{"product_id":"choice-cuts-isbn-9780142004937","title":"Choice Cuts","description":"\u003cb\u003eMark Kurlansky, bestselling author of Salt and Cod, serves up a smorgasbord of food writing through the ages, from Plato to Louis Prima\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice Cuts\u003c\/i\u003e offers more than two hundred mouth-watering selections, including Brillat-Savarin on chocolate; Waverley Root on truffles; M. F. K. Fish on gingerbread; Pablo Neruda on French fries; Alexandre Dumas on coffee; and a vast variety by Escoffier, Elizabeth David, A. J. Liebling, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Dickens, Balzac, Chekhov, Orwell, and Alice B. Toklas, among others. Filled throughout with recipes, menus, classic photographs, and Kurlansky’s own original drawings, this food anthology is a must-have for any serious lover of food.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe most outrageously broad, gregarious food writing anthology.\u003c\/i\u003e” –\u003cb\u003eSaveur\u003c\/b\u003eChoice CutsAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntroduction: Better Than Sex\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChapter One: Gourmets and Gourmands\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMark Kurlansky on Gourmets (1999)\u003cbr\u003eBen Sira Against Gluttony (second century B.C.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLe Mésnagier de Paris\u003c\/i\u003e on Gluttony (1393)\u003cbr\u003eJean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin on Gourmets (1825)\u003cbr\u003eAlexandre-Balthazar-Laurent Grimod de la Reynière on Gourmets and gluttons (1804)\u003cbr\u003eAuguste Escoffier on the Art of Cooking in Modern Society (1907)\u003cbr\u003eHenri Gault and Christian Millau on Nouvelle Cuisine (1973)\u003cbr\u003eA.J. Liebling on Boxing Away Glottony (1959)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Two: Food and Sex\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohn Ash on M.F.K. Fisher's Warm Sandwich (1999)\u003cbr\u003eM.F.K. FIsher on the Virility of Turkish Desserts (1937)\u003cbr\u003eEmile Roumer on Peasant Love (1930)\u003cbr\u003eBrillat-Savarin on Woman Gourmets (1825)\u003cbr\u003eGrimod de la Reyniè on Why Blondes Go Better Than Brunettes with Food\u003cbr\u003eM.F.K. Fisher on Bachelor Cooking\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Three: Memorable Meals\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEating at Cab Calloway's (1948)\u003cbr\u003eMartial's Dinner Invitation (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eHerodotus on Egyptian Dining (fifth century B.C)\u003cbr\u003ePlutarch on Lucullus Dining with Himself (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eFrances Calderón de la Barca on Mexican Food (1842)\u003cbr\u003eLady Nugent on Overeating in Colonial Jamaica (1802)\u003cbr\u003eGiuseppe Tomasi di lampedusa on Sicilian Dining (1958)\u003cbr\u003eChiquart on Preparing a Royal Feast (1420)\u003cbr\u003eErnest Hemingway on How He Likes to Eat (1951)\u003cbr\u003eSarah Josepha Hale on Thanksgiving Dinner (1841)\u003cbr\u003eNelson Algren on the Land of the Mighty Breakfast (1940)\u003cbr\u003eW.H. Auden and Louis MacNeice on Icelandic Food (1936)\u003cbr\u003eHooker on Icelandic Food (1809)\u003cbr\u003eMartial on Applause for Pomponius (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eCharles Dickens Dines at Delmonico's New York (1867)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Four: Favorite Restaurants\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIrving Berlin on Lunching at the Automat (1932)\u003cbr\u003eGeorge G. Foster on New York Oyster Cellars (1850)\u003cbr\u003eJoseph Wechsberg on Tafelspitz at Meissl and Schadn in Vienna (1948)\u003cbr\u003eA.J. Liebling on Restaurant Maillabuau in Paris (1959)\u003cbr\u003eM.F.K. Fisher on Monsieur Paul's (1943)\u003cbr\u003eJames Beard on Meier and Frank's in Portland (1964)\u003cbr\u003eLawrence Ferlinghetti's Café (1972)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Five: Markets\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eÉmile Zola on the Triperie at Les Halles (1873)\u003cbr\u003eEdna Ferber on a Chicago Market Window (1912)\u003cbr\u003eClaude McKay on a Fruit Stand in Harlem (1930)\u003cbr\u003eSamuel Chamberlain on the Fish Market in Marblehead, Mass. (1943)\u003cbr\u003eWole Soyinka on an Evening Market in Nigeria (1981)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Six: Not Eating\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSholum Aleichem on Yom Kippur (1902)\u003cbr\u003eJohn Steinbeck on Starvation in California's Harvest (1938)\u003cbr\u003eMencius on Feeding China (third century B.C.)