Nutmeg says yum!

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Naomichi Ishige

"Despite the popularity of Japanese food in the West today, remarkably little is known about its history. This is a detailed study of the food and dietary practices of the Japanese from the Palaeolithic era, before rice was cultivated, through the period when the distinctive Japanese culinary tradition reached its culmination (between 1640 and 1860), and on to the present day. This evolution is traced for typical dishes of all periods, condiments, beverages, ingredients, methods of preparation, etiquette, the aesthetics of presentation, eating implements and cooking utensils in the social, political, and economic contexts of their consumption and use. Topics include the spread of soy sauce, the design of Japanese food, introducing the reader to home cookery and regional schools of cuisine that are virtually unknown outside Japan. It makes a unique contribution to the study of Japanese culture, and of culinary history as a whole."--Jacket.

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Cindy Neuschwander

When Sir Cumference and Lady Di of Ameter invite two bakers to compete for the honor of baking the annual Harvest Sweet, the bakers must figure out a way to chart whose treats are the favorites.

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S. Margot Finn

For the past four decades, increasing numbers of Americans have started paying greater attention to the food they eat, buying organic vegetables, drinking fine wines, and seeking out exotic cuisines. Yet they are often equally passionate about the items they refuse to eat: processed foods, generic brands, high-carb meals. While they may care deeply about issues like nutrition and sustainable agriculture, these discriminating diners also seek to differentiate themselves from the unrefined eater, the common person who lives on junk food. Discriminating Taste argues that the rise of gourmet, ethnic, diet, and organic foods must be understood in tandem with the ever-widening income inequality gap. Offering an illuminating historical perspective on our current food trends, S. Margot Finn draws numerous parallels with the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century, an era infamous for its class divisions, when gourmet dinners, international cuisines, slimming diets, and pure foods first became fads. Examining a diverse set of cultural touchstones ranging from Ratatouille to The Biggest Loser, Finn identifies the key ways that “good food” has become conflated with high status. She also considers how these taste hierarchies serve as a distraction, leading middle-class professionals to focus on small acts of glamorous and virtuous consumption while ignoring their class’s larger economic stagnation. A provocative look at the ideology of contemporary food culture, Discriminating Taste teaches us to question the maxim that you are what you eat.--Publisher website.

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Sarah Ridley

Everyone has memories of the food they ate they had when they were growing up. This book gives young children access to people's memories alongside photographs to help them build up a picture of the past. From family meals to wartime rationing, young children can explore what has changed and what remains the same.