Posted by admin | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 31-07-2009
Tags: books, english, language, oxford, oxford book of carols, oxford book of english verse, oxford books, oxford bookstore, oxford bookworms, reference
FOOD : an Oxford Anthology
FOOD : an Oxford Anthology
Book Review by Vikram Karve
Food is a basic necessity of man, not just a mere necessity but a desire, and, probably, there is no love greater than the love of food.
I am an avid Foodie, and not only do I love and relish eating good food, but I am fond of all aspects of food – reading, writing, watching about food.
So when I chanced upon an appetizing anthology, of writings on Food, in my library I was indeed enticed.
Dear Reader, and Fellow Foodie, let me tell you about it.
Title: FOOD An Oxford Anthology
Edited by: BRIGID ALLEN
Published by: Oxford University Press (1994)
ISBN 0-19-212327-0
The brief introduction elucidates that “The chief objects of this anthology are to satisfy curiosity (about what and how people ate, what they felt about food, how they celebrated with it, and how it varied from country to country and region to region), and to provide both pleasure and literary reflection.”
This delightful anthology comprises pieces of prose and poetry which explore attitudes, emotional and social resonances connected with food.
The anthology comprises six parts titled – People, Foodstuffs and Cooking, Eating at Home and Abroad, Lavishness, Austerity, and Food and Emotions – and each past contains a number of interesting sections on a variety of topics ranging from Food and Character, Eating Habits, Recipes, Parties and Ceremonial Food to explorations between Food and various emotions like Dreams, fantasy, Distress, Happiness, Sensuality, Love, and Sex.
“Food is a profound subject and one, incidentally, about which no writer lies,” writes Iris Murdoch (p 20) in the featured extract of The Sea, The Sea, in the chapter on Eating Habits, and continues, “I wonder whence I derived my felicitous gastronomic intelligence.”
Appetizing descriptions of food experienced by travelers all over the world, including on board ships, are featured in the section on Eating at Home and Abroad. The pieces on India (reminiscent of the Raj including pieces by VS Naipaul and EM Forster) make entertaining reading as do the recipes in poetry form.
The meat of the book is the section titled “Lavishness” comprising writings on Ceremonial Food, Parties, Greed, Excess – and lest you get carried away and indulge yourself too much there immediately follows the chapter on “Austerity” which extols the virtues of Simple Food, Diets and Dieting and goes on to kill your appetite with nauseating stomach-churning prose and poems on Unpleasant Food.
I enjoyed the chapter on Food and Emotions. Here is a poem on Food and Happiness “TO A POOR OLD WOMAN” (p 388):
munching a plum on
the street a paper bag
of them in her hand
They taste good to her
They taste good
to her. They taste
good to her.
And what can I say on the concluding section of the anthology titled “Food, Sensuality, Love, and Sex”…?
Well, Dear Reader, why don’t you read it for yourself…?
The dust jacket, with a decorative illustration of a vegetable market on the cover, introduces the Editor, Brigid Allen, as a cookery writer and historian educated at Oxford and London Universities and indeed she has compiled an appetizing, droll and enjoyable collection of writing on Food.
An excellent book on food writing – nourishing reading for foodies and bibliophiles alike.
VIKRAM KARVE
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
About the Author
VIKRAM KARVE educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU and The Lawrence School Lovedale, is an Electronics and Communications Engineer by profession, a Human Resource and Training Manager by occupation, a Teacher by vocation, a Creative Writer by inclination and a Foodie by passion. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. His delicious foodie blogs have been compiled in a book “Appetite for a Stroll”. Vikram lives in Pune with his family and pet Doberman girl Sherry, with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts. Vikram Karve Creative Writing Blog – http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com Email: vikramkarve@sify.com
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