Cooking: The Quintessential Art (California Studies in Food and Culture, 23) by Hervé This


Cooking: The Quintessential Art (California Studies in Food and Culture, 23)
Title : Cooking: The Quintessential Art (California Studies in Food and Culture, 23)
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0520252950
ISBN-10 : 9780520252950
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 366
Publication : First published January 1, 2006

From its intriguing opening question—"How can we reasonably judge a meal?"—to its rewarding conclusion, this beautiful book picks up where Brillat-Savarin left off almost two centuries ago. Hervé This, a cofounder (with the late physicist Nicholas Kurti) of the new approach to studying the scientific basis of cooking known as molecular gastronomy, investigates the question of culinary beauty in a series of playful, lively, and erudite dialogues. Considering the place of cuisine in Western culture, This explores an astonishing variety of topics and elaborates a revolutionary method for judging the art of cooking. Many of the ideas he introduces in this culinary romance are illustrated by dishes created by Pierre Gagnaire, whose engaging commentaries provide rare insights into the creative inspiration of one of the world's foremost chefs. The result is an enthralling, sophisticated, freewheeling dinner party of a book that also makes a powerful case for openness and change in the way we think about food.

Cooking: The Quintessential Art (California Studies in Food and Culture, 23) Reviews

  • Xenia Germeni

    Πίστεύω ότι δεν έχω διαβάσει κάτι πιο έξυπνο και ευφυές από τότε που ήμουν φοιτήτρια και φανατική του βιβλίου 'Ιστορία των Αισθητικών Θεωριών' του Monroe Beardsley. Η μαγειρική τέχνη μέσα από το πρίσμα των αισθητικών θεωριών των φιλοσοφικών ρευμάτων από την αρχαιότητα έως σήμερα, αλλά με πολύ αγάπη, τέχνη και τεχνική. Ευρηματικοί οι Τις και Γκανιαιρ παίζουν με τα χρώματα, τη γεύση, τις μυρωδιές, τα σχήματα και όλα όσα συνθέτουν τον μαγειρικό κόσμο. Απαραίτητο εγχειρίδιο για φοιτητές φιλοσοφίας, ιστορικούς, κοινωνικούς επιστήμονες, διαιτολόγους και κριτικούς μαγειρικής και μπλογκερς. Εαν δε σου αρεσει η μαγειρική, η φιλοσοφια και οι αισθητικες θεωριες μην το διαβασεις!

  • Avis Black

    Trying to philosophize about cooking is ridiculous. Only the French would do something this dumb.

    Here's a sample:

    DENIS Which just goes to show that small mouthfuls are better than big ones, by the way. The passage from Plotinus was indigestible, but cut up into small pieces it’s fine.

    CÉCILE When we eat we cut up our food for the same reason, so that we won’t choke. These individual sentences are like appetizers in a way, dainty morsels. Even so, they’re not as simple as you seem to suppose. This concept of emanation, for example—when you stop and think about it, it’s hard to work out what it means.

    HÉLÈNE Remember, Plotinus says a material object is beautiful “insofar as it participates in the thought that flows from the divine.”

    Oh, brother. The book contains 300-odd pages of this pseudo-intellectual fatuity.

  • Callie

    I wrote a review of this book. It's supremely tasty. It is not a cookbook, though. It's in a genre all its own.

  • Dan

    One of the most fascinating books I've ever read on the philosophy of cooking, bringing art, music and theory all together.