The Language of Food: "Mouth-watering and sensuous, a real feast for the imagination" BRIDGET COLLINS

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urn:lcp:languageoffoodli0000jura:epub:6a09e188-6035-4ab3-9152-e4d430756907 Foldoutcount 0 Grant_report Arcadia #4281 Identifier languageoffoodli0000jura Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t45r42r26 Invoice 2089 Isbn 9780393240832 For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

I would be remiss in this review if I don’t mention the lovely cover of the book (which reminds me very much of Delft pottery). While I reviewed an e-arc, the physical copy which I have seen pictures of is absolutely gorgeous, including the lovely painted book edges.Clever, unsentimental, beautifully detailed and quietly riveting' Elizabeth Buchan, author of Two Women in Rome Two of my favourite topics in one elegantly written novel - women’s lives and food history. I absolutely loved it' Polly Russell How the sikbaj of Persia (sweet-n-sour stewed beef with sweet vinegar in it) became a fish dish like ceviche, fish & chips, tempura, escabeche, aspic – sailors’ help c.10th century; the influence of fish-during-Lent, the conquest of Peru, Portuguese Jesuits in Japan, of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews in Britain. The two women’s exploration of food and friendship is winningly told and we are rooting for Eliza in her quest for independence and publishing success. The novel comes with some of Eliza’s recipes; and I can gluttonously report that the chocolate custards are as delicious as the novel" THE TIMES

There is a lot of interesting history here but the linguistics part of it, which is what I thought would be most interesting, gets somewhat lost in print. I wish I had listened to this on audio book to get the full understanding of the routes to the subtle changes in words. While some of them are just matters of simple letter transposition or slight spelling changes, most appear to have been from hearing in one language and trying to translate those sounds into another. There are also many words I just had no idea how to pronounce and would have liked to hear.

This is an interesting book on food, language and history; story of culinary influence that can go around the globe, with change into a recipe and such possibly happening along the way. There is also some interesting facts of history and word origins, plus some recipes that one might want to try. The author got interesting in writing this book over a question about the origins of ketchup, which is one of the subjects in one of the chapters here. Annabel Abbs story is told from Eliza and Ann’s perspectives. In the 1800’s England, there’s a class system, a time of expectations for women. The individual stories of past history and future expectations for both Eliza and Ann are well written. The reader can’t help feel for Elizas dream of having her name published, but dealing with her mother’s beliefs on her spinsterhood or the deep poverty and family woes for Ann. The characterizations are well done, with both women growing emotionally, gaining confidence and strength as individuals and as partners, each achieving their own personal and professional satisfaction.

This novel is based on fact and tells the story of Eliza Acton and her assistant Ann Kirby who collaborate to produce one of the greatest cookery books of all time, so great in facts some recipes are plagiarised by Mrs Beeton - naughty Isabella! The story is told alternately by Eliza and Ann.

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Eliza Acton was a poet in real life and the author has spared no effort in imagining the world of food, spices and cooking through the eyes of a poet and a woman who didn't even know how to boil an egg when she first ventured into a kitchen. It was interesting. It made me realize a lot of things. I mean, they've always been there but I've never perceived them before. Of course, some things make sense only in English (the longer the words, the pricier the object will be), but some of them are applicable in Italian as well. Why a sauce, for exemple, should be real, for instance. I mean, I really hope the tomato sauce the restaurant is using is real. If it needs to write it down, it makes me wonder. there's basically two different avenues explored here. one is tracing food through time and place and learning how it evolved into the food we know today, both in name and ingredients. the second focus is the one that really got my brain juices a-stirring, and it's more about food and language with an advertising slant. one of the chapters focuses on the language used in menus throughout time and a mini-study on the relationship between the language used and the average price of the restaurant's meals. so many subtle manipulations at play - the length and number of the words used, the use of french terms, the inclusion of the protein's birthplace, the occurrence of "filler words," the level of complicity the diner has in their own meal (i.e. - "your way" or "your choice.") it's fascinating stuff. Ann Kirby comes from humble means with a lame father and a mother suffering from dementia. Her brother works in a London kitchen for a famous French chef, inspiring Ann with his tales of the food they prepare. When Ann is fortunate enough to be hired by Eliza as a kitchen assistant, she draws strength and a sense of purpose from her, discovering her own ambitions.