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Item Details
| Title:
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CHEESE, PEARS, AND HISTORY IN A PROVERB
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| By: |
Massimo Montanari, Beth Archer Brombert (Trans) |
| Format: |
Electronic book text |
| List price:
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£19.18 |
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We believe that this item is permanently unavailable, and so we cannot source
it.
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| ISBN 10: |
0231526938 |
| ISBN 13: |
9780231526937 |
| Publisher: |
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS |
| Pub. date: |
20 August, 2010 |
| Series: |
Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History |
| Pages: |
176 |
| Translated from: |
Italian |
| Description: |
At first, cheese and its visceral, earthy pleasures were treated as the food of Polyphemus, the uncivilized man-beast. The pear, on the other hand, became the symbol of ephemeral, luxuriant pleasure--an indulgence of the social elite. Joined together, cheese and pears adopted an exclusive savoir faire, especially as the "natural phenomenon" of taste evolved into a cultural attitude. Montanari's delectable history straddles written and oral traditions, economic and social relations, and thrills in the power of mental representation. His ultimate discovery shows that the enduring proverb, so wrapped up in history, operates not only as a repository of shared wisdom but also as a rich locus of social conflict. |
| Synopsis: |
"Do not let the peasant know how good cheese is with pears" goes the extremely well known yet hard to decipher saying. Intrigued by this proverb, which has endured since the Middle Ages, Massimo Montanari launches an adventurous history of its origins and utility. Perusing archival cookbooks, agricultural and dietary treatises, literary works, and anthologies of beloved proverbs, Montanari finds in the nobility's demanding palettes and delicate stomachs a deep love of cheese with pears from medieval times onward. At first, cheese and its visceral, earthy pleasures was treated as the food of Polyphemus, the uncivilized man-beast. The pear, on the other hand, became the symbol of ephemeral, luxuriant pleasure& mdash;the indulgence of the social elite. Joined together, cheese and pears embodied an exclusive savoir faire, especially as the notion of taste as a natural phenomenon evolved into a cultural attitude. Montanari's delectable history straddles the line between written and oral tradition, between economic and social relations, and it thrills in the vivid power of mental representation.He ultimately discovers that the ambiguous proverb, so wrapped up in history, is not a repository of shared wisdom but a rich locus of social conflict. |
| Publication: |
US |
| Imprint: |
Wallflower Press |
| Returns: |
Non-returnable |
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