Books about food/ eating?

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Books about food/ eating?

1SolerSystem
dec 4, 2020, 8:54 pm

One of my other hobbies besides book collecting is food- cooking it, eating it, and, yes, reading about it. I want to combine the two hobbies- are there any books you can recommend? The only one I've found so far is the LEC Physiology of Taste.

2jroger1
dec 4, 2020, 9:42 pm

“Of Cannibals“ is an essay, one of those in the collection Essays, by Michel de Montaigne, describing the ceremonies of the Tupinambá people in Brazil. In particular, he reported about how the group ceremoniously ate the bodies of their dead enemies as a matter of honor. In his work, he uses cultural relativism and compares the cannibalism to the "barbarianism" of 16th-century Europe. - Wikipedia

3MobyRichard
Redigeret: dec 4, 2020, 10:15 pm

>2 jroger1:

Lol. That essay's not really about eating, but I can see you couldn't resist. :p

>1 SolerSystem:
There are several books that take a much broader view of food, but I don't really know of any fine press that are anything like The Physiology of Taste.

Maybe The Adventures of Chef Gallois from Yolla Bolly Press...or the Pear Book Folio Society LE.

There are also the older Herbals like Gerard's "Herball, or Generall Historie of Plante." Not focused on food, but I believe there is some incidental discussion about edible stuff like garlic, etc. Dover Publications printed a trade facsimile with a more recent edition under their Calla imprint.

There's also an essay by Charles Lamb entitled "a dissertation on roast pig." There are several older fine press printings which include it, one is a Collected Works printed on Japanese Vellum from the Merrymont Press. I used to have a complete set but those **** at USPS lost three of the volumes.

4jeremyjm
dec 4, 2020, 10:19 pm

I think The Prototype Press is doing an edition of 'Consider the Oyster' next year.

5BuzzBuzzard
dec 4, 2020, 10:28 pm

What about the Physiology of Taste by Brillat-Savarin? The Limited Editions Club published a nice edition in 1949.

6Glacierman
dec 5, 2020, 12:11 am

The second book from the Arion Press:

#2: A Commonplace Book of Cookery, compiled by Robert Grabhorn
A collection of proverbs, anecdotes, opinions, and obscure facts on food, drink, cooking, and dining, with a preface by M. F. K. Fisher. 425 copies, 1975.

7DenimDan
dec 5, 2020, 2:57 pm

Rose's Aga Recipes from the Whittington Press. It's available in several editions (price points), different bindings, recipes, illustrations, etc. Food books aren't really my thing, but this one does have some cool linocuts.

8kermaier
dec 5, 2020, 7:56 pm

The Ascensius Press did an edition of “Consider the Lobster” by David Foster Wallace.

9cbellia
dec 6, 2020, 6:28 pm

http://pics.cdn.librarything.com//picsizes/10/c3/10c35515cf25cd96368394677674469... Heritage Press 1964 Excesses in Roman feasts fun reading

10elladan0891
dec 7, 2020, 9:13 am

>1 SolerSystem:
Private Press:

Babette's Feast, Yolla Bolly Press
The Adventures of Chef Gallois, Yolla Bolly Press

Commercial Fine Press:

Westvaco's 1963 American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, based on the 1796 first edition

Folio Society's 1979 Dumas on Food. Selections from Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine by Alexandre Dumas père.

FS 2017 The Gastronomical Me by M. F. K. Fisher

FS 2012 Good Things by Jane Grigson

FS Elizabeth David series: An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, A Book of Mediterranean Food, Italian Food, French Country Cooking, French Provincial Cooking, Summer Cooking, Elizabeth David's Christmas

11elladan0891
dec 7, 2020, 9:26 am

And one more wonderful book about eating, although not exactly food:
LEC Confessions of an English Opium-Eater :P

12SebRinelli
dec 7, 2020, 10:54 am

>11 elladan0891: hahaha

Still worth owning. One of the most beautiful LECs in my (small) library.

