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10th out of 11 books
—
2 voters
The Table Comes First: Family, France and the Meaning of Food
by
Adam Gopnik
Transplanted Canadian, New Yorker writer and author of Paris to the Moon, Gopnik is publishing this major new work of narrative non-fiction alongside his 2011 Massey Lecture. An illuminating, beguiling tour of the morals and manners of our present food manias, in search of eating's deeper truths, asking "Where do we go from here?"
Never before have so many North Americans...more
Never before have so many North Americans...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
October 25th 2011
by Knopf Canada
(first published 2011)
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Nov 25, 2011
Linda
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
culinary,
french-francophone
I loved Adam Gopnik's Paris to the Moon and so was delighted to see that the library has another book by the same author. Culinary, French, what could be better? I'm finding myself skimming, skipping much of the book; however, some parts are interesting. I'll reserve judgement.
Okay ... I should just erase the above. As I picked up the book a second time, I knew I needed to start anew and read with a fresher and keener eye; in doing so I realized the full circle the author had come from beginning...more
Okay ... I should just erase the above. As I picked up the book a second time, I knew I needed to start anew and read with a fresher and keener eye; in doing so I realized the full circle the author had come from beginning...more
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“In cooking you begin with the ache and end with the object, where in most of the life of the appetites---courtship, marriage---you start with the object and end with the ache.”
Do you see why I love Adam Gopnik? He can take the simplest of activities---like cooking, for example---and he can find great wisdom there. Half the time I don’t understand what he’s talking about as I’m reading along; it’s only later, when I’m looking over his words again, that his thoughts become clear to me.
Here’s anot...more
Do you see why I love Adam Gopnik? He can take the simplest of activities---like cooking, for example---and he can find great wisdom there. Half the time I don’t understand what he’s talking about as I’m reading along; it’s only later, when I’m looking over his words again, that his thoughts become clear to me.
Here’s anot...more
Mar 30, 2012
Sara
added it
okay, you tell me...
"As museums cross, or so Updike tells us, with the mystique of women, restaurants cross in memory with the optimism of childhood, with birthdays, promises, quiet, and the guilty desires of childhood, too: special treatment, special favours. The Cardinal who never arrives, who sweeps you up into his carriage saying, 'Child, you please me,' becomes the Maitre d' who says, 'Ah, sir, we're so glad to see you!'(page 17)
Come on, that is ridiculous writing. If you make an obscure re...more
"As museums cross, or so Updike tells us, with the mystique of women, restaurants cross in memory with the optimism of childhood, with birthdays, promises, quiet, and the guilty desires of childhood, too: special treatment, special favours. The Cardinal who never arrives, who sweeps you up into his carriage saying, 'Child, you please me,' becomes the Maitre d' who says, 'Ah, sir, we're so glad to see you!'(page 17)
Come on, that is ridiculous writing. If you make an obscure re...more
Adam Gopnik is my favorite current writer of nonfiction. He's brilliant and often funny. He loves his family, France, and food. Though not overtly political, he has liberal sensibilities. He has a wide range of interests in sync with my own, including urbanism, sports, classic novels, and music from Bach to the Stones. And he has interesting insights into aspects of daily life that most of us take for granted. So there are always some great nuggets in anything he writes, but this book is a disap...more
I read this book because I so loved Gopnik's Paris to the Moon. However, as Gopnik notes, "The bad habit of the strategist is to go one bridge too far, and the worst vice of the overeducated is to read one book too many.", I have fallen prey to this vice. The book (particularly the first two chapters) are fairly dense reading and slow-going, but I don't regret having continued to read. Clearly, Gopnik has done some excellent research and has a lot to say. But either his style or my appreciation...more
Mixed feelings about this book. For a start, I felt starved for propert writing about writing about the food. We're all deluged with cook-books, culinary supplements, restaurant reviews, but there is very little writing about this trend. So, who better to do it but Adam Gopnik, essayist supreme of New Yorker fame.
Indeed, he does a very good job, but perhaps he's little bit too good. The essays are great, but feel bit winding and not in 'this is where my mind takes me' and more along the lines of...more
Indeed, he does a very good job, but perhaps he's little bit too good. The essays are great, but feel bit winding and not in 'this is where my mind takes me' and more along the lines of...more
Initially I was really taken aback by the tone of this book and kept asking myself, "who is this guy?". The pompous, elitist tone was a real turnoff. I put it down for a long time and picked it back up again and while I still found the tone annoying and the story not told in any sort of cohesive way, the second half of the book was more interesting. He discussed the locavore movement both tongue in cheek but also as someone who tried to make it work and talked about whether it makes as much econ...more
Following a truly brilliant introduction ("A Small Starter: Questions of Food"), the rest was almost unreadable.
