Review by Choice Review
This book by noted Stanford linguist, MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" winner, and San Francisco gourmand Jurafsky engages readers in a culinary and linguistic history of various foods, including seviche, sherbet, and turkey, as well as food ingredients such as flour and salt. The breezy narrative also contains interesting tidbits of culinary information, such as why corned beef is called "corned" beef even though it does not contain any corn. (It actually has to do with the grains of salt used in the preserving process.) He explains how the seemingly ubiquitous catsup enjoyed today is a descendant of a Chinese fish sauce. Interspersed among the historical chapters are chapters in which Jurafsky uses statistical and linguistic methods to deconstruct menus in order to characterize restaurants, analyze food advertising, and explore the relationship between the sound of food-related words and their meanings. Even though the tone of the book is generally light, the narrative is occasionally bogged down by the many foreign language terms the author uses in tracing etymology. Further, the narrative sometimes meanders. The chapter on turkey, for example, seems to devote more time explaining the holiday than the food. Nonetheless, general audiences will find this volume an enjoyable read. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and lower- and upper-division undergraduates. --David M. Gilbert, Maine Maritime Academy
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by New York Times Review
I'LL DRINK TO THAT: A Life in Style, With a Twist, by Betty Halbreich with Rebecca Paley. (Penguin, $16.) As a long-reigning personal shopper at Bergdorf Goodman, Halbreich has counseled clientele on matters far more than the sartorial. Writing with Midwestern pragmatism about her work and a therapist's empathy for her clients, she details her privileged childhood in Chicago; marriage into a wealthy East Coast family; and professional passion found later in life. As our reviewer, Alexandra Jacobs, put it: "She might be a bird in a gilded cage, but her view of the flowers outside is unobstructed." ABOVE THE EAST CHINA SEA, by Sarah Bird. (Vintage, $15.95.) Set on Okinawa, this novel examines the island's history through the eyes of two grieving teenagers. In 1945, Tamiko worked in service of the Japanese Imperial Army and witnessed the devastating impact of violence. In later years, her story is interwoven with that of Luz, a modern-day American Air Force brat forced to adjust to life after her sister dies fighting in Afghanistan. THE LANGUAGE OF FOOD: A Linguist Reads the Menu, by Dan Jurafsky. (Norton, $15.95.) Mining sources like menus, recipes and restaurant reviews for insight, Jurafsky decodes the way food is described. He also uncovers surprising details of culinary history, including ketchup's Chinese origins; the Persian roots of fish and chips; and how the turkey was named. FUNNY ONCE: Stories, by Antonya Nelson. (Bloomsbury, $16.) Transporting readers into homes and lives in the open stretches of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas, Nelson chronicles domestic upsets and ruptures. In the opening story, a recently widowed father, his children and the family's longtime housekeeper struggle to rearrange their lives in the wake of a wife's death. FIELDS OF BLOOD: Religion and the History of Violence, by Karen Armstrong. (Anchor, $16.95.) Maintaining that "modern society has made a scapegoat of faith," Armstrong offers a rejoinder to the idea that religions are inherently violent. Spanning civilizations, conflicts and creeds from ancient Mesopotamia through to the current day, her book argues that very little bloodshed can be ascribed to religious disputes; instead, violent impulses often trace their origins to the state. 10:04, by Ben Lerner. (Picador/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16.) The narrator of Lerner's brilliant second novel contemplates his next literary project and the possibility of having a child with his best friend. Framed by two hurricanes, story lines intersect as the narrator considers his identity and external persona. KAFKA: The Years of Insight, by Reiner Stach. Translated by Shelley Frisch. (Princeton University, $24.95.) The second installment of an exhaustive, if piecemeal, biographical project, this volume covers the writer's final eight years (1916-24), including his work as a bureaucrat during World War I, turbulent relationships and a diagnosis of tuberculosis, which would eventually prove fatal.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [November 15, 2015]
Review by Booklist Review
Except possibly for sex, no other aspect of human language holds as much fascination for both the professional linguist and the layperson as do the words we use for food and eating. Jurafsky doggedly hunts down the origins of words such as turkey and sherbet. He offers a marvelous story showing that an Egyptian meat stew, sikbaj, migrated west and north across the Mediterranean basin, eventually becoming England's signature fish and chips. Traveling even farther and with greater consequence for the world's palates, ketchup began as a condiment made from fermented fish and journeyed from China and Southeast Asia to become an ecumenical phenomenon after the discovery of the New World's tomato. Liquors and other alcoholic drinks have their own ancient vocabulary, and it's believed that the world's oldest surviving recipe is for brewing beer. Jurafsky's parsing of the vocabulary used in online restaurant reviews should serve as an object lesson for all presumptive food critics.--Knoblauch, Mark Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The evolution of the names and ingredients in popular foods.Have you ever wondered why ketchup bottles have the word "tomato" on them, why you "toast" to someone's health or why salt is used in the process of making ice cream? In this thoroughly researched book, Jurafsky (Linguistics and Computer Science/Stanford Univ.) answers these questions and many more as he explores the interconnected worlds of food and words. Combining history, geography and etymology, the author travels the world searching for the origins of ethnic dishes and provides readers with a fascinating study of how foods, and the words used to describe them, have been modified over the centuries as cuisines have been absorbed into local cultures. English, Dutch and Portuguese sailors traveled to Asia and brought back fermented fish stews and sauces that added new flavor combinations to the European diet. Spices from India and the Middle East were traded around the globe, and the New World introduced turkey, corn and avocados to the large food-trading houses in Europe. Combining history with modern computer programs to analyze data, the author examines the subtle nuances in the language used on a menu, which can help indicate whether a restaurant is expensive or not. He also studies the way negative words used in product descriptions help push consumers into thinking one brand of potato chips is far superior to another, when in fact, both brands are made from potatoes cooked in oil and covered in salt. Jurafsky also includes intriguing recipes for dishes such as a version of fish stew from 13th-century Egypt or a 1545 recipe from a Tudor cookbook called Chekyns upon soppes ("basically chicken on cinnamon toast"). A highly informative and entertaining compendium of food and word facts sure to appeal to foodies and etymologists alike. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