\u003cbr\u003eBrillat-Savarin's Advice to Women Who Are Thin (1825)\u003cbr\u003eMartial on Not Being Fed (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Seven: Rants\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePellegrino Artusi Against Frying Salt Cod (1891)\u003cbr\u003eElizabeth David Against the Garlic Press (1986)\u003cbr\u003eAlexis Soyer in Defense of the Frying Pan (1860)\u003cbr\u003eGrimod de la Reynière Against Peacocks (1804)\u003cbr\u003eLudwig Bemelmans Against Paris Waiters (1964)\u003cbr\u003eGeorge Orwell on Paris Cooks and Waiters (1933)\u003cbr\u003eA.J. Liebling Against Food That Does Not Know Its Own Mind (1959)\u003cbr\u003eKarl Friedrich von Rumohr on Emotions to Be Avoided While Eating (1822)\u003cbr\u003eArtial Against Poetry at the Table (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Eight: On Bread Alone\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGalen on Refined Bread (A.D. 180)\u003cbr\u003ePlatina on Bread (1465)\u003cbr\u003eMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings on Hot Biscuits and Dutch Oven Rolls (1942)\u003cbr\u003eClementine Paddleford on the Best Buns of 1949\u003cbr\u003eElizabeth David on Toast (1977)\u003cbr\u003eMimi Sheraton on Bialys (2000)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Nine: They Mystery of Eggs\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Baghdad Recipe for Onions and Eggs (1373)\u003cbr\u003eHanna Glasse on Making Eggs (1747)\u003cbr\u003eLydia Maria Child on Poached Eggs (1829)\u003cbr\u003ePellegrino Artusi on Drinking Eggs (1891)\u003cbr\u003eJames Beard on Scrambled Eggs (1974)\u003cbr\u003eAngelo Pellegrini on Chicken Intestine Omelettes (1948)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Ten: Eating your Vegetables\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCato on Preserving Green Olives (second century A.D)\u003cbr\u003ePliny the Elder on Onions (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eM.F.K. Fisher on the Dislike of Cabbage (1937)\u003cbr\u003eCato on Cabbage Eaters (second century B.C.)\u003cbr\u003eElena Molokhovets on Borscht (1897)\u003cbr\u003eJames Beard on Radishes (1974)\u003cbr\u003eKarl Frierich von Rumohr on Cucumbers (1822)\u003cbr\u003eJane Grigson on Laver (1978)\u003cbr\u003eGiacomo Castelvetro on Spinach (1614)\u003cbr\u003eKarl Friedrich von Rumohr on Spinach (1822)\u003cbr\u003eMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings on Okra (1942)\u003cbr\u003eAnnabella P. Hill's Gumbo (1872)\u003cbr\u003eGiacomo Castelvetro on Artichokes (1614)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Eleven: A Hill of Beans\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGalen on Beans and Peas (A.D. 180)\u003cbr\u003eWaverly Root on Cassoulet (1958)\u003cbr\u003eJose Maria Busca Isusi on the Smoothness of Tolosa Beans (1972)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Twelve: The Fish That Didn't Get Away\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlice B. Toklas Murders a Carp (1954)\u003cbr\u003eTaillevent's Oyster Stew (1390)\u003cbr\u003eRobert May on Oyster Stew (1685)\u003cbr\u003eAnton Chekhov on Oysters (1884)\u003cbr\u003eEleanor Clark on Belons (1959)\u003cbr\u003eArchestratus on Small Fry Filefish, and Sowfish (330 B.C.)\u003cbr\u003eJose Maria Busca Isusi on Cod and on the Basque Problem (1983)\u003cbr\u003eTabitha Tickletooth on the Dread Fried Sole (1860)\u003cbr\u003eAlexandre Dumas Père on Crabs (1873)\u003cbr\u003ePeter Lund Simmonds on Land Crabs (1859)\u003cbr\u003eCaroline Sullivan's Jamican Land Crabs (1893)\u003cbr\u003eJose Maria Busca Isusi on Eels (1983)\u003cbr\u003eErnest Hemingway on Fish in the Seine (1964)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Thirteen: Poultry, Fowl, and Other Ill-Fated Birds\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnthimus on Chicken, Peacocks, and Other Domestic Poultry (sixth century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eCaliph al-Ma'mun on Chicken and Pistacios (1373)\u003cbr\u003eHannah Glasse on Turkey (1747)\u003cbr\u003eWaverly Root on Guinea Fowl (1980)\u003cbr\u003eF.T. Cheng on Bird's Nest (1954)\u003cbr\u003eLudwig Bemelmans on Poulets de Bresse (1942)\u003cbr\u003eMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings on Killing Birds (1942)\u003cbr\u003eRawling's Blackbird Pie (1942)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Fourteen: The Meat of the Matter\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePlutarch on Eating Meat (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eClaude Levi-Strauss on Boiled vs. Roasted (1968)\u003cbr\u003eAlexandre Dumas Père on Beefsteak (1873)\u003cbr\u003eAnthimus on Eating Raw Meat (sixth century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eNelson Algren on Nebraska Buffalo Barbeque (1940)\u003cbr\u003eSamuel Chamberlain on the Sunday Evening Barbeque (1943)\u003cbr\u003eM.F.K. Fisher on Tripe (1968)\u003cbr\u003eGrimod de la Reynière on Pigs (1804)\u003cbr\u003eApicius on Sow's Belly and Fig-Fed Pork Liver (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eMrs. Beeton on Sheep (1860)\u003cbr\u003eAlexis Soyer on the Turkish Way to Roast Sheep (1857)\u003cbr\u003eLe Mèsnagier de Paris on Faking Game Meat (1393)\u003cbr\u003eEliza Smith's Fake Venison (1758)\u003cbr\u003eEliza Smith on Recovering Venison When It Stinks (1758)\u003cbr\u003eNeapolitan Recipe to Make a COw, Calf, or Stag Look Alive (fifteenth century)\u003cbr\u003eJane Grigson on Faggots and Peas (1974)\u003cbr\u003eApicius on Stuffed Dormice (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eLudwig Bemelmans on Elephant Cutlets (1964)\u003cbr\u003ePeter Martyr on Sea Turtles (1555)Alexis Soyer on Cooking Meat for Fifty Men (1857)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Fifteen: Easy on the Starch\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMartino's Sicilian Macaroni (1420)\u003cbr\u003eShizuo Tsuli on Rice (1980)\u003cbr\u003eNeapolitan Rice with Almonds (fifteenth century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings on Hush Puppies (1942)\u003cbr\u003eAngelo Pellegrini on Polenta (1948)\u003cbr\u003eCatherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe on Potatoes (1869)\u003cbr\u003eFannie Merritt Farmer on Potatoes (1932)\u003cbr\u003ePablo Neruda on French Fries (1954)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Sixteen: A Pinch of Seasoning\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePliny the Elder on Thyme (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eThe Talmund on Garlic (A.D. 500)\u003cbr\u003ePlatina on Basil (1465)\u003cbr\u003eKarl Friedrich von Rumohr on Sorrel (1822)\u003cbr\u003eThe Aobo Tu on Salt Making (1333-1335)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Seventeen: Just a Salad\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePlatina on Lettuce (1465)\u003cbr\u003eFrançois Rebelais on Eating Pilgrims in Salad (1534)\u003cbr\u003eGiacomo Castelvetro Johnstone on Salads (1829)\u003cbr\u003eMrs. Beeton on Endive (1860)\u003cbr\u003eGrimod de la Reynière's Warning on Celery (1804)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Eighteen: The Thing About Truffles\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWaverley Root on Truffles (1980)\u003cbr\u003eGiacomo Castelvetro on Truffles (1614)\u003cbr\u003eKarl Friedrich von Rumohr on Edible Fungus (1822)\u003cbr\u003eLudwig Bemelmans on Pigs and Truffles (1964)\u003cbr\u003ePellegrino Artusi on Truffled Potatoes (1891)\u003cbr\u003eGalen on Truffles (A.D. 180)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Nineteen: Loving Fat\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnthimus on Bacon (sixth century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eNewfies on Scrunchions (1974)\u003cbr\u003ePlatina on Olive Oil (1465)\u003cbr\u003eMarion Harris Neil Tells the Story of Crisco (1913)\u003cbr\u003eFannie Merritt Farmer on Butter (1896)\u003cbr\u003eLudwig Bemelmans on the Buttermachine (1964)\u003cbr\u003eWilliam Verrall's Very Fat Peas (1759)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Twenty: Bearing Fruit\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRoaring Lion on \"Bananas\" (1936)\u003cbr\u003eAnthimus on Apples (sixth century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eAlexandre Dumas Père on Apples (1873)\u003cbr\u003eApicus on Preserving Fruit (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003ePlatina on Figs (1465)\u003cbr\u003eHenry David Thoreau on European Cranberries (1859)\u003cbr\u003eHenry David Thoreau on Watermelons (1859)\u003cbr\u003eFerdinand Hèdiard on Mangoes (1890)\u003cbr\u003eChristopher Columbus on Pinapples (1493)\u003cbr\u003eLionel Wafer on Pinapples (1699)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Twenty-One: The Dark Side of Chocolate\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFransico de Quevedo on the