Ocean State Libraries

""This we can be sure of: when a restaurant in the western world is famous for its cooking, it is the tricolor flag that hangs above the stove," opined one French magazine, and this is by no means an isolated example of such crowing. Indeed, both linguistically and conceptually, the restaurant itself is a French creation. Why are the French recognized by themselves and others the world over as the most enlightened of eaters, as the great gourmets?...

"Cooking food is one of the activities that makes humanity unique. It's not just about what tastes good: advances in cooking technology have been a constant part of our progress, from the ability to control fire to the emergence of agriculture to modern science's understanding of what happens at a molecular level when we apply heat to food. Mastering new ways of feeding ourselves has resulted in leaps in longevity and explosions in population--and...

"Edited by influential literary critic Sandra M. Gilbert and award-winning restaurant critic and professor of English Roger Porter, Eating Words gathers food writing of literary distinction and vast historical sweep into one groundbreaking volume. Beginning with the taboos of the Old Testament and the tastes of ancient Rome, and including travel essays, polemics, memoirs, and poems, the book is divided into sections such as "Food Writing Through History,"...

Chronicles the evolution of American food, tracing the numerous culinary movements that have swept the country throughout history, and including interviews with some of America's leading culinary innovators.

Introduces foods that are popular in Mexico, providing historical information, "fast facts," and recipes for a wide variety of dishes.

Kuh tells "the story of the liberation of ethnic cuisine and what happened when haute cuisine came to America and its elitist principles met our populist beliefs."--Jacket.