Thursday, July 21, 2011

Pg. 99: Ina Lipkowitz's "Words To Eat By"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Words to Eat By: Five Foods and the Culinary History of the English Language by Ina Lipkowitz.

About the book, from the publisher:
English food words tell a remarkable story about the evolution of our language and culinary history, revealing a collision of cultures from the time Caesar first arrived on British shores to the present day. Words to Eat By explores the stories behind five of our most basic food words, words which reveal our powerful associations with certain foods. Using sources that range from Roman histories to Julia Child’s recipes, Ina Lipkowitz shows how saturated with French and Italian names the English culinary vocabulary is. But the words for our most basic foodstuffs—bread, milk, leek, meat, and apple—are still rooted in Old English. Words to Eat By will make readers reconsider the foods they eat and the words they use to describe them. Brimming with information, this book offers an analysis of our culinary and linguistic heritage that is as accessible as it is enlightening.
Learn more about Words To Eat By at the publisher's website.

Ina Lipkowitz is a Lecturer in MIT's Literature Department. Her research brings together her background in comparative literature and biblical studies with her interest in culinary history.

The Page 99 Test: Words to Eat By.

--Marshal Zeringue