Best of
Food-History

2010

High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America


Jessica B. Harris - 2010
    Harris has spent much of her life researching the food and foodways of the African Diaspora. High on the Hog is the culmination of years of her work, and the result is a most engaging history of African American cuisine. Harris takes the reader on a harrowing journey from Africa across the Atlantic to America, tracking the trials that the people and the food have undergone along the way. From chitlins and ham hocks to fried chicken and vegan soul, Harris celebrates the delicious and restorative foods of the African American experience and details how each came to form such an important part of African American culture, history, and identity. Although the story of African cuisine in America begins with slavery, High on the Hog ultimately chronicles a thrilling history of triumph and survival. The work of a masterful storyteller and an acclaimed scholar, Jessica B. Harris's High on the Hog fills an important gap in our culinary history. Praise for Jessica B. Harris: "Jessica Harris masters the ability to both educate and inspire the reader in a fascinating new way." -Marcus Samuelsson, chef owner of Restaurant Aquavit

Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl


David Wondrich - 2010
     Replete with historical anecdotes, expert observations, notes on technique and ingredients, and of course world-class recipes, Punch will take readers on a celebratory journey into the punch bowl that starts with some very lonely British sailors and swells to include a cast of lords and ladies, admirals, kings, presidents, poets, pirates, novelists, spies, and other colorful characters. It is a tale only David Wondrich can tell-and it is sure to delight, amuse, and inspire the mixologist and party-planner in everyone.

Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France


Joan Nathan - 2010
    Now she gives us the fruits of her quest in this extraordinary book, a treasure trove of delectable kosher recipes and the often moving stories behind them, interlaced with the tumultuous two-thousand-year history of the Jewish presence in France.In her search, Nathan takes us into kitchens in Paris, Alsace, and the Loire Valley; she visits the bustling Belleville market in Little Tunis in Paris; she breaks bread around the observation of the Sabbath and the celebration of special holidays. All across France she finds that Jewish cooking is more alive than ever. Traditional dishes are honored, yet many have acquired a French finesse and reflect regional differences. The influx of Jewish immigrants from North Africa following Algerian independence has brought exciting new flavors and techniques that have infiltrated contemporary French cooking, and the Sephardic influence is more pronounced throughout France today.Now, with Joan Nathan guiding us, carefully translating her discoveries to our own home kitchens, we can enjoy:• appetizers such as the rich subtle delight of a Terrine de Poireaux from Alsace or a brik, that flaky little pastry from North Africa, folded over a filling of tuna and cilantro;• soups such as cold sorrel or Moroccan Provençal Fish Soup with garlicky Rouille; • salads include a Mediterranean Artichoke and Orange Salad with Saffron Mint and a Tunisian Winter Squash Salad with Coriander and Harissa;• a variety of breads, quiches, and kugels—try a Brioche for Rosh Hashanah, a baconless quiche Lorraine, or a Sabbath kugel based on a centuries-old recipe;• main courses of Choucroute de Poisson; a tagine with chicken and quince; Brisket with Ginger, Orange Peel, and Tomato; Southwestern Cassoulet with Duck and Lamb; Tongue with Capers and Cornichons; and Almondeguilles (Algerian meatballs);• an inviting array of grains, pulses, couscous, rice, and unusual vegetable dishes, from an eggplant gratin to a mélange of Chestnuts, Onions, and Prunes;• for a grand finale, there are Parisian flans and tarts, a Frozen Soufflé Rothschild, and a Hanukkah Apple Cake, as well as many other irresistible pastries and cookies.These are but some of the treasures that Joan Nathan gives us in this unique collection of recipes and their stories. In weaving them together, she has created a book that is a testament to the Jewish people, who, despite waves of persecution, are an integral part of France today, contributing to the glory of its cuisine.