Curse of Tobacco and Chocolate (1628)\u003cbr\u003eEdward Kidder on Chocolate Cream (1730)\u003cbr\u003eBrillat-Savarin on Chocolate (1825)\u003cbr\u003eAlice B. Toklas on Hot Chocolate (1954)\u003cbr\u003eJames Beard on Hot Chocolate (1974)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Twenty-Two: Their Just Desserts\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePliny the Elder on Bees and honey (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eGalen on Pastry (A.D. 180)\u003cbr\u003eApicus on Rose Patina (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003eA Baghdad Recipe for Meat, Sweets, and Bananas (1373)\u003cbr\u003eAmelia Simmons's Independence Cake (1796)\u003cbr\u003eGiuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa on Rum Jelly (1958)\u003cbr\u003eGelatin Hints fro Knox (1929)\u003cbr\u003ePellegrino Artusi on Ice Cream (1891)\u003cbr\u003eM.F.K. Fisher on Gingerbread (1937)\u003cbr\u003eJane Grigson on English Puddings (1974)\u003cbr\u003eWilliam Ellis on Apple Pie (1750)\u003cbr\u003eHannah Glasse's Apple Pie (1747)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Twenty-Three: A Good Drink\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlexandre Dumas Père on Coffee (1873)\u003cbr\u003eSarah Josepha Hale on Drinking (1841)\u003cbr\u003eAlexis Soyer on Soda Water (1857)\u003cbr\u003eBrillat-Savarin on Water (1825)\u003cbr\u003eAlexandre Dumas Père on Water (1873)\u003cbr\u003eThe Talmud on the Right amount of Wine (A.D. 500)\u003cbr\u003eMaimonides on the Benefits of Wine (twelfth century)\u003cbr\u003eA.J. Liebling on Rose Wine (1959)\u003cbr\u003eGeorge Sand on Eau-de-Vie (1959)\u003cbr\u003eAnton Chekhov's Menu for Jountalists (c. 1880)\u003cbr\u003eFrances Calderón de la Barca on Pulque (1840)\u003cbr\u003eMalcolm Lowry on Mescal (1947)\u003cbr\u003eRobert Rose-Rosette on Martinique Punch (1986)\u003cbr\u003eMartial on Drinking Mates (first century A.D.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Twenty-Four: Bugs\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrances Calderó de la barca on Mosquito Eggs (1840)\u003cbr\u003ePeter Lund Simmonds on Edible Spiders (1859)\u003cbr\u003eVincent M. Holt on Eating Insects (1885)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Twenty-Five: The French\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJérôme Lippomano on How Parisians Eat (1577)\u003cbr\u003eGeorge Orwell on Being Hungry in Paris (1933)\u003cbr\u003eVirginia Woolf on French Cooking (1927)\u003cbr\u003eAlice B. Toklas on French Cooking (1954)\u003cbr\u003eThomas Jefferson on French Produce (1785)\u003cbr\u003eHannah Glasse on French Cooking (1747)\u003cbr\u003eM.F.K. Fisher on Leaving France (1932)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Twenty-Six: The English\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGeorge Orwell on English Food (1933)\u003cbr\u003eJane Grigson on English Food (1970)\u003cbr\u003eElizabeth David on the Onward (and Downward) March of the English Pizza (1977)\u003cbr\u003eE.M. Forster on Prunes and English Food (1944)\u003cbr\u003eGiacomo Castelvetro on Prunes and England (1614)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Twenty-Seven: The Americans\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLouis Prima on the Pizzeria (1944)\u003cbr\u003eLarousse Gastronomique on American Food (1938)\u003cbr\u003eLouis Diat's Oyster Crabs (1941)\u003cbr\u003eAngelo Pellegrini on the Abundance of America (1948)\u003cbr\u003eJoseph Wechsberg on Cooking for Americans (1948)\u003cbr\u003eAlice B. Toklas on Gertrude Stein's Return to America (1954)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Twenty-Eight: The Germans\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTacitus on Germans (A.D. 98)\u003cbr\u003eJoseph Wechsberg on Austrians (1948)\u003cbr\u003eKarl Friedrich von Rumohr on Teaching Germans to Cook (1822)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Twenty-Nine: The Politics of Food\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHonoré de Balzac on Eating (1828)\u003cbr\u003eCurnonsky on Political Catagories for Gourmets (1950)\u003cbr\u003eÉmile Zola on Fat and Thin People at Les Halles (1873)\u003cbr\u003eLu Wenfo on Revolutionary Cuisine (1982)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter Thirty: What Does It Mean?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClaude Levi-Strauss on the Idea of Rotten (1968)\u003cbr\u003eMargaret Mead on the Meaning of Food (1970)\u003cbr\u003ePlato on the Art of Cooking (387 B.C.)