Accounting for taste : the triumph of French cuisine / Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson.

ISBN:

9780226243238

Title:

Author:

Ferguson, Priscilla Parkhurst.

Personal Author:

Ferguson, Priscilla Parkhurst.

Publication Information:

Chicago, Ill. ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2004.

Physical Description:

xiii, 258 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

General Note:

Formerly CIP.

Contents:

Prologue : Eating orders -- Ch. 1. Culinary configurations -- Ch. 2. Inventing French cuisine -- Ch. 3. Readings in a culinary culture -- Ch. 4. Food nostalgia -- Ch. 5. Consuming passions -- Epilogue : Babette's feast : a fable for culinary France -- App A. Bibliography : Cookery works by date of original publication -- App B. Sample of cookbooks : Bibliographie de la France, 1811-98.

Subject Term:

Cookery, French.

Format:

Books

Electronic Access:

Publisher description http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/uchi051/2003020876.html
Contributor biographical information http://www.loc.gov/catdir/bios/uchi051/2003020876.html
Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/uchi051/2003020876.html
Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip049/2003020876.html

Publication Date:

2004

Publication Information:

Chicago, Ill. ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2004.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
641.5944 FER	Book	1	Standard shelving location	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

French cuisine is such a staple in our understanding of fine food that we forget the accidents of history that led to its creation. Accounting for Taste brings these "accidents" to the surface, illuminating the magic of French cuisine and the mystery behind its historical development. Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson explains how the food of France became French cuisine.

This momentous culinary journey begins with Ancien Régime cookbooks and ends with twenty-first-century cooking programs. It takes us from Carême, the "inventor" of modern French cuisine in the early nineteenth century, to top chefs today, such as Daniel Boulud and Jacques Pépin. Not a history of French cuisine, Accounting for Taste focuses on the people, places, and institutions that have made this cuisine what it is today: a privileged vehicle for national identity, a model of cultural ascendancy, and a pivotal site where practice and performance intersect. With sources as various as the novels of Balzac and Proust, interviews with contemporary chefs such as David Bouley and Charlie Trotter, and the film Babette's Feast , Ferguson maps the cultural field that structures culinary affairs in France and then exports its crucial ingredients. What's more, well beyond food, the intricate connections between cuisine and country, between local practice and national identity, illuminate the concept of culture itself.

To Brillat-Savarin's famous dictum--"Animals fill themselves, people eat, intelligent people alone know how to eat"--Priscilla Ferguson adds, and Accounting for Taste shows, how the truly intelligent also know why they eat the way they do.

"Parkhurst Ferguson has her nose in the right place, and an infectious lust for her subject that makes this trawl through the history and cultural significance of French food--from French Revolution to Babette's Feast via Balzac's suppers and Proust's madeleines--a satisfying meal of varied courses."--Ian Kelly, Times (UK)

Author Notes

Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson is a professor of sociology at Columbia University. Her previous books include Paris as Revolution and Literary France.

Reviews (2)

Booklist Review

French cuisine may or may not be the world's best, but it certainly is the most widely influential cooking style, and it is unquestionably the standard against which all other cuisines are measured. In this culinary history, Ferguson traces how the cooking of the French nation survived revolutions and changes in fashion to reach the summit of good taste. She contrasts the aesthetic of French dining with the raucous, undisciplined cuisine of America. But she does find America's attitude toward a single meal, Thanksgiving, a revealing exception to the general rule. In a striking epilogue, Ferguson minutely analyzes the film Babette's Feast, showing how French cooking came to stand in the film for art in general. She also delves into the differences between the film and Dinesen's original story, which gave Babette a harder edge than did the movie. Although this work is determinedly academic, those interested in the history of food will discover a wide-ranging, intelligent, and original approach to the preeminent role of French cooking in the history of civilization. --Mark Knoblauch Copyright 2004 Booklist

Choice Review

Ferguson draws from a number of important primary works to present a picture of the history of cooks, cuisine, and culinary pursuits in France. She looks at the position of food, cuisine, and chefs in the fabric of society through the eyes of these works. Furthermore, the role of food, cuisine, and chefs in France is contrasted with their roles in other cultures; Ferguson offers numerous comparisons with the US. A subtheme of the book is the struggle of women to become food professionals in a male-dominated field and to have the food work of women recognized as important. The book, especially in the first chapters, is heavy going and at times turgid. However, the information may be useful to those vitally interested in cuisine, so it is worth slogging through the material. Included is a bibliography of cookery works by date of original publication. ^BSumming Up: Optional. General readers; lower- and upper-division undergraduates; faculty and researchers; professionals; two-year technical program students. J. M. Jones College of St. Catherine

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Prologue: Eating Orders

1 Culinary Configurations

I Culinary Identities

II French Cuisines

2 Inventing French Cuisine

I Between the Old Regime and the New

II The Cuisine

3 Readings in a Culinary Culture

I From Cuisine to Gastronomy

II Food Talk

III The Gastronomic Field

4 Food Nostalgia

I In Search of Cuisine Lost

II Country Cooking

III Cooking and Chefing

5 Consuming Passions

I Conspicuous Cuisines

II Identifying Cuisines

III Tasting France Epilogue:Babette's Feast: A Fable for Culinary France

Appendix A Bibliography--Cookery Works by Date of Original Publication

Appendix B Sample of Cookbooks--Bibliographie de la France, 1811-98

Appendix C Research Notes

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Available:*

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Booklist Review

Choice Review

Table of Contents