Cornbread Nation 5: The Best of Southern Food Writing


Fred W. Sauceman - 2010
    Cornbread Nation 5, lovingly edited by accomplished food writer Fred W. Sauceman, celebrates food and the ways in which it forges unexpected relationships between people and places. In this collection of more than seventy essays and poems, we read about the food that provides nourishment as well as a sense of community and shared history.Essays examine Nashville’s obsession with hot chicken and the South’s passion for congealed foods. There are stories of green tomatoes frying over a campfire in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee and tea cakes baking for Easter in Louisiana. In a chapter on immigrant cooking, writers visit the Mississippi Delta where a Chinese family fries pork rinds in a wok and a Lebanese restaurant serves baklava alongside coconut cream pie. Alan Deutschman, a self-described “Jewish Yankee,” chronicles his search for the perfect country ham. Barbara Kingsolver extols on the joys of eating sustainably. Sara Roahen writes a veritable love letter to the venerable New Orleans Sazerac. Kevin Young delights with his “Ode to Chicken,” and Donna Tartt treats us to what else but bourbon. Cornbread Nation 5 is a feast for the eyes, and if you’re not hungry or thirsty when you pick up this book, you will be when you put it down.Published in association with the Southern Foodways Alliance at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. A Friends Fund Publication.

Ministry Of Food: Thrifty Wartime Ways To Feed Your Family Today


Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall - 2010
    Today, in the face of rising food prices, a real obesity problem and ever increasing food miles, The Ministry of Food shows how we can all survive the credit crunch with a bit of wartime wisdom and ingenuity. Written by bestselling author Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall to accompany a major new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, The Ministry of Food tells the fascinating story of how people coped with wartime food shortages and, in the process, became healthier than ever before. With step-by-step illustrations showing how to grow your own vegetables, tips on collecting food for free, baking, preserving and lots of thrifty family recipes, this practical handbook is packed with invaluable lessons from more frugal times. Includes hands-on practical advice on growing your own veg and 60 delicious recipes updated for the modern kitchen

Cooking in Other Women's Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South,1865-1960


Rebecca Sharpless - 2010
    Cooking was one of the primary jobs they performed, feeding generations of white families and, in the process, profoundly shaping southern foodways and culture. Rebecca Sharpless argues that, in the face of discrimination, long workdays, and low wages, African American cooks worked to assert measures of control over their own lives. As employment opportunities expanded in the twentieth century, most African American women chose to leave cooking for more lucrative and less oppressive manufacturing, clerical, or professional positions. Through letters, autobiography, and oral history, Sharpless evokes African American women's voices from slavery to the open economy, examining their lives at work and at home.

The Scandinavian Kitchen - Over 100 Essential Ingredients with 200 Authentic Receipes


Camilla Plum - 2010
    Camilla Plum, co-owner of an organic farm outside of Copenhagen, shares Scandinavian tastes, broken down by group of ingredient, easy to recreate in your own kitchen. Scandinavian cooking achieves a delicate balance between extravagance and the humble, producing a wealth of seasonal daily food, and more luxurious festive food. The flavors are fresh and intense, but not overwhelming, resulting in food prepared simply, but effectively, to allow every ingredient to shine.

Sensory Evaluation of Food: Principles and Practices


Harry T. Lawless - 2010
    Fifteen years ago the journal Food Quality and Preference was fairly new. Now it holds an eminent position as a venue for research on sensory test methods (among many other topics). Hundreds of articles relevant to sensory testing have appeared in that and in other journals such as the Journal of Sensory Studies. Knowledge of the intricate cellular processes in chemoreception, as well as their genetic basis, has undergone nothing less than a revolution, culminating in the award of the Nobel Prize to Buck and Axel in 2004 for their discovery of the olfactory receptor gene super family. Advances in statistical methodology have accelerated as well. Sensometrics meetings are now vigorous and well-attended annual events. Ideas like Thurstonian modeling were not widely embraced 15 years ago, but now seem to be part of the everyday thought process of many sensory scientists. And yet, some things stay the same. Sensory testing will always involve human participants. Humans are tough measuring instruments to work with. They come with varying degrees of acumen, training, experiences, differing genetic equipment, sensory capabilities, and of course, different preferences. Human foibles and their associated error variance will continue to place a limitation on sensory tests and actionable results. Reducing, controlling, partitioning, and explaining error variance are all at the heart of good test methods and practices.