\u003cbr\u003eMarcel Proust on Madeleines (1913)\u003cbr\u003eA.J.Liebling on Proust (1959)\u003cbr\u003eM.F.K. Fisher on Why She Writes About Food (1943)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIndex\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eMark Kurlansky\u003c\/b\u003e is the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of many books, including \u003ci\u003eCheesecake\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Food of a Younger Land\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eSalt: A World History\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003e1968: The Year That Rocked the World\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eThe Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell\u003c\/i\u003e. He has received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Bon Appetit’s Food Writer of the Year Award, the James Beard Award, and the Glenfiddich Award. He lives in New York City.chapter one\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGourmets and Gourmands\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMark Kurlansky on Gourmets\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo one ever knows when he is well-off. Whenever I was called a gourmet, I suspected I was being accused of something at least slightly unpleasant. But that was before I heard the term \"foodie.\" I am still not sure that a gourmet is a good thing to be, but it must be better than a foodie.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough I cannot say exactly what a gourmet is, like Justice Stewart said of pornography, I know it when I see it, and I am slipping into contemplation of the meaning of the word \"gourmet\" because I am clearly in the company of a couple of them. The two gourmets who have invited me to lunch in a rural Basque restaurant in the green mountains of Vizcaya province are a small, red-faced, and energetic author of a popular Spanish food guide and an enormously round and well-fed man of unclear profession whose business card labels him as \"gastronomic adviser.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe enthusiastic author rates all his food from one to ten. He wants all of us to do the same. He gives the lomo, the thinly sliced burgundy-colored prime cut of cured pork, only an eight. The gastronomic adviser had ventured a nine, and so they turned to me, the indecisive Hamlet of the group, who requested clearer definitions of both eight and nine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA gourmet, according to Webster's dictionary, is \"a judge of choice foods.\" It comes from an old French word for a wine-tasting servant and is generally confused with the word \"gourmand\"--an old French word meaning glutton. From this it appears that medieval Frenchmen knew the difference between a judge--someone guided by intellect--and a glutton--someone guided by appetite. But contemporary Americans are somehow getting the two notions confused. In French, by the way, the two words are still distinct. When I wrote for the International Herald Tribune in Paris, the French accountant who processed my expenses used to delight in pointedly calling me \"Monsieur Gourmand.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIs it a lingering Puritanism that causes Americans to suspect the analysis of a physical pleasure? In 1901, Picasso depicted in blue paint a little girl reaching up to a table to scrape a bowl. It is usually labeled by its French title, le gourmet. But at a recent show in New York it was translated into English as The Greedy Child. Is a gourmet greedy? In truth, most people who are labeled gourmets, like my two lunch companions, go beyond the act of judging and analyzing. They are arriving at their judgments by eating a lot of food. Is the discussion an excuse for the real act, which is eating? Picasso's little girl did eat all the contents of the bowl.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy gourmets are discussing the lobster. The red-faced author has given it a ten and is trying to get me to concede that these tough little clawed creatures shipped from northern Europe are far better than the lobster that come from what he does not realize is my native New England, which in fact they are not.