Critical Compendium

A Short History of the American Stomach, by Frederick Kaufman

“Don’t be surprised if you’re feeling queasy after reading Frederick Kaufman’s brief but comprehensive examination of our collective guts. The glut of information within—and what it all means to (and for) America—is enough to make even the strongest stomach turn.As a country, we are preoccupied with food. Hundreds of diet books line shelves, while the Food Network is available in 90 million homes (and has spawned a troupe of celebrity chefs).” Read the review at Time Out New York.

Filed under: Food, Nonfiction | Posted 01.31.08 | Comments: None

Tastes Like Cuba: An Exile’s Hunger for Home, by Eduardo Machado and Michael Domitrovich

“In his eccentric and often affecting memoir “Tastes Like Cuba,” Machado, a noted Cuban-American playwright, tells the story of his rootless, self-invented life, using food as his connecting thread. After his grandfather boasts that his arroz con pollo “will taste just like Cuba,” Machado thinks: “How do you make a meal taste like a place? I should have asked him directly. Instead, I spent the rest of my life looking for the answer.” “Tastes Like Cuba” deals with Machado’s struggle to come to terms with the painful and confusing contradictions of exile. It also has a lot of great Cuban recipes. (The garlic chicken with sour oranges is killer.)” Read the review at the New York Times.

Filed under: Food, Memoir, Nonfiction | Posted 01.16.08 | Comments: None

My Life in France, by Julia Child, with Alex Prud’homme

‘Without her we wouldn’t have Rachel Ray, Nigella Lawson, or the Jamie Oliver. We wouldn’t have the French cooking bible, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Without her, Bon Appetite would not be in the pop culture lexicon. My Life in France tells the story of how the inspiration epicure, Julia Child, was born.’ Read the review at Small Spiral Notebook.

Filed under: Food, Memoir, Nonfiction | Posted 01.11.08 | Comments: None

Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking, by Kate Colquhoun

‘(Since Kate) Colquhoun is a writer of lively detail rather than argument - you might say her book is too busy stuffing its face, one course after another, to pause for conversation - the question of why Britain developed such a poor cuisine is never fully addressed.’ Read the review at the International Herald Tribune.

Filed under: Food, Nonfiction | Posted 12.14.07 | Comments: None

The River Cottage Meat Book, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

‘Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (is) a British food celebrity. He is forty-two, principally a journalist and television host by trade, who wears inexpensive horn-rimmed glasses so familiar to his British audience that they are now a piece of instant anti-branding branding. The look, like his dress (muddy Wellington boots, soiled linen jacket, the mess of the occasional apron) and his long, sometimes washed, hippyish brown hair (often pictured dangling in his face and over the dishes he is preparing), conveys a no-nonsense disregard for appearances and petty courtesies and an earnest commitment to a higher truth.’ Read the review at the New Yorker.

Filed under: Food, Memoir, Nonfiction | Posted 11.29.07 | Comments: None

Questions of Taste: The Philosophy of Wine, edited by Barry C. Smith

‘The authors collected in “Questions of Taste: The Philosophy of Wine,” all like (David) Hume great champions of self-improvement, address themselves to questions of subjectivity and taste, quantifiability and pleasure, perception and its objects, the role of knowledge and judgement in perceptual discernment, and the possibility of expertise in the arena of fine wine. They are mainly philosophers, but also winemakers and critics, linguists and biochemists.’ Read the review at the Times Literary Supplement.

Filed under: Anthology, Food, Nonfiction, Philosophy | Posted 11.29.07 | Comments: None

I Like Food, Food Tastes Good by Kara Zuaro

‘I Like Food, Food Tastes Good,’ (is) a compendium of recipes submitted by the likes of Mick Cooke from Belle and Sebastian, Sam Fogarino of Interpol, and RJ “RJD2″ Krohn. The book takes its title from a Descendents song, and it approaches its topic matter with a similarly unpretentious aura of nonchalant cool.’ Read the review at Flak Magazine.

Filed under: Food, Nonfiction | Posted 11.06.07 | Comments: None