The Other Dickens: A Life of Catherine Hogarth


Lillian Nayder - 2010
    Together they traveled widely, entertained frequently, and raised ten children. In 1858, the celebrated writer pressured Catherine to leave their home, unjustly alleging that she was mentally disordered--unfit and unloved as wife and mother. Constructing a plotline nearly as powerful as his stories of Scrooge and Little Nell, Dickens created the image of his wife as a depressed and uninteresting figure, using two of her three sisters against her, by measuring her presumed weaknesses against their strengths. This self-serving fiction is still widely accepted.In the first comprehensive biography of Catherine Dickens, Lillian Nayder debunks this tale in retelling it, wresting away from the famous novelist the power to shape his wife's story. Nayder demonstrates that the Dickenses' marriage was long a happy one; more important, she shows that the figure we know only as Mrs. Charles Dickens was also a daughter, sister, and friend, a loving mother and grandmother, a capable household manager, and an intelligent person whose company was valued and sought by a wide circle of women and men.Making use of the Dickenses' banking records and legal papers as well as their correspondence with friends and family members, Nayder challenges the long-standing view of Catherine Dickens and offers unparalleled insights into the relations among the four Hogarth sisters, reclaiming those cherished by the famous novelist as Catherine's own and illuminating her special bond with her youngest sister, Helen, her staunchest ally during the marital breakdown. Drawing on little-known, unpublished material and forcing Catherine's husband from center stage, The Other Dickens revolutionizes our perception of the Dickens family dynamic, illuminates the legal and emotional ambiguities of Catherine's position as a single wife, and deepens our understanding of what it meant to be a woman in the Victorian age.

Eating with Emperors: 150 Years of Dining with Emperors, Kings, Queens . . . and the Occasional Maharajah


Jake Smith - 2010
    With anecdotes and recipes, this record, which is part cookbook and part history book, explores the relationship between food and diplomacy and features royals and heads of state such as Adolf Hitler, Napoléon Bonaparte, President George W. Bush, President John F. Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Diana Princess of Wales, Rainier III of Monaco, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Recipes include Lobster Medallions in White Mushroom Sauce from the royal wedding menu of Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria-Hungary to Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, Quail with Cognac-Flamed Mushrooms from the hunting menu of Emperor Wilhelm II, Whole Stuffed Wild Boar’s Head from the Christmas menu of Queen Victoria of Great Britain, and Meringue Covered Brioche Soaked in Kirsch from the menu of King Albert I of Belgium for his guests the King and Queen of Denmark.

Native American Food Plants: An Ethnobotanical Dictionary


Daniel E. Moerman - 2010
    Like anthropologist Daniel E. Moerman’s previous volume, Native American Medicinal Plants, this extensive compilation draws on the same research as his monumental Native American Ethnobotany, this time culling 32 categories of food uses from an extraordinary range of species. Hundreds of plants, both native and introduced, are described. The usage categories include beverages, breads, fruits, spices, desserts, snacks, dried foods, and condiments, as well as curdling agents, dietary aids,  preservatives, and even foods specifically for emergencies. Each example of tribal use includes a brief description of how the food was prepared. In addition, multiple indexes are arranged by tribe, type of food, and common names to make it easy to pursue specific research. An essential reference for anthropologists, ethnobotanists, and food scientists, this will also make fascinating reading for anyone interested in the history of wild and cultivated local foods and the remarkable practical botanical knowledge of Native American forbears.

Aegean Flavours: A culinary celebration of the Aegean region's local markets and produce


Didem Şenol - 2010
    

Jellies & Their Moulds


Peter Brears - 2010
    He was fed them in childhood, he turned to curating their moulds and associated artefacts while director of York and Leeds museums, he has made them for innumerable historical food shows and events.And jelly is a much bigger thing than some packet from the supermarket mixed with boiling water. In the first place, it was not factory-made gelatine that did the setting, but any number of ingenious adaptations of kitchen materials and ingredients. In the second, it was not just a simple clear, coloured solid, but an optical prism to show off and transform the foods contained within it. It was the cook’s greatest resource for introducing colour, variety and delight into the table display.The book sketches in the history of jellies, particularly in England, and discusses their place within a meal; gives several recipes based on the various setting agents (carrageen, gelatine, isinglass) and also for cereal moulds (flummery, tapioca, semolina, rice, cornflour, etc.); describes how jellies may be assembled by layering, embedding, lining and inclusion of fruit, nuts, gold, etc.; and gives an excellent illustrated account of the various forms of jelly moulds.

Cooking with Jane Austen and Friends


Laura Boyle - 2010
    Elton's Rout Cakes and Mrs. Weston's Wedding Cake, you'll be set for any occasion and ready to rival Mrs. Bennet's "good table" or two or three of Mr. Darcy's French cooks at least.