The Gastronomica Reader - by Darra Goldstein (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Rarefied but unpretentious, each issue is an artfully curated collection of essays, poems, art, and journalistic reportage. . . . "Gastronomica'"s fare never fails to nourish us." --"Saveur "magazine
"I am so impressed with this journal. It indicates an accuracy and diversity of information and style that will inspire and encourage people to pay attention to what they are eating."--Alice Waters
"Food, even more than sex, is the basis for human relationships, and if Brillat-Savarin's 'Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are' is right, "Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture "will enhance your life and improve your relationships with your family and your friends."--Jacques Pepin
"Gastronomica deserves the food world's attention." --Paul Levy
"A food journal of high standards that takes on substantive food issues."--Patricia Unterman
"Interacting with so many disciplines, Gastronomica will assure a fine intellectual menu and reinvigorate the worlds of food and culture with ever higher standards of scholarship."--Anne Willan
"[One of] my top food favorites from 2008. . . . A delightful study of all things food, even those that touch the world of food in a peripheral way."--The Zest, food blog

Book Synopsis

Described in the 2008 Saveur 100 as "At the top of our bedside reading pile since its inception in 2001," the award-winning Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture is a quarterly feast of truly exceptional writing on food. Designed both to entertain and to provoke, The Gastronomica Reader now offers a sumptuous sampling from the journal's pages--including essays, poetry, interviews, memoirs, and an outstanding selection of the artwork that has made Gastronomica so distinctive. In words and images, it takes us around the globe, through time, and into a dazzling array of cultures, investigating topics from early hominid cooking to Third Reich caterers to the Shiite clergy under Ayatollah Khomeini who deemed Iranian caviar fit for consumption under Islamic law. Informed throughout by a keen sense of the pleasures of eating, tasting, and sharing food, The Gastronomica Reader will inspire readers to think seriously, widely, and deeply about what goes onto their plates.

Gastronomica is a winner of the Utne Reader's Independent Press Award for Social/Cultural Coverage

From the Back Cover

"Rarefied but unpretentious, each issue is an artfully curated collection of essays, poems, art, and journalistic reportage. . . . Gastronomica's fare never fails to nourish us." --Saveur magazine

"I am so impressed with this journal. It indicates an accuracy and diversity of information and style that will inspire and encourage people to pay attention to what they are eating."--Alice Waters

"Food, even more than sex, is the basis for human relationships, and if Brillat-Savarin's 'Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are' is right, Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture will enhance your life and improve your relationships with your family and your friends."--Jacques Pépin

"Gastronomica deserves the food world's attention." --Paul Levy

"A food journal of high standards that takes on substantive food issues."--Patricia Unterman

"Interacting with so many disciplines, Gastronomica will assure a fine intellectual menu and reinvigorate the worlds of food and culture with ever higher standards of scholarship."--Anne Willan

"[One of] my top food favorites from 2008. . . . A delightful study of all things food, even those that touch the world of food in a peripheral way."--The Zest, food blog

Review Quotes

"Delights in manners ranging from the poetic to the political."-- "Bookforum" (3/1/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"The gloriously illustrated Gastronomica reader is a every bit as good as it looks."-- "Times Literary Supplement (TLS)" (9/17/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"A volume to browse and absorb."-- "New York Times" (3/10/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"It is easy to get quickly drawn in and once you do, it is difficult to put this book down."--Andrea Rappaport "San Francisco Book Review" (5/26/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"This volume should absorb anyone with an appetite for unconventional food writing." STARRED REVIEW-- "Publishers Weekly" (2/22/2010 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Darra Goldstein is Editor-in-Chief of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture and Francis Christopher Oakley Third Century Professor of Russian at Williams College. She is the author of The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia (UC Press; winner of the International Association of Culinary Professionals' 1994 Julia Child Cookbook of the Year Award), among other books.