13abysswalker
dec 7, 2020, 12:29 pm

If cocktails count, I can give several recommendation, though all would be in the domain elladan0891 calls commercial fine press. (Arguably, such books seem more suitable for handling around food.)

14dpbbooks
dec 7, 2020, 3:21 pm

A few of my favorites:

Bohemian San Francisco: Its Restaurants and Their Most Famous Recipes by Clarence E. Edwords, SF: Paul Elder (1914). Printed by The Tomoye Press.

There have been many on wine:

Napa Valley Heyday by Richard Dillon, SF: The Book Club of California (2004). Designed by Jonathan Clark of the Artichoke Press.

Winemaking in California by Ernest Peninou, SF: Peregrine Press (1954). Printed by Henry Evans.

The Vineyards and Wine Cellars of California by Thomas Hardy, SF: The Book Club of California (1994). Printed by The Yolla Bolly Press.

William Morris and his Praise of Wine by Ward Ritchie, LA: The Ward Ritchie Press (1958)

My favorite on drinking: Early American Inebrietatis: Review of the Development of American Habits in Drink and the National Bias and Fixations Resulting therefrom by Marcus Esketh Crahan LA: The Zamorano Club (1964). Printed by Saul and Lilian Marks at the Plantin Press.

15Jan7Smith
dec 7, 2020, 8:54 pm

Life is Meals by James Salter and his wife is a very interesting culinary book.

16kcshankd
dec 8, 2020, 12:32 pm

Not a fine edition, but Secrets of the Tsil Cafe has always stuck with me. A novel interspersed with recipes, or a cookbook with a novel pasted to it. I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner one time using several of the recipes - a mole sauce, spicy chocolate mousse, and green chili mashed potatoes as I recall.


17jeremyjm
feb 21, 2021, 1:32 pm

This upcoming event might be of interest on this topic - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/california-virtual-book-fair-tour-whats-cooking-tic...

18tim_rylance
feb 23, 2021, 5:22 am

Russell Maret's Hungry Bibliophiles is a fine press cookery book of sorts. He wanted to investigate the idea that sizing the paper after printing would produce a more robust book. So he compiled a collection of recipes, printed 75 copies on unsized paper, sized the printed books, and distributed them to friends encouraging them to use and annotate the recipes. A year later, he collected the annotated and food-splattered books, photographed the "best" pages and printed an affordable paperback facsimile in an edition of 250 copies.

Oak Knoll have plenty of copies at $50. And if you want one of the original 75 copies, Rulon-Miller have one at $4375 (!)

Some iPhone snaps follow. I had to use heavy books to hold down the edges and the unusually sunny day cast heavy shadows but they should give some idea what you get for your $50.

I must admit I have not tried cooking any of the recipes yet.












19jveezer
jun 18, 2022, 5:50 pm

The Arion Press Physiology of Taste is too far down my wish list to ever grace my shelves, so I am happy to pick up the Counterpoint Press trade edition of the AP for $25 from Powells. Score!

I have the Folio Society edition as well but couldn't resist this one.

20jveezer
jun 27, 2022, 5:52 pm

My Physiology of Taste just showed up. Initial reaction? Holy Crap! How did I get this book for $25????

21ChampagneSVP
jun 27, 2022, 6:13 pm

Yes, it is an excellent and cost-effective substitute for the Arion edition for most of us. For anyone interested, please know that Counterpoint did a few trade edition printings and versions, including a paperback. The one you want is the 1995 hardback (blue cloth hardcover, dust jacket, sewn binding, acid free paper) ISBN 1887178090. There are nine color lithos and 200 b/w drawings, just as in the Arion edition.

22Randman111
aug 5, 2022, 9:54 pm

Someone else had mentioned it, but I have the Prototype Press "Consider the Oyster" and it is very well done. The quality and craftsmanship is very high. It's a very fun read and includes many recipes that are bound to stir up an appetite.

https://www.theprototypepress.com/product-page/consider-the-oyster