were communicated to a public increasingly avid for them. It explores the alleys and garrets of Grub Street, rummages the shelves of bookshops and libraries, peers through printsellers' shop windows and into artists' studios, and slips behind the scenes at Drury Lane and Covent Garden. It takes us out of Gay and Boswell's London to visit the debating clubs, poetry circles, ballrooms, concert halls, music festivals, theatres and assemblies that made the culture of English provincial towns, and shows us how the national landscape became one of Britain's greatest cultural treasures. It reveals to us a picture of English artistic and literary life in the eighteenth century less familiar, but more suprising, more various and more convincing than any we have seen before.
In this debut memoir, a James Beard Award–winning writer, whose childhood idea of fine dining was Howard Johnson’s, tells how he became one of Paris’s most influential food critics Until Alec Lobrano landed a job in the glamorous Paris office of Women’s Wear Daily, his main experience of French cuisine was the occasional supermarket éclair. An interview with the owner of a renowned cheese shop for his first article nearly proves a disaster because he speaks no French. As he goes on to cover celebrities and couturiers and improves his mastery of the language, he gradually learns what it means to be truly French. He attends a cocktail party with Yves St. Laurent and has dinner with Giorgio Armani. Over a superb lunch, it’s his landlady who ultimately provides him with a lasting touchstone for how to judge food: “you must understand the intentions of the cook.” At the city’s brasseries and bistros, he discovers real French cooking. Through a series of vivid encounters with culinary figures from Paul Bocuse to Julia Child to Ruth Reichl, Lobrano hones his palate and finds his voice. Soon the timid boy from Connecticut is at the epicenter of the Parisian dining revolution and the restaurant critic of one of the largest newspapers in the France. A mouthwatering testament to the healing power of food, My Place at the Table is a moving coming-of-age story of how a gay man emerges from a wounding childhood, discovers himself, and finds love. Published here for the first time is Lobrano’s “little black book,” an insider’s guide to his thirty all-time-favorite Paris restaurants.
Winner of the International Association of Culinary Professionals’ Award for Best Cookbook in the Wine, Beer or Spirits category. Garrett Oliver, award-winning Brewmaster and Vice President of Production of the Brooklyn Brewery, recognized by Gourmet Magazine as a “passionate epicure and talented alchemist”, reveals the full spectrum of flavors contained in the more than 50 distinct styles of beer from around the world. Most importantly, he shows how beer, which is far more versatile than wine, intensifies flavors when it’s appropriately paired with foods to create a dining experience most people have never imagined. Garrett, along with photographer Denton Tillman, traveled throughout Europe visiting fellow brewmasters to trace the beers of the world to their sources. Back in the States, he met with the star chefs he has advised about beer. The resulting book is a motherload of information, lushly illustrated with Tillman’s gorgeous photographs of the world’s best beers and the breweries that produce them. Above all, THE BREWMASTER’S TABLE is a new way of thinking about beer – one that will bring this under-appreciated brew to the status it deserves. Whether it’s a Belgian wheat beer with a simple salad, a Brooklyn Pilsner to wash down spicy tacos, a pale ale alongside a porcini risotto with foie gras, or even a Framboise to accompany a dark chocolate brownie, beer is the perfect complement to any dining experience, at home in front of the TV or in a four-star restaurant. He explains how beer is made, shows you its fascinating history, and then leads you through the amazing range of flavors displayed by the dozens of distinct styles of beer from around the world. Finally, he suggests beer pairings that will please your tastebuds and blow your mind. Whether you’re a beer aficionado, a passionate cook, or just someone who loves a great dinner, this book will indeed be a revelation.
