by
Williams, Ian, 1949-, author.
Call Number
641.25 WIL
Publication Date
2015
Summary
With its unique aroma and heady buzz - the perfect accompaniment to even the spiciest tacos - tequila has won its way into drinkers' hearts worldwide. There are few places on earth besides Mexico that have the climate and terrain to evolve the agave plant from which tequila is made, and there are even fewer people who have the patience to wait the seven years or more that it takes 'the tree of marvels' to grow. Tequila is a lively history of this potent and popular drink.Mayans, Olmecs and Aztecs fermented a drink called pulque from the sap of the agave. It was reserved for pregnant women and priests - and their sacrifices. Later the Mexicans began to use distillation to make tequila and mescal and since its humble beginnings as a local firewater, it has exploded into global popularity. Ian Williams visits countless tequila producers, distributors and connoisseurs to tell the story of how tequila started in the agave lands of Mexico, became an icon of youthful inebriation and then developed into a truly artisanal product which today draws the most discerning drinkers. Including recipes for cocktails, as well as advice on the buying, storing, tasting and serving of tequila, mescal and other agave spirits, this book will delight beverage aficionados and anyone interested in the history of Mexico and its unique drinking culture.
Format:
Books
Relevance:
0.8539
by
Strong, Jeremy.
Call Number
394.12 23
Publication Date
2011
Summary
"The old adage 'you are what you eat' has never seemed more true than in this era, when ethics, politics, and the environment figure so prominently in what we ingest and in what we think about it. Then there are connoisseurs, whose approaches to food address 'good taste' and frequently require a language that encompasses cultural and social dimensions as well. From the highs (and lows) of connoisseurship to the frustrations and rewards of a mother encouraging her child to eat, the essays in this volume explore the complex and infinitely varied ways in which food matters to all of us. Educated Tastes is a collection of new essays that examine how taste is learned, developed, and represented. It spans such diverse topics as teaching wine tasting, food in Don Quixote, Soviet cookbooks, cruel foods, and the lambic beers of the Belgian Payottenland. A set of key themes connect these topics: the relationships between taste and place; how our knowledge of food shapes taste experiences; how gustatory discrimination functions as a marker of social difference; and the place of ethical, environmental, and political concerns in debates around the importance and meaning of taste. With essays that address, variously, the connections between food, drink, and music; the place of food in the development of Italian nationhood; and the role of morality in aesthetic judgment, Educated Tastes offers a fresh look at food in history, society, and culture"--Provided by publisher.
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.7033
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by
Gately, Iain, 1965-
Call Number
641.21 GAT
Publication Date
2008
Summary
"For better or worse, alcohol has helped shape our civilization. Throughout history, it has been consumed not just to quench our thirsts or nourish our bodies but also for cultural reasons. It has been associated since antiquity with celebration, creativity, friendship, and danger, for every drinking culture has acknowledged it possesses a dark side.". "In Drink, Iain Gately traces the course of humanity's ten-thousand-year-old love affair with the substance that has been dubbed "the cause of - and solution to - all of life's problems." Along the way he scrutinizes the drinking habits of presidents, prophets, and barbarian hordes, and features drinkers as diverse as Homer, Hemingway, Shakespeare, Al Capone, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. Covering matters as varied as bacchanals in Imperial Rome, the gin craze in seventeenth-century London, the rise and fall of the temperance movement, and drunk driving, Drink details the benefits and burdens alcohol has conveyed to the societies in which it is consumed. Gately's lively and provocative style brings to life the controversies, past and present, that have raged over alcohol, and uses the authentic voices of drinkers and their detractors to explode myths and reveal truths about this most equivocal of fluids."--BOOK JACKET.
Format:
Books
Relevance:
0.5765
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