Consider the Fork
2012 • 327 pages
Ratings5
Average rating4.2
15
Ratings5
Average rating4.2
Since prehistory, humans have braved sharp knives, fire, and grindstones to transform raw ingredients into something delicious—or at least edible. Tools shape what we eat, but they have also transformed how we consume, and how we think about, our food. In Consider the Fork, award-winning food writer Bee Wilson provides a wonderful and witty tour of the evolution of cooking around the world, revealing the hidden history of everyday objects we often take for granted. Technology in the kitchen does not just mean the Pacojets and sous-vide of the modernist kitchen, but also the humbler tools of everyday cooking and eating: a wooden spoon and a skillet, chopsticks and forks. Blending history, science, and anthropology, Wilson reveals how our culinary tools and tricks came to be, and how their influence has shaped modern food culture. The story of how we have tamed fire and ice and wielded whisks, spoons, and graters, all for the sake of putting food in our mouths, Consider the Fork is truly a book to savor. Publisher
Reviews with the most likes.
3.5, rounding up. Very Western-centric, especially in the later chapters, and not sure why it took a detour into molecular gastronomy at the end when before that the focus had been on how people cooked at home, not in restaurants. (Though I'll admit to bias here since I find molecular gastronomy extremely annoying.) The writing style was engaging and easy to follow, and it honestly blew my mind to discover that some things I thought had been around forever, like a reliable can opener or a microplane grater, were less than 50 years old. A different perspective on the usual food writing!
Tells the history of how we made food through the ages, the tools we invented, and how we got to where we are. Fun and packed with trivia. I'll never look at my kitchen the same way again.
