Let the Meatballs Rest

by Massimo Montanari, Beth Archer Brombert

Overview

Known for his entertaining investigations into culinary practice, Massimo Montanari turns his hungry eye to the phenomena of food culture, food lore, cooking methods, and eating habits throughout history. Focusing on the selection, preparation, and mythology of food, Montanari traverses such subjects as the status of the pantry over the centuries, the various strategies of cooking over time, the gastronomy of famine, the science of flavors, the changing characteristics of convivial rituals, the customs of the table, and the ever-evolving identity of food. From the invention of basic bread making to chocolate's reputation for decadence, he positions food culture as a lens through which we can plot changes in historical values and social and economic trends. Montanari shows that cooking is not only a decisive part of our cultural heritage but also a key indicator of our material and intellectual well-being.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231157339
Publisher:	Ingram Publisher Services
Publication date:	09/28/2015
Series:	Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Massimo Montanari is professor of medieval history and the history of food at the Institute of Paleography and Medieval Studies, University of Bologna. He has authored and coauthored more than a dozen books, including Food Is Culture; Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History; Food: A Culinary History; and Famine and Plenty: The History of Food in Europe.

Beth Archer Brombert is the author of two widely acclaimed biographies: Cristina:Portraits of a Princess and Edouard Manet: Rebel in a Frock Coat, which was a NewYork Times Notable Book of the Year. Her most recent work is a memoir of her many decades of living, traveling, and cooking in Italy, Journey to the World of the BlackRooster, and her many translations from French and Italian include Italo Svevo's Senilità( Emilio's Carnival) and Eri de Lucca's Tu, Mio ( You, Mine).

Table of Contents

IntroductionThings and IdeasBeing and eating / The invention of bread / Our daily bread / Festive bread / Bread unites or divides? / Divide meatThe Status of FoodsEsau's lentilsAdventures in CookingFrom raw to cooked (and back) / The prefect recipe / Cappelletti and tortellini: the retro- taste of history / macaroniThe Gastronomy of HungerNameless plants / Field herbs / Forgotten fruitsFlavorsFlavor and knowledge / How many flavors are there? / A longing for sweet / Sweet and/or salty / Bitter to the taste / When sour was fashionable / The taste for spices (and hot pepper) / The taste of smoke / How chocolate became sweet / The taste of canned foodsPleasure and Health"What tastes good is good for you" / The law of oppositesThe Beautiful and the GoodThe making of colors / White or red? / Carrot red / Culinary artifices / Compositions and compotes / Confetti (sugarcoated almondsConvivial RitualsThe call of the wild (around the barbecue) / A masculine ritual / Rucola in the White House / Christmas dinner / A hundred cappelletti / Carnival and Lent / Lenten dietTable Practices and MannersThe fork and the hands / The missing cutlery / The pot on the table / First or second? / The wheel of food / Imbiber / The ancient art of pairing wine with food / How to taste wine (without making an ass of oneself) / Cold drinks"Identity" Declined in the PluralSpaghetti with tomato sauce Index

What People are Saying About This

Pietro Frassica

Letting meatballs rest before cooking them—as Massimo Montanari writes—is like letting thoughts rest: if you wait a bit, they turn out better. Therefore, the kitchen is at once a place to nourish the body and a place to train the mind. Montanari's fascinating book is a cogent demonstration of the relations between the culinary and the sociological.

Massimo Ciavolella

Montanari, undoubtedly Italy's major food historian and one of the world's foremost authorities on early modern eating practices, presents informative and amusing articles that are written in the best journalistic style.

— Massimo Ciavolella, University of California, Los Angeles