The Oxford Companion to Food 2nd Ed
by Alan Davidson
List Price:
Our Price: $33.66
You Save: $31.34 (48%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $18.04 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Alan DavidsonEditor: Tom Jaine
Editor: Jane Davidson
Contributor: Helen Saberi
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-10-15
ISBN: 0192806815
Number of pages: 907
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of The Oxford Companion to Food 2nd Ed
Book Review: Witty and Informative
Summary: 5 Stars
If you like the dry acerbic wit of P.G. Wodehouse, if you like the straight-faced humour of the Economist, then you'll be a fan of the writing style here. This is a dense, information-packed book that works well as a coffee-table decoration, but you'll find yourself pulling it into your lap and curling up with a nice cup of hot tea/coffee and reading entries at random. The literary tone and multitude of cross-references make this a particularly good way to while away those lazy afternoons. (Remember those pulp adventure novels that, after each entry, asked you to make a choice? "If you choose A, go to p. 235; If you choose B, go to p. 322", etc. This is a little bit like that.)
There are no actual recipes per se, but there are many ideas and tidbits about how certain foods/ingredients are traditionally or commonly eaten in various parts of the world.
Here is one slyly humourous entry that had me choked (!) with laughter:
"CHEEKS of animals, because they usually yield rich, savory juices, are a good choice to include in stews, pies, and sausages. However, because cheek muscles are exercised constantly, the meat is tough and needs long cooking. COD cheeks, on the other hand, are tender morsels, perhaps because cod are not eating all the time and do not exercise their cheeks in making noises."
Summary of The Oxford Companion to Food 2nd Ed
Twenty years in the making, the first edition of Alan Davidson's magnum opus appeared in 1999 to worldwide acclaim. Its combination of serious food history, culinary expertise, and entertaining serendipity was recognized as utterly unique. Including both an exhaustive catalogue of the foods that nourish humankind-fruit from tropical forests, mosses scraped from adamantine granite in Siberian wastes, or ears, eyeballs and testicles from a menagerie of animals-and a richly allusive commentary on the culture of food, whether expressed in literature and cookbooks, or as dishes peculiar to a country or community, the Oxford Companion to Food immediately found distinction.The study of food and food history was a new discipline at the time, but one that has developed exponentially in the years since. There are now university departments, international societies, and academic journals, in addition to a wide range of popular literature exploring the meaning of food in the daily lives of people around the world.
Alan Davidson famously wrote eighty percent of the first edition, which was praised for its wit as well as its wisdom. Tom Jaine, the editor of the second edition, worked closely with Jane Davidson and Helen Saberi to ensure that new contributions continue in the same style. The result is an expanded volume that remains faithful to Davidson's peerless work. The text has been updated where necessary to keep pace with a rapidly changing subject, and Jaine assiduously alerts readers to new avenues in food studies. Agriculture; archaeology; food in art, film, literature, and music; globalization; neuroanatomy; and the Silk Road are covered for the first time, and absorbing new articles on confetti; cutlery; doggy bags; elephant; myrrh; and potluck have also found their way into the Companion.
Alan Davidson's Oxford Companion to Food has been over 20 years in the assembling, but here it is; and it is superlatively worth the wait. In fact, superlatives fall silent. A huge and authoritative dictionary of 2,650 entries on just about every conceivable foodstuff, seasoning, cuisine, cooking method, historical survey, significant personage, and explication of myth, it is supplemented by some 40 longer articles on key items. Davidson himself (no relation to this reviewer) contributes approximately 80 percent of the 2,650 entries, thereby guaranteeing high levels of erudition, readability, and deadpan feline wit. Since this is a monument intended to last, nothing so frivolous as a recipe is included. A decision taken early in the development of the project to abjure issues whose significance is largely topical has also ensured an agreeable high-mindedness--nothing on those crucial but essentially dreary topics of BSE and GM foods, for example.
If a fault could be found, it would only be that it's often difficult to read to the end of an entry, as the abundant cross-referencing all too easily sends one off to another entry, thence bouncing off to another, and all too soon the original is forgotten. A random alphabet of seductions might include: Aardvark, Botulism, Cup Cake, David (Elizabeth), Enzymes, Fat-Tailed Sheep, Gender/Sex and Food, Hallucinogenic Mushrooms, Ice Cream Sundae, Jewish Dietary Laws, Kangaroos, Lobscouse, Microwave Cooking, Norway, Offal, Puffin, Queen of Puddings, Roti, Scurvy, Termite Heap Mushroom (or Taillevant), Umeboshi, Vegetarianism, Washing up (a very elegant little article), sadly no X, Yin-yang, and Zabaglione. As this might show, Alan Davidson's aim, borrowed from Dumas's great Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine, that his work would appeal not only to persons of "serious character" but also those "of a much lighter disposition," is utterly fulfilled. --Robin Davidson, Amazon.co.uk
Reference Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Reference Books
Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Guide 2009 (Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Book)by Oz Clarke
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 2008-11-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Guide 2008 (Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Book)by Oz Clarke
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 2007-11-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cooking Techniques and Scienceby Sarah Labensky
Alpha Books; Published: 2002; Paperback; Book
Best price: $67.28
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Asian Cookingby Jeffrey Yarbrough Annie Wong
Alpha; Published: 2002; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.78
Vegetables on the Side: The Complete Guide to Buying and Cookingby Sallie Y. Williams
John Wiley & Sons; Published: 1998-04-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.98
A Dash of Elegance/ How to Make and Use Flavored Oils, Sherries, and Vinegars at Homeby Charles G. Reavis
Macmillan General Reference; Published: 1994-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.75
Price in other shops:
Cook It Lightby Jeanne Jones
Macmillan General Reference; Published: 1991-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
The Fannie Farmer Cookbookby Marion Cunningham
Bantam Books; Published: 1994-07-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.36
Price in other shops:
The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Resource for Healthy Eatingby Rebecca Wood
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2010-04-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.35
Price in other shops:
Flatbreads & Flavors: A Baker's Atlasby Jeffrey Alford, Naomi Duguid
William Morrow Cookbooks; Published: 2008-08-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.35
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Larousse GastronomiqueClarkson Potter; Published: 2001-10-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $86.25
The Cambridge World History of Food (2-Volume Set)Cambridge University Press; Published: 2000-10-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $190.00
Price in other shops:
The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink (Oxford Companions)Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2007-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.75
Price in other shops:
Sin Boldly!: Dr. Dave's Guide To Writing The College Paperby Dave Williams
Basic Books; Published: 2004-08-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.34
Price in other shops:
The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drinkby Andrew F. Smith
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2009-03-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.19
Price in other shops:
The Oxford Companion to Wine, 3rd EditionOxford University Press, USA; Published: 2006-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $34.50
Price in other shops:
The Oxford Companion to BeerOxford University Press, USA; Published: 2011-10-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $39.44
Price in other shops:
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchenby Harold McGee
Scribner; Published: 2004-11-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.17
Price in other shops:
The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion (Deluxe Edition)by Sharon Tyler Herbst, Ron Herbst
Barron's Educational Series; Published: 2009-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.06
Price in other shops:
Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia, Completely Revised and Updatedby Librairie Larousse
Clarkson Potter; Published: 2009-10-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $49.49
Price in other shops: