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The Language of Food
- A Linguist Reads the Menu
- Narrated by: Steven Menasche
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
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Publisher's summary
Why do we eat toast for breakfast, and then toast to good health at dinner? What does the turkey we eat on Thanksgiving have to do with the country on the eastern Mediterranean? Can you figure out how much your dinner will cost by counting the words on the menu?
In The Language of Food, Stanford University professor and MacArthur Fellow Dan Jurafsky peels away the mysteries from the foods we think we know. Thirteen chapters evoke the joy and discovery of reading a menu dotted with the sharp-eyed annotations of a linguist. Jurafsky points out the subtle meanings hidden in filler words like "rich" and "crispy", zeroes in on the metaphors and storytelling tropes we rely on in restaurant reviews, and charts a micro-universe of marketing language on the back of a bag of potato chips. The fascinating journey through The Language of Food uncovers a global atlas of culinary influences. With Jurafsky's insight, words like ketchup, macaron, and even salad become living fossils that contain the patterns of early global exploration that predate our modern fusion-filled world. From ancient recipes preserved in Sumerian song lyrics to colonial shipping routes that first connected East and West, Jurafsky paints a vibrant portrait of how our foods developed. A surprising history of culinary exchange - a sharing of ideas and culture as much as ingredients and flavors - lies just beneath the surface of our daily snacks, soups, and suppers. Engaging and informed, Jurafsky's unique study illuminates an extraordinary network of language, history, and food. The menu is yours to enjoy.
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James Beard award - winning author Adrian Miller vividly tells the stories of the African Americans who worked in the presidential food service as chefs, personal cooks, butlers, stewards, and servers for every First Family since George and Martha Washington. Miller brings together the names and words of more than 150 black men and women who played remarkable roles in unforgettable events in the nation's history.
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Disappointed
- By TS on 08-17-21
By: Adrian Miller
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Ingredienti
- Marcella's Guide to the Market
- By: Marcella Hazan, Victor Hazan
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Marcella Hazan died in 2013, the world mourned the passing of the "Godmother of Italian cooking". But her legacy lives on, through her cookbooks and recipes, and in the handwritten notebooks filled with her thoughts on how to select the best ingredients - Ingredienti. Her husband and longtime collaborator Victor has translated and transcribed these vignettes on how to buy and what to do with the fresh produce used in Italian cooking, the elements of an essential pantry, and salumi.
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Once again, Marcella Says
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High on the Hog
- A Culinary Journey from Africa to America
- By: Jessica B. Harris
- Narrