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Consider the Fork
A couple of notes on Consider the Fork, by Bee Wilson, which I read a couple of weeks ago. This started as a belated reply to ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
anne's comment, but I want to post it where other people might see it. (Apologies for any fuzziness, it's past my bedtime.)
I liked it. There's some overlap with the book I read a while ago about the history of refrigeration, but mostly the emphasis here is different. Despite the title, the author starts by talking about wooden spoons, and that they come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Having started there, the book ends by discussing some kitchen tools that are younger than most people realize, such as good vegetable peelers.
Asacelightning2 alluded to, the Chinese approach, where food is either cut up into small pieces before cooking, or cooked and then cut up in the kitchen, means diners aren't holding anything pointier than a pair of chopsticks.
Something that stuck in my mind: one 19th-century home ice cream maker made ice cream in only a few minutes, faster than any of the ice cream makers you can buy today. A few of these machines still exist, but their owners aren't using them: it turns out that the zinc-lined bowl leaches toxic zinc into the ice cream.
anne's comment, but I want to post it where other people might see it. (Apologies for any fuzziness, it's past my bedtime.)I liked it. There's some overlap with the book I read a while ago about the history of refrigeration, but mostly the emphasis here is different. Despite the title, the author starts by talking about wooden spoons, and that they come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Having started there, the book ends by discussing some kitchen tools that are younger than most people realize, such as good vegetable peelers.
As
acelightning2 alluded to, the Chinese approach, where food is either cut up into small pieces before cooking, or cooked and then cut up in the kitchen, means diners aren't holding anything pointier than a pair of chopsticks. Something that stuck in my mind: one 19th-century home ice cream maker made ice cream in only a few minutes, faster than any of the ice cream makers you can buy today. A few of these machines still exist, but their owners aren't using them: it turns out that the zinc-lined bowl leaches toxic zinc into the ice cream.