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePlato would not have thought much of these two. He mistrusted any interest in the preparation or presentation of food. In The Republic he states that the enjoyment of food is not a true pleasure because the purpose of eating is to relieve pain--hunger. To turn it into more than that through culinary skills, to him, was the use of artifice to disguise the true nature of food and eating. In Gorgias he states that cooking \"is a form of flattery . . . a mischievous, deceitful, mean and ignoble activity, which cheats us by shapes and colors, by smoothing and draping. . . .\" Was Plato right that gourmetism is morally and intellectually suspect or was he simply one of those unfortunates with a rubber palate incapable of appreciating food's pleasures? Or both?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGourmet is a word with dangerous boundaries. In itself it may be a worthwhile pursuit. Food is a central activity of mankind and one of the single most significant trademarks of a culture. Shouldn't someone be examining it? But the discipline risks perilous proximity to both physical and intellectual overindulgence. In his 1996 novel The Debt to Pleasure, John Lancaster toys with our suspicion of gourmets. The narrator of the book is a man who, as the character himself puts it, is engaged in \"the application of intelligence to pleasure.\" While telling the story of his life he rambles on about soups, stocks, and curry. Discussion of the perfect vinaigrette leads to analysis of the perfect seven-to-one martini. The perfect everything must be espoused, declared, and examined. By instinct, the reader does not like this rambling dilettante full of unsolicited opinions. The beauty of this novel is that the writer makes the readers doubt themselves. At first we struggle to like him and the book, but we find him pompous, then unbearable. Just as we are growing angry with this book and its smug narrator, we start to realize that he is obsessive. The fault is not with the book nor with the reader. There truly is something \"not right\" about this man. His gourmetism is not about a universal pleasure, the common human experience of eating, but about setting himself apart, eating special foods, having special pleasures, being answerable only to special laws. Finally we realize that we were right to have suspected this gourmet, that he truly is deranged, in fact, a dangerous psychopath.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy tablemates don't like the monkfish, and only give it a five.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat should a gourmet look like? I'm afraid most Chinese would not accept my friend the fat gastronomic adviser as a gourmet. A true gourmet--a judge--has the wisdom to know when to stop eating. From Confucius to Mao, most Chinese philosophy has contended that excess is unnatural, wasteful, and alien to proper dining. Chinese food writing emphasizes the healthiness of gourmets and their choices. Otherwise gourmetism is suspect. The contemporary Chinese writer Lu Wenfu in his novella \"The Gourmet\" writes: \"The word gourmet is pleasing to the ear, perhaps also to the eye. If you explain it in simple everyday language, however, its not so appealing. A gourmet is a person who is totally devoted to eating.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKarl Friedrich von Rumohr, an early-nineteenth-century gourmet, known in his language as a feinschmecker, literally a fine taster, not only separated gourmands and gourmets but perhaps shed some light on Plato when he wrote in 1822, \"Dull witted brooding people love to stuff themselves with quantities of heavy food, just like animals for fattening. Bubbly intellectual people love foods which stimulate the taste buds without overloading the belly. Profound, meditative people prefer neutral foods which do not have an assertive flavor and are not difficult to digest, and therefore do not demand too much attention.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, the French lawyer, politician, and self-declared gourmet, also insisted that a true gourmet was health conscious. It is interesting to note that in France, gourmets, like intellectuals, are often self-declared. Curiously Brillat-Savarin rejected any distinction between the words \"gourmet\" and \"gourmand,\" consistently calling the epicurean judges of food gourmands but denying that it had anything to do with gluttony. He did not have the American awkwardness about celebrating physical pleasure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut plump men were of little appeal to Brillat-Savarin and so he denounced overeating by men while stating that women gourmets \"are plump, chubby, pretty rather than beautiful, with a slight tendency to fullness of figure.