• BUTTERMILK GRAFFITI: A Chef's Journey to Discover America's Melting-Pot Cuisine by Edward Lee, 2018.
"I suppose that's what I'm looking for - not a l• BUTTERMILK GRAFFITI: A Chef's Journey to Discover America's Melting-Pot Cuisine by Edward Lee, 2018.
"I suppose that's what I'm looking for - not a legend, not a signpost, just a place where people come to cook." (pg 130)
I wasn't that familiar with Edward Lee as a chef, but I love food-oriented memoirs and travelogues, and this one came recommended by Jenny @readingenvy a few years back. Saw it at the library recently and decided to finally get to it.
"'Soviets were against this tradition," says Remi [Kbilashivili], "Qvevri require more care and don't work for mass-produced wines. We weren't allowed"'Soviets were against this tradition," says Remi [Kbilashivili], "Qvevri require more care and don't work for mass-produced wines. We weren't allowed to but we secretly continued making qvevri. Soviet ideology was against our traditions: we can't abandon our roots, languages, and culture."
• Tasting Georgia: A Food and Wine Journey in the Caucasus by Carla Capalbo, 2017.
Qvevri, referred to in the above quote, are large clay vessels that have been used to make / store wine in Georgia since ancient days. Some qvevri are as big as cars!
Capalbo's TASTING GEORGIA is a beautiful book blending food and drink culture with travel and ethnography. Capalbo travels through each region of Georgia and highlights their specific cultures, cooking with people in their own kitchens, and interviewing wine makers, restauranteurs.
Not surprisingly based on geography, Georgian cuisine looks a lot like Turkish and Persian foods with many of the same ingredients, but slightly different methods or cooking styles.
Learned so much about the landscape, the agriculture, and the people through this one! Highly recommended for the foodie/ethnographers and armchair cultural historians among us....more
An entertaining and educational listening experience, looking at the history of spirits in general, and then the scientific, political and cultural coAn entertaining and educational listening experience, looking at the history of spirits in general, and then the scientific, political and cultural context of this quintessential American liquor. Albala's passion and enthusiasm for his subject and history is palpable. A great listen!...more
Each section of the book gives an overview of that "culinary wonder", including its provenance, cultivation, cultural beliefs and mythology surroundinEach section of the book gives an overview of that "culinary wonder", including its provenance, cultivation, cultural beliefs and mythology surrounding, and how it is used, prepared, and traded.The book includes 63 recipes and amazing illustrations.
Similar to Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire, the book digs into each of these ingredients, and their various interpretations all over the globe.
My favorite sections were for Honey, Salt, and Chile. I learned several tidbits from this one... Great conversation starters for dinnertime! Recommended if you like food history and enjoy cooking!...more
"The cycling story of diaspora, of human movement across great spaces, constant dislocation and relation, is present in mouthfuls of this dish: curry'"The cycling story of diaspora, of human movement across great spaces, constant dislocation and relation, is present in mouthfuls of this dish: curry's reassuring power isn't a resurrection of a stable past, but a reminder that the past, and our former countries, are as fractious and adaptable as the present."
In 144 pages, Ruthnum crafts a strong food memoir, cultural criticism, and literary review. The larger theme of curry relates to his Indian cultural background, but he never lived on the Indian subcontinent, instead born in Mauritius, a small Indian Ocean island, and then moving to Canada later in his youth. Ruthnum traces this diasporic link to curry, the quintessential Indian food, and then moves into a critical look at other writers and public figures of South Asian descent. The majority of the book is reserved for an analysis of "currybooks" as he terms them:
"This thread of diasporic literature become a subgenre unto itself, and it's now a sure thing that you'll find a disconnected-family/roots-discovery page-turner with exotic red silks, black braided hair, and perhaps a mango on the cover along the stacked books at Costco..."
He delves into specific books - nearly 20 or 30 titles all gathered in a Works Cited addendeum at the end. Some I was familiar with (Jhumpa Lahiri, Monica Ali, and many others), others were new, but I recognize the genre and what Ruthnum calls the nostaligic look at the home country. He brings in some other cultural highlights too - television and films to continue the point.
After reading this treatise on South Asian diaspora, Ruthnum shares in the Coda about his decision to use a pseudonym, Nathan Ripley, to write thriller titles. It was an intriguing addition to this book about identity to include this at the end. I like when writers showcase their wide range in this way, and I enjoyed exploring more through Ruthnum's essays....more
A spectacular essay anthology highlighting food and cooking culture as the common threads that draw humans together. Essays range from differences in A spectacular essay anthology highlighting food and cooking culture as the common threads that draw humans together. Essays range from differences in table etiquette, ubiquity of certain condiments and flatbreads, how fires burn and are used in different kinds of cooking, the misnomer of "ethnic" foods, and many other topics.
These topics lend themself easily to a larger discussion on trade, immigration, and communication. "Does eating other people's food make us more open to engaging with them?" essayist Krishnendu Ray asks in his essay Cultural Difference Makes a Difference.
This book was compiled by Chris Ying, a Danish organizer for the nonprofit MAD, that focuses on food and cooking as cultural exchange. While based in Copenhagen, Denmark, the book is a global book with thoughtful essays and beautiful photography. ...more
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