Physiologie du goût

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T.C. Huo

A Thousand Wings moves seamlessly in time between present-day San Francisco and Laos in the Vietnam War era to tell the story of one man's courtship of another through food and the shared stories of their Southeast Asian heritage. For Fong Mun, a successful, thirty-something caterer and cookbook author, food is life; his precious cache of family recipes is inseparable from memory and personal history. But it is his coveted recipe for crispy egg rolls that becomes the catalyst for his fateful meeting with Raymond, a handsome and captivating young Asian who barely remembers his Laotian heritage, and who becomes Fong Mun's window on his own lost past. As a powerful attraction blooms between these two very different men, we savor Fong Mun's memories of Laos through the prism of exotic, mouth-watering Southeast Asian cuisine. In his compelling voice, stories and recipes entwine in a vivid, evocative narrative overlaid with both sorrow and humor.

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Elisabeth Rozin

Here is a witty look at the powerful appeal of that ubiquitous American classic and universal food phenomenon, the cheeseburger platter. Elisabeth Rozin traces the historical, cultural, and culinary roots of each element - burger, cheese, bun, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, fries, and, of course, Coca Cola - in search of the significance of its tantalizing allure. After all, this unique combination of red meat, fat, sugar, and salt violates all that is nutritionally and politically correct in the 90s, yet we can't resist it. The Primal Cheeseburger is an entertaining exploration of why this particular mix of textures, tastes, and smells evokes our carnivorous cravings and touches such a deep chord in our collective food consciousness.

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Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende trae sus poderes mágicos como cuentista a un nivel muy personal y con un encanto peculiar a las entrelazadas y sensuales artes de la comida y el amor. Mezclando recuerdos personales con el folklore del mundo, leyendas históricas, y momentos memorables de la literatura erótica y de otros tipos, Allende enriquece su narración con porciones semejantes de humor y perspicacia. Combinando un banquete de hechos fascinantes sobre los poderes afrodisíacos de los alimentos y las bebidas, Allende los sirve con convincente admiración y debida irreverencia. Ella ofrece sugerencias, tanto antiguas como modernas, para atraer a un amante, encender el ardor sexual, prolongar el acto sexual, reactivar la decadente virilidad. Metiéndose en el caldero de la historia, ella nos informa sobre los apetitos lascivos de todos, desde el emperador Nerón a Catalina la Grande hasta la notoria Madame du Barry de Francia.

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Don and Patricia Brothwell

A world-wide survey of the eating and drinking habits of early peoples, Don and Patricia Brothwell's Food in Antiquity covers a broad geographical range, from the early populations of Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Americas to the more familiar Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek, and Roman worlds. From Meat, insects, vegetables, and fruits to cooking oils and beverages, each source of sustenance is described in terms of who consumed it, how it was prepared, and how it spread from its region of origin. This paperback edition includes a new afterword in which Don Brothwell offers a "progress report" on recent discoveries and developments in the archaeology of food.