\" In another work he wrote, \"Gourmandism is far from unbecoming to women,\" and so we have a good idea of how Brillat-Savarin liked his gourmets.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHaving finished and rated a light fruity young Basque Rioja, my well-fed, arithmetical lunch-mates opened a big imposing garnet-colored Rioja just as a thick, rare, salted, and grilled steak, a chuleta, is brought to our table. After giving it a ten, the food guide author placed the bone on my plate. \"Take that,\" he says. \"It's the best part, but you have to pick it up with your hands and gnaw on it.\" And he was right. A gourmet knows that the best part is not always the expensive part, and he will find that part, and then he will share it. A gourmet should want to share. Brillat-Savarin insisted on gourmets sharing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI took the bone in my hands.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJudging foods without regard to price is a rich man's game, and yet poor people can be gourmets able to discern a good potato from a bad one. As though to underscore this point, the steak was followed by an oxtail stew, and this black-sauced peasant dish met with the double-digit rating as well. But not everyone could afford to be so tested. Only the rich can follow a thick, aged, choice steak with a stew from the tail. And so I sometimes wonder if it does not behoove those who have that luxury to talk less about it. It comes back to Plato's point. Fundamentally, gourmetism, unlike judging the fine points of art or\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003emusic, is focused on a biological need designed to ease the pain of hunger, and lifting it above this level implies overlooking the sad fact that some people do not have the means to assuage that pain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDessert arrives, a white mousse with a berry sauce, and my two friends are engaged in lively discourse over whether it contains queso de filadelfia, which further descends into competing eulogies in praise of cream cheese.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI wonder: Are people who spend all their time meticulously dissecting a physical pleasure far from needing a twelve-step program? In 1997 the American Academy of Neurology announced the discovery of something called gourmet syndrome: \"a new eating disorder in which some patients with right anterior brain lesions suddenly become compulsively addicted to thinking about and eating fine foods.\" In this study of 723 patients with brain lesions, 36 were observed becoming gourmets, and of those, 34 were found to have lesions in the right anterior part of the brain. A businessman who preferred a good tennis match to dinner suffered a brain hemorrhage and afterward \"couldn't stop talking or writing about food.\" One patient had been a political journalist until a brain hemorrhage led him to become a food writer. Maybe I should go to a doctor now for my scan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThings are getting worse at the table. Over brandy and Cuban cigars they have turned from the cream cheese debate to the rating of Cuban versus Brazilian woman. I notice by the physical descriptions offered to bolster their arguments that they both like their women pretty much the way Brillat-Savarin did. That must be what gourmets like. Or is it gourmands?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e--based on an article from Food \u0026amp; Wine magazine, October 1999\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBen Sira Against Gluttony\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the second century b.c., according to legend, Simeon Ben Sira was born already speaking and with his teeth fully formed. After reaching a more acceptable age he began writing a series of maxims and proverbs. --M.K.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you are sitting at a grand table, do not lick your lips and exclaim, \"What a spread!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRemember, it is a vice to have a greedy eye.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is no greater evil in creation than the eye; that is why it must shed tears at every turn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDo not reach for everything you see, or jostle your fellow-guest at the dish; judge his feeling by your own and always behave considerately.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEat what is set before you like a gentleman; do not munch and make yourself objectionable.