The Culinary Imagination: From Myth to Modernity

There was no "food memoir" section in the bookstores until recently. Cookbooks used to be how-to manuals and it was unusual to read them for entertainment until not long ago. The only programs about preparing food on TV before Julia Child´s French Chef were intended to inform, not to entertain. What changed? In The Culinary Imagination, Sandra Gilbert suggests that maybe things haven´t really changed all that much, after all. She looks at food-themed literature, memoirs, television and film, poetry, even paintings and sculpture from classical times to the present. It´s a pretty broad topic, and The Culinary Imagination acts as a survey, introducing us to examples of food-themed cultural works. Gilbert adds criticism and opinion that spices it all up. You can compare notes with her if you´re familiar with the show/book/poem, and if you aren´t familiar with the work under discussion, it´s hard to resist stopping to find a copy immediately. You´ll want to make a list as you read of works to look up and see for yourself.