Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat - Hardcover

Wilson, Bee

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 046502176X ISBN 13: 9780465021765

Publisher: Basic Books, 2012

Synopsis

Since prehistory, humans have braved sharp knives, fire, and grindstones to transform raw ingredients into something delicious,or at least edible. Tools shape what we eat, but they have also transformed how we consume, and how we think about, our food. Technology in the kitchen does not just mean the Pacojets and sous-vide of the modernist kitchen. It can also mean the humbler tools of everyday cooking and eating: a wooden spoon and a skillet, chopsticks and forks. In Consider the Fork , award-winning food writer Bee Wilson provides a wonderful and witty tour of the evolution of cooking around the world, revealing the hidden history of everyday objects we often take for granted. Knives,perhaps our most important gastronomic tool,predate the discovery of fire, whereas the fork endured centuries of ridicule before gaining widespread acceptance pots and pans have been around for millennia, while plates are a relatively recent invention. Many once-new technologies have become essential elements of any well-stocked kitchen,mortars and pestles, serrated knives, stainless steel pots, refrigerators. Others have proved only passing fancies, or were supplanted by better technologies one would be hard pressed now to find a water-powered egg whisk, a magnet-operated spit roaster, a cider owl, or a turnspit dog. Although many tools have disappeared from the modern kitchen, they have left us with traditions, tastes, and even physical characteristics that we would never have possessed otherwise.Blending history, science, and anthropology, Wilson reveals how our culinary tools and tricks came to be, and how their influence has shaped modern food culture. The story of how we have tamed fire and ice and wielded whisks, spoons, and graters, all for the sake of putting food in our mouths, Consider the Fork is truly a book to savour.

About this title

Review:

"Reading [Consider the Fork] is like having a long dinner table discussion with a fascinating friend.... Leisurely but lively...a pure joy to read."--Los Angeles Times

"Delightful.... [An] ebulliently written and unobtrusively learned survey."--Harper's Magazine

"[A] sparkling...fascinating and entertaining book."--The Sunday Times (London)

"One part science, one part history, and a generous dash of fun."--Good Housekeeping

"Wilson's insouciant scholarship and companionable voice convince you she would be great fun to spend time with in the kitchen.... [She is] a congenial kitchen oracle."--New York Times Book Review

"Fluid yet engaging, just like a good conversation over a pan of sizzling vegetables."--New Republic

"The path from Stone Age flints to sous-vide machines whirs so smoothly that I found myself re-reading passages just to trace how the author managed to work in a Victorian copper batterie de cuisine along the way."--Washington Post

"A delightful compendium of the tools, techniques and cultures of cooking and eating. Be it a tong or a chopstick, a runcible spoon or a cleaver, Bee Wilson approaches it with loving curiosity and thoroughness."--Spectator (London)

"Wilson celebrates the unsung implements that have helped shape our diets through the centuries. After devouring this delightful mix of culinary science and history, you'll never take a whisk for granted again."--Parade

Book Description:

award-winning food writer Bee Wilson's secret history of kitchens, showing how new technologies " from the fork to the microwave and beyond " have fundamentally shaped how and what we eat.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 046502176X
• ISBN 13: 9780465021765
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352