I tried very hard to finish this book, but eventually conceded that it was too much work, since, overall, what I was learning seemed to have little practical value to me.
But for whom would this read as entertainment? Wandering prose, elitist foodie references, and writing that seems far too enamored of itself.
Buried within the minutiae are some very intriguing insights about the mea...more
I tried very hard to finish this book, but eventually conceded that it was too much work, since, overall, what I was learning seemed to have little practical value to me.
But for whom would this read as entertainment? Wandering prose, elitist foodie references, and writing that seems far too enamored of itself.
Buried within the minutiae are some very intriguing insights about the mea...more
8/27/2012: Why was this book such a slog? Gopnik is such a wonderful writer and interesting thinker, so I kept thinking my aversion to picking up the book was a flaw in me, not in the work. I soldiered on. I don't know whether I would have liked it more had I not been on vacation, or distracted--both of which I was.
But I didn't enjoy it, even though I read every word. (and many more than once!) It felt to me like a self-indulgent flight of fancy, an admittedly well-researched and thoughtful, but...more
But I didn't enjoy it, even though I read every word. (and many more than once!) It felt to me like a self-indulgent flight of fancy, an admittedly well-researched and thoughtful, but...more
Anyone who has enjoyed Adam Gopnik in the New Yorker will enjoy this extended visit with his sensibilities and tastes. Although the book was not uniformly delightful to me (it dragged in sections) it was a delight to read his recipes and all of his "emails" to Elizabeth Pennell, American Francophile, food critic, and aesthete along with the chapters "In Vino Veritas," "How does Taste Happen," "Who made the Restaurant'" and "Meat or vegetables?"
Gopnik is refreshingly unpretentious in a field of w...more
Gopnik is refreshingly unpretentious in a field of w...more
I *LOVE* this book, and I am forcing everyone I can to read it. So far, I have bought an audio version for Caleb and a book for friends we were staying with while I was reading it. I borrowed the audiobook from the Elkins Park library, and bought the book for myself.
"The Table Comes First" begins with "On Installing an American Kitchen in Lower Austria," a poem by W. H. Auden, and then launches into a history of the restaurant as we know it, which had its origins in 18th century Paris. In descri...more
"The Table Comes First" begins with "On Installing an American Kitchen in Lower Austria," a poem by W. H. Auden, and then launches into a history of the restaurant as we know it, which had its origins in 18th century Paris. In descri...more
Among the most self-indulgent, over-intellectualized works I've ever encountered--and I actually enjoyed law school. Given my enjoyment of Mr. Gopnik's other work, I am a little surprised to have been so annoyed by this one. However, after suffering through dozens of pages on "taste" as characterized by Hume, Rousseau, Veblen, Becker and others, I suppose I shouldn't.
That said, the sparkle and wit so common to his writing occasionally shines through--in his "correspondence" with Elizabeth Penne...more
That said, the sparkle and wit so common to his writing occasionally shines through--in his "correspondence" with Elizabeth Penne...more
This wasn’t what I was expecting.
What was I expecting?, you might ask. A sort of history, evaluation of the current state of the culinary world, the progress it has made, from home-cooked to fine dining. It was, and it wasn’t.
It took me three weeks to read this book. And that involved a LOT of skimming. Because while Gopnik is full of passion about food and eating (mostly French/French-styled food), he enjoys a too long philosophical ramble, one which leaves more questions than answers, and some...more
What was I expecting?, you might ask. A sort of history, evaluation of the current state of the culinary world, the progress it has made, from home-cooked to fine dining. It was, and it wasn’t.
It took me three weeks to read this book. And that involved a LOT of skimming. Because while Gopnik is full of passion about food and eating (mostly French/French-styled food), he enjoys a too long philosophical ramble, one which leaves more questions than answers, and some...more
I remember enjoying "From Paris to the Moon" when I read it several years ago. I wish I could say his writing style stayed the same. The best thing about this book is the introduction. No kidding. The rest was full of overwrought phrases, references that were so tedious that I didn't even bother to look them up, and so much pretentious, page-filling tripe that I skipped about 30% of this book, just to get to the good historical and sociological parts. If you're not a confident person, this book...more
In this book, Gopnik examines "the meaning of food" by discussing such topics as the underpinnings of taste, the ethics of eating meat, and the history of restaurants and cookbooks. While all of the topics are interesting, Gopnik's scattershot approach does not add up to a coherent whole. Worse, he uses a philosophical, theoretical, meandering way to examine everything when a direct, personal tone and humourous, anecdotal approach would have better served this intimate topic.
