Jan. 7th, 2011
I feel like it took me a really long time to read this book. I guess after my book group, reading a non-fiction book in more then a week or two seems like forever. I'm just not quite that motivated on my own.
Savoring the Past was full of interesting information. I love details about what people eat (both in history and in fiction) and this book defiantly had that. There is even a recipe section in the back (which I wish was little bit more integrated with the rest of the text -- maybe just some more notes about the context). The author relies mostly on the written record and so focuses on the foods of the upper-classes as no one wrote about what the peasants where eating.
The author is also a cook and has tried many of the recipes and often talks about what she thinks of the food as a eater. I like this perspective very much, and think that it enlivens the text.
Still it would help the reader to have a basic knowledge of French history and cooking terms, as these are sometimes referenced without explanation.
Savoring the Past was full of interesting information. I love details about what people eat (both in history and in fiction) and this book defiantly had that. There is even a recipe section in the back (which I wish was little bit more integrated with the rest of the text -- maybe just some more notes about the context). The author relies mostly on the written record and so focuses on the foods of the upper-classes as no one wrote about what the peasants where eating.
The author is also a cook and has tried many of the recipes and often talks about what she thinks of the food as a eater. I like this perspective very much, and think that it enlivens the text.
Still it would help the reader to have a basic knowledge of French history and cooking terms, as these are sometimes referenced without explanation.
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