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veronicafrance 's review for:
Consider the Fork: A History of Invention in the Kitchen
by Bee Wilson
Any keen cook will enjoy this book I think -- I did. Each of the chapters deals with a single large topic -- knives, for example, or fire, and gives us an overview of it through the ages and across the world. Inevitably this means there's little in-depth information or deep analysis, but it can be interesting and thought-provoking. I think my favourite chapter was the one on knives, because I'd never really thought before about the fact that French, and by extension European, cooking prescribes different knives for different tasks -- filleting, boning, paring ... whereas in a Chinese kitchen the cleaver does everything, with incredible precision. And in China and Japan, all the cutting is done in the kitchen -- no knives on the table. Not only that, but most cooking is done in a wok, whereas again the French insisted on a complete batterie de cuisine, with single purpose vessels. From this chapter I also finally discovered a plausible reason for the French stricture against cutting salad leaves with a knife -- before the invention of steel, iron knives stained, and imparted a metallic taste to the salad.
Sometimes the rapid pace leaves you hungry for more and better explanations -- I am still baffled by the claim that in India they made ice by simply putting earthenware vessels of water in trenches and covering them with straw. How does that work?? And occasionally she gets carried away by some unrelated enthusiasm -- why does she suddenly start raving about how marvellous Oxo vegetable peelers are in the middle of the chapter on kitchens, for example? But overall I definitely recommend it as an intriguing read for cooks.
Sometimes the rapid pace leaves you hungry for more and better explanations -- I am still baffled by the claim that in India they made ice by simply putting earthenware vessels of water in trenches and covering them with straw. How does that work?? And occasionally she gets carried away by some unrelated enthusiasm -- why does she suddenly start raving about how marvellous Oxo vegetable peelers are in the middle of the chapter on kitchens, for example? But overall I definitely recommend it as an intriguing read for cooks.