[Sca-cooks] More new books Fall 2007

[Johnna Holloway]

I promised I'd be back with more titles. These have turned up--

Byzantine --

Eat Drink and Be Merry (Luke 12: 19)-Food and Wine Byzantium: Papers of 
the 37Th Annual Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies in Honour of 
Professor A. A. M. Bryer *Author:* 
<http://www.globalbooksinprint.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/merge_shared/search/SearchResult.asp?navPage=1&SortOrder=&SortField=&collection=GLBCOLL&QueryMode=Simple&ScoreThreshold=0&ResultCount=25&SearchLink=Yes&ebip=&srchFrm=TITLEDTL&QueryText=icu%253%20>Leslie 
Brubaker December, 2007 *Publisher:* *Ashgate in* United Kingdom 
***ISBN:* 0-7546-6119-9 *ISBN13:* 978-0-7546-6119-1 *
* illustrated *Pages:* 290 *Price:* £50.00 GIVEN as an October release 
in USA no price given.
Amazon says December and $99.00

This volume brings together a group of scholars to consider the rituals 
of eating together in the Byzantine world, the material culture of 
Byzantine food and wine consumption, and the transport and exchange of 
agricultural products. The contributors present food in nearly every 
conceivable guise, ranging from its rhetorical uses - food as a metaphor 
for redemption; food as politics; eating as a vice, abstinence as a 
virtue - to more practical applications such as the preparation of food, 
processing it, preserving it, and selling it abroad. We learn how the 
Byzantines viewed their diet, and how others - including, surprisingly, 
the Chinese - viewed it. Some consider the protocols of eating in a 
monastery, of dining in the palace, or of roughing it on a picnic or 
military campaign; others examine what serving dishes and utensils were 
in use in the dining room and how this changed over time. Throughout, 
the terminology of eating - and especially some of the more problematic 
terms - is explored. The chapters expand on papers presented at the 37th 
Annual Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, held at the University of 
Birmingham under the auspices of the Society for the Promotion of 
Byzantine Studies, in honour of Professor A.A.M. Bryer, a fitting 
tribute for the man who first told the world about Byzantine 
agricultural implements.

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The Art of Drinking by Philippa Glanville & Sophie Lee, eds 30 pounds at 
V&A site

Amazon says October and $50. With discount only $31.50. Glanville has 
done rather
nice heavily illustrated volumes in the past. This should show up on the 
holiday gift tables.

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art is featuring this one in their Christmas 
catalog:

*Food: The History of Taste*

edited by Paul Freedman

This book is the first to apply discoveries of the new generation of 
food historians to the pleasures of dining and the culinary 
accomplishments of diverse civilizations, past and present. Including 
essays by French, German, Belgian, American, and British historians, 
this publication presents a comprehensive, chronological history of 
taste. The story begins with the early repertoire of sweet tastes and 
the distinctive contributions made by classical antiquity and China. 
Next, the reader will enjoy the subtle, sophisticated, and varied group 
of food customs created by the Islamic civilizations of Iberia, the 
Arabian desert, Persia, and Byzantium, followed by the magnificent 
cuisine of the Middle Ages, influenced by Rome and adapted from Islamic 
Spain, Africa, and the Middle East. After the Renaissance there was a 
decisive break with highly spiced food traditions, and the new focus was 
on the primary ingredients and products from the New World. Finally, 
this publication discusses French cuisine’s rise to dominance in Europe 
and America, along with the evolution of modern restaurant dining, 
modern agriculture, and technological developments that contribute to 
the eclectic tastes enjoyed in food today. Richly illustrated with 
paintings, photographs, and graphics from throughout history, this book 
tells the enthralling story of what not only sustains us, but also makes 
us feel alive.

368 pages, 239 illustrations (99 in full color), 7 7/8 in. x 10 in. 
Hardcover. $39.95 Amazon is saying November release.

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Then there are these 3 also that may of interest to people for a number 
of reasons:

*No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach* (Nov., $24.95) 
by Anthony Bourdain. The popular TV chef shares his globe-trotting 
adventures in this uncensored, illustrated journal. Should be another 
book tour for this one./
/

*Saha: A Chef’s Journey through Lebanon and Syria* (Nov., $49.95) by 
Greg and Lucy Malouf revisits hearty peasant dishes and spiced 
specialties from ancient palaces. I suspect that this is modern food 
being served out of ancient palaces or inspired by ancient palaces but 
who knows?

Last but not least and coming in the spring--

*Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run* by Alton Brown (Stewart, Tabori & 
Chang, $27.50). 250,000 copies. April 2008

Johnnae (book pusher extraordinary)