Gopnik -- an ardent...more
Gopnik -- an ardent...more
I listened to this in my car and was pleased that it kept me generally engaged. I usually listen to fiction while driving because my mind seems to wander away from anything lacking a strong plot line.
Like many other reviewers, I thought the book a bit mixed - I found some sections an appealing fusion of journalistic reporting and thoughtful discussion of how food carries cultural meanings. However, not being a foodie, I could have dispensed with some of the obsessive discussion of Mr. Gopnik's i...more
I listened to this on audiobook, read by the author. Gopnik's clear passion for the subject and his enthusiastic storytelling made it perhaps more enjoyable than it might have been to read.
The history, stories, and anecdotes he provides are all entertaining and informative, and Gopnik's style funny and approachable, but the structure of the book was a bit distracting. Toward the beginning Gopnik states that in the current world of foodies, food writers, locavores, etc., the focus of the meal has...more
The history, stories, and anecdotes he provides are all entertaining and informative, and Gopnik's style funny and approachable, but the structure of the book was a bit distracting. Toward the beginning Gopnik states that in the current world of foodies, food writers, locavores, etc., the focus of the meal has...more
After hearing the author on the radio, this book seemed quite interesting. Maybe it was because I was unable to devote my full attention to it, but I found some of the discussion within this book to be less than interesting. Overall, I did enjoy the book. It's discussion of the history of restaurants, and the debate between those who eat meat and those who do not...this I liked reading about. Maybe I will go back and revisit this later, but probably not.
I picked this book up because I heard the...more
I picked this book up because I heard the...more
[Overdrive eBook] Fascinating essays on many aspects of food -- including explorations of the origin of the restaurant and cookbooks, a discussion of the current reigning culinary trends, a dialog with a food writer of the late 19th century that Gopnik feels close to, and other amusing bits -- even some recipes. Gopnik overwrites, but forgivably; his essays are such clever triumphs of philosophical wordplay that even when the balloon is full of nothing but hot air, we can admire the precision of...more
I don't often offer up comments on books but I'll make an exception. 97% of this book was utterly useless; My experience was probably even more frustrating because the I listened to the audiobook and the author spoke in as pompous a manner as his style of writing. This was complete with him pronouncing any French names, places or dishes with a French accent. Now, I bet his French is probably better than mine, but his accent is not. I couldn't believe how many terrible mistakes he made. I found m...more
Nov 03, 2011
Roy Kenagy
marked it as to-read
Review: http://bit.ly/rRIwp9
"...a fascinating journey to the roots of our modern obsession with food and culinary culture. From the dawn of our modern tastes in 18th-century France, where the first restaurant was born, to the kitchens of the White House to the Slow Food movement to Barcelona’s bleeding-edge molecular gastronomy scene, Gopnik tours the wild and wonderful world of cuisine, with all its concomitant sociocultural phenomena, to explore the delicate relationship between what goes on...more
"...a fascinating journey to the roots of our modern obsession with food and culinary culture. From the dawn of our modern tastes in 18th-century France, where the first restaurant was born, to the kitchens of the White House to the Slow Food movement to Barcelona’s bleeding-edge molecular gastronomy scene, Gopnik tours the wild and wonderful world of cuisine, with all its concomitant sociocultural phenomena, to explore the delicate relationship between what goes on...more
Like a lot of New Yorker writing: smart erudite, full of itself, smug and really terrific. The ping ponging between terrific and annoying is a little exhausting though. In this, Gopnik collects his New yorker pieces on eating and restaurants and adds a few new things. Some of it is just wonderful. His dissapointment that one of his food writing idols was anti-semetic was strong. He speaks well on the changing of taste as well as the history of sweets. Then he just drones on, and name drops and t...more
I really wanted to like this book; I like the author; I like the topic. I don't mind a little philosophy and history in the least, but Gopnik takes it to extremes in the first two chapters. Then he tries to argue that there is no such thing as "taste," only frames for taste. His defense of Robert Parker (yes, the man who brought the French wine industry to its knees in imitation of Coke or Pepsi or some other sweet drink) in the wine chapter and, in general, he just annoyed the heck of out me. I...more
Though this book is first and foremost about food and dining, it is really more of an exploration and explication of all cultural tastes. Gopnik relies on anecdote and archives to relay his own opinions on the matter -- which basically boil down to the fact that, though tastes are always relative and historically contingent, they are also the only things worth fighting over. Very little of this book is reprinted from Gopnik's New Yorker pieces, so for those who have hesitated to read it because...more
Adam Gopnik reads like MFK Fisher, minus heart, charm, or lovely turns of phrase.
While some of his writing did have humor, I could almost hear the New Yorker guffaws after punch lines. Overall, his style didn't appeal to me. Neither did sentences like this one:
"I notice that, in your essay on the perfect dinner, you dish-drop pommes soufflées."
*insert pompous guffaw*
I thought the current movement in food has been about making food more accessible, but with this book, Adam Gopnik does nothing to...more
While some of his writing did have humor, I could almost hear the New Yorker guffaws after punch lines. Overall, his style didn't appeal to me. Neither did sentences like this one:
"I notice that, in your essay on the perfect dinner, you dish-drop pommes soufflées."
*insert pompous guffaw*
I thought the current movement in food has been about making food more accessible, but with this book, Adam Gopnik does nothing to...more
Really fantastic. Pushed me to consider my preferences and the effect of time and place on what we consider it normal to consume. Lots of enticing and fun descriptions of food and eating.
On food in today's American society:
"Questions of food seem to have taken on a great importance for us now, too. An obsessive interest in food is not a rich man’s indulgence, confined to catering schools and the marginal world of recipe books. Questions of food have become the proper preoccupation of whole class...more
On food in today's American society:
"Questions of food seem to have taken on a great importance for us now, too. An obsessive interest in food is not a rich man’s indulgence, confined to catering schools and the marginal world of recipe books. Questions of food have become the proper preoccupation of whole class...more
Eat this book!
How far things have come since Yippie philosopher Abbie Hoffman's publisher invited consumers to "Steal This Book," by giving it that very title.
Maybe author Adam Gopnik remembers former French President Francois Mitterand remarking that the United States was "a country waiting to be entertained" when he launched a body of work that mixed food and literature quite so lovingly.
A few chapters "The Table Comes First," and you may very well try to eat it, or at least take a crack at o...more
How far things have come since Yippie philosopher Abbie Hoffman's publisher invited consumers to "Steal This Book," by giving it that very title.
Maybe author Adam Gopnik remembers former French President Francois Mitterand remarking that the United States was "a country waiting to be entertained" when he launched a body of work that mixed food and literature quite so lovingly.
A few chapters "The Table Comes First," and you may very well try to eat it, or at least take a crack at o...more
Here's my review for the Star Tribune newspaper:
For his last meal on earth, Adam Gopnik would have roast chicken with lemon and an apricot souffle for dessert. Or maybe beef with béarnaise sauce, with chocolate pot-au-crème for dessert.
Questions of food consume Gopnik in “The Table Comes First: Family, France and the Meaning of Food,” an exploration of eating from the earliest restaurant in pre-Revolutionary Paris to what we find at our dinner tables now.
Gopnik travels from the United States to...more
For his last meal on earth, Adam Gopnik would have roast chicken with lemon and an apricot souffle for dessert. Or maybe beef with béarnaise sauce, with chocolate pot-au-crème for dessert.
Questions of food consume Gopnik in “The Table Comes First: Family, France and the Meaning of Food,” an exploration of eating from the earliest restaurant in pre-Revolutionary Paris to what we find at our dinner tables now.
Gopnik travels from the United States to...more
i wouldn't have bought this but as it was given to me, i read it. i read his 'paris to the moon' or whatever it was called. before i read that, i had enjoyed reading his articles in the new yorker. 'paris moon' was overkill. he was cloyingly proud of being an american in paris, one with...children! so when 'table comes first' arrived in the post, i wasn't thrilled. but then i read reviews on goodreads of people who had loved 'paris moon' and hated this new one. so i thought there might be hope....more
I admit I didn't read this all the way through, but I thoroughly enjoyed the chapters on the history of food and wine writing. Gopnik's book is like a polished essay--highly researched with history, literature, humor and his own personal experience all mingling like a good recipe. If I were a foodie I would give this five stars, but my mind wandered and the book was more academic than my mood at the time. Still I can admire the mind and the writer--and I learned some things!
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An American writer, essayist and commentator. He is best known as a staff writer for The New Yorker—to which he has contributed non-fiction, fiction, memoir and criticism—and as the author of the essay collection Paris to the Moon, an account of the half-decade that Gopnik, wife Martha, and son Luke spent in the capital of France.
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