A review by bhsmith
Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson
3.0
It has come to this: there is so much food writing out there that I just read a book about the history of the fork. It might be time to take a step back and examine where to go next with this genre.
To Bee Wilson's credit, the book was meticulously researched and provided a clear path from the earliest of cooking/eating tools all the way through to the modern conveniences we so enjoy. The bulk of the book reads like a history book: rather dry and factual with not a lot of flavor. In each chapter there were times when Wilson would break out of the historian's soliloquies to actually remind us she was human by sharing fun personal anecdotes or intriguing stories of real people and how they cook or use tools. These stories were too few and far between to make the book read like the food writing I enjoy the most (start with Michael Pollan and go from there).
Now, there were plenty of interesting tidbits and facts to learn while reading this book. So while my overall impression is not glowing, I did find myself at dinner just last night telling a couple stories about chopsticks that I learned while reading Wilson's book. If you're looking to impress dinner guests with your knowledge of cooking tools through the ages, then this is certainly a book you'd like to read. I'm sure little nuggets of knowledge will continue to impress and annoy my dinner companions for the next few months, which is fine by me.
To Bee Wilson's credit, the book was meticulously researched and provided a clear path from the earliest of cooking/eating tools all the way through to the modern conveniences we so enjoy. The bulk of the book reads like a history book: rather dry and factual with not a lot of flavor. In each chapter there were times when Wilson would break out of the historian's soliloquies to actually remind us she was human by sharing fun personal anecdotes or intriguing stories of real people and how they cook or use tools. These stories were too few and far between to make the book read like the food writing I enjoy the most (start with Michael Pollan and go from there).
Now, there were plenty of interesting tidbits and facts to learn while reading this book. So while my overall impression is not glowing, I did find myself at dinner just last night telling a couple stories about chopsticks that I learned while reading Wilson's book. If you're looking to impress dinner guests with your knowledge of cooking tools through the ages, then this is certainly a book you'd like to read. I'm sure little nuggets of knowledge will continue to impress and annoy my dinner companions for the next few months, which is fine by me.