Haute Cuisine

[Jonathan Day]

This evening while wandering around the Web I came across a book called Haute Cuisine: How the French Invented the Culinary Profession by Amy Trubek.

Trubek is an instructor at the New England Culinary Institute. She holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania, received an 'Advanced Degree' from the Cordon Bleu cookery school in London and worked as a chef at a restaurant called Chelsea's, in Vero Beach, Florida. She was recently elected 'Food and Society Policy Fellow' by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and Thomas Jefferson Agricultural Institute (click here) for more information.

The publishers' blurb says that the book "explores the fascinating story of how the traditions of France came to dominate the culinary world." This alone suggests that the book's arguments and information are likely to be relevant to discussions on these boards.

Wilfrid has very briefly mentioned this book in two threads (run a general search under "Trubek" for details) but thus far we haven't had a review of Trubek's book on eGullet. So the purpose of this post is to ask whether he or any other member might care to read the book and share a summary or comments.

To order from amazon.com, click here.

[cabrales]

Jonathan -- I recently purchased the book, along with the following: "The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture", by Rebecca Spang.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/067...2505362-3096919

I will probably read the above within the next month or month-and-a-half, and could provide a short summary. I don't know whether that's timely. In addition, there are a few relevant out-of-print books in my gastronomic books collection that I try to draw from.

[Jonathan Day]

Cabrales, that would be a terrific contribution. Thank you. And I hope you will take just as much time as you need to read, reflect and share your thinking.

[IrishCream]

I have a book entitled "The Last Days of Haute Cuisine: America's Culinary Revolution" by Patric Kuh. I have only skimmed it but it may fit into this topic?

[Jonathan Day]

It may indeed. I noticed it the other day. Would you have time to write a quick review?

[IrishCream]

I'll work on it!