This part of the book was amazing, and so much fun in some parts. The essays were more varied, and it is not only because of the personality that each author gives to their texts, which is amazing but also because each essay told about a different local delicacies in different parts of the world, which gives the book different perspectives of food preparation and surrounding culture. And, to be honest I wish this part were longer so that I could read more and of course, learn more, because this is something that I really appreciate when I read, the fact that the text could teach or show me something that I don’t know.
One more time, The Homesick Restaurant shows how food is so related to history. I really liked this essay because there was a lot of back story and implications about expatriate life and nostalgia and memory. I also enjoyed the essays about food processes I knew very little about, for example, in Raw Faith by Burkhard Bilger telling about Mother Noella (the cheese nun) and the raw milk cheese she made at her abbey in Connecticut and how she and her fellow nuns were obtaining Ph. Ds in sciences in order to further their cheese research. It makes me think that behind a delicious artesanal delicacy there is lot of hard work behind and of course, knowledge. The same with the art of tofu in Japan, a hard and time consuming work but it is very interesting how the heritage processes was so important in order to make unique kind of tofu as she says in these lines: “"When a tofu master offers you a slice of bean curd he has just unmolded, he is inviting you to partake, insofar as a stranger can, of what it means to be Japanese." . I liked so much reading An attempt to compile a short history of the buffalo chicken wing by Calvin Trilling, the way he tells the story was very funny and definitely, I would like to try those famous buffalo chickens. However, my favourite essay in this part was A Rat in my Soup, I don't know why but this essay was very attractive, maybe because it was something completely new for me or because of the grotesque scenes, or both of them. For sure, this part is more appetizing for carnivores with an adventurous palate which includes, arts, snakes, cats…. I just felt the same way as Hessler when he went to the shed to choose the rat he was going to eat. I had lost my appetite. However, it made me think how something that I would consider unthinkable, like eating rats or cats, it is something natural in other countries and cultures. I think that this is one of the pleasures of reading, to expand your knowledge and it is something that I really appreciate from this book.
Ale, I also enjoyed reading the very diverse array of pieces in this section of the book. Your quote about the tofu was very apt, and it got me thinking that sharing food really is a way of sharing one's cultural with another. How better to explain the flavor of your home than by sharing it over dinner?
ReplyDeleteGreat work Alejandra. I see ur progress!! Keep writing =)
ReplyDeleteAle, the chapter by Hessler was one of my favorite chapters by far. Like you state, I also think that I found this chapter to be so appealing because it was something new and grotesque. I had never thought of eating rat before, and I think that the fact that it was something so different from what I was used to reading in regards to food critiques that I enjoyed it so much.
ReplyDeleteAle,
ReplyDeleteYes, I really liked "A RAT IN MY SOUP" too! His way of writing was very funny and ridiculous(Chinese people were written as too rediculous maybe)! I really aprreciated it because his writing style show very well how astonishing it was for him. I agree with your opinion, the grotesqueness may made it interestiing. Litereture let me experience something far from my daily life and often they are wierd. But that is why we want litereture, I think.
Ale,
ReplyDeleteI agree that this section of the book was very fun in many sections. I love that you appreciated the history and knowledge the pieces brought about different cultures. I enjoyed that aspect, too.
Ale,
ReplyDeleteI also was intrigued by the "behind the scenes" work that goes into the dishes we are being introduced to in this text. I appreciate moments where we are brought into that world, of how the kitchen runs and certain foods are prepared. I think it lets us in on how intimate making food can be.
Much Love!