Consider The Fork: How Technology Transforms The Way We Cook And Eat (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
My Shakespeare professor back in college used to say that great works were not about one thing, but about all things. This is one of those great books that tell the story of human existence though the evolution of eating utensils.Food, and the utensils used to create them deeply telling of the culture. For example--spit roasted meat has been a staple for centuries. In the giant English manors, they'd have servant boys turn the spit (the big kitchens were all men in there underwear because it was so hot). Then years later, they created hamster wheel type contraptions so that dogs and geese could turn the spit. Then in what may have been the beginning of Animal Rights movement, they moved from dogs to machines. Except in the United States, because they had slave boys do it.The story of many foods is the story of class and gender struggles. Many foods existed for centuries as the exclusive domain of the wealthy, precisely because there preparation was so complicated. The advent of food processors added a layer of meritocracy to cuisine and foods that previously had been popular because of the their difficulty to create and not for their tastiness became less popular.Another theme in the book is how new ideas are at first universally reviled. Then accepted by a few rebels (who are ridiculed behind their backs), then widely accepted as the truth. When forks first arrived on the scene, they were mocked as *gasp*effeminate. Then the Italians embraced the fork–because I'd imagine its hard to eat pasta with spikes–and before long all of Europe is forking. In spite of the critical reviews here, I decided to give this book a chance. Indeed, if the contents are interesting and sometimes fun, the writing is very ramble-like. At half the introduction, I was thinking of chain stitch (where you go a half-stitch back before taking one forward), and of Die Zeit, the German weekly whose articles are so long the journalists basically spend the second half filling in when the matter has already been very thoroughly covered. Perhaps the lack of titles in the subdivisions also emphasize this impression of _flou artistique_. In parallel I started the latest Hervé This (Mon histoire de cuisine), where I learn that he is in the process of writing a book on a similar topic, namely how cooking and eating co-evolved. I might wait for that one and see how he decides to tackle the question and compare.
What do You think about Consider The Fork: How Technology Transforms The Way We Cook And Eat (2012)?
Not deep, but it's a breezy consideration of how technology affects daily life.
—desidoodles
A fun book to read, read by a good narrator.
—Jacob917