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBe the first to stop for good manners' sake and do not be insatiable, or you will give offense.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you are dining in a large company, do not reach out your hand before others.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA man of good upbringing is content with little, and he is not short of breath when he goes to bed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe moderate eater enjoys healthy sleep; he rises early, feeling refreshed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut sleeplessness, indigestion, and colic are the lot of the glutton.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you cannot avoid overeating at a feast, leave the table and find relief by vomiting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e--The Wisdom of Ben Sira,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003esecond century b.c.,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003etranslated from the Hebrew\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLe Mesnagier de Paris on Gluttony\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis sin of gluttony has two aspects and is divided into five types. The first type is when someone eats sooner than is appropriate, that is to say too early in the morning or before the hour of praying, or before going to church, before having heard the words and commandments of God. Every creature should have the good sense and discretion to know that you shouldn't eat before the hour of tierce, except in cases of sickness, weakness, or some such constraint.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe second type of gluttony is eating more often than one should or when there is no need to eat. The Scriptures say, \"To eat once a day is angelic, eating twice a day is human, eating three, four, or more times a day is living like an animal and not a human being.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe third type of gluttony is eating and drinking so much during the course of a day that it makes one sick, so ill as to be bedridden.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fourth type of gluttony is eating so greedily that one doesn't stop to chew the food but swallows it whole and soon becomes, as the Scriptures say of Esau, the first born of his brothers, that he ate with such haste that he nearly choked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fifth type of gluttony is the search for delicacies, no matter what the price, when one could do with less and thereby afford to help one or a few people who are in need. We read of this sin in the Gospels--the evil rich man, dressed in purple, who ate copiously every day but had nothing to give to poor lepers. It is said that he was damned for having lived too delicately while refusing to share in the name of God as was his duty.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e--from Le Mesnagier de Paris, 1393,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003etranslated from the French by Mark Kurlansky\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin on Gourmets\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI have thumbed every dictionary for the word gourmandism, without ever being satisfied with the definitions I have found. There is a perpetual confusion of gourmandism in its proper connotation with gluttony and voracity: from which I have concluded that lexicographers, no matter how knowing otherwise, are not numbered among those agreeable scholars who can munch pleasurably at a partridge wing au supreme and then top it off, little finger quirked, with a glass of Lafitte or Clos Vougeot.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey have completely, utterly forgotten that social gourmandism which unites an Attic elegance with Roman luxury and French subtlety, the kind which chooses wisely, asks for an exacting and knowing preparation, savors with vigor, and sums up the whole with profundity: it is a rare quality, which might easily be named a virtue, and which is at least one of our surest sources of pure pleasure.","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305130217701,"sku":"NP9780142004937","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780142004937.jpg?v=1767723679","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/choice-cuts-isbn-9780142004937","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}