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novella42's review
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
A fascinating book that changes the way you see every aspect of cooking. I've read it twice and found it full of interesting tidbits both times. I wish the hardcopy version contained more sketches and images of the many nuanced creations and evolutions of tools over time that Wilson goes to great length to describe. I ended up Googling quite a lot of random things, which had the amusing benefit of confusing the hell out of my ad algorithms.
I loved the narrator of the audiobook. Mostly, I love Wilson's love of cooking and history. She brings a delight to all kinds of quirky little stories from the pages of history. It reminds me a little of Guns, Germs, and Steel, and also the science show Connections I watched as a child with my father. So much is connected, and so much is random chance.
My favorite takeaway was the way chopsticks and forks both literally changed human skeletons when they were developed in their respective locales. I also can't stop thinking about the geographical implications of the way England having a ton of fuel to burn led to cuisine centered around roast meats, whereas a need for conserving fuel in China led to the more egalitarian wok-style cuisine where everything is chopped in the kitchen to ensure fast even cooking. So many cultural differences have arisen from these styles of cooking and eating and how we think about food and community vs hierarchy.
This book has also changed the way I see the history of gender and race in America. The way we think about labor and time, whose body is being wearied and whose time is being spent, for whom, is powerful. I'll never look at anything "refined" again in quite the same way.
I loved the narrator of the audiobook. Mostly, I love Wilson's love of cooking and history. She brings a delight to all kinds of quirky little stories from the pages of history. It reminds me a little of Guns, Germs, and Steel, and also the science show Connections I watched as a child with my father. So much is connected, and so much is random chance.
My favorite takeaway was the way chopsticks and forks both literally changed human skeletons when they were developed in their respective locales. I also can't stop thinking about the geographical implications of the way England having a ton of fuel to burn led to cuisine centered around roast meats, whereas a need for conserving fuel in China led to the more egalitarian wok-style cuisine where everything is chopped in the kitchen to ensure fast even cooking. So many cultural differences have arisen from these styles of cooking and eating and how we think about food and community vs hierarchy.
This book has also changed the way I see the history of gender and race in America. The way we think about labor and time, whose body is being wearied and whose time is being spent, for whom, is powerful. I'll never look at anything "refined" again in quite the same way.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Eating disorder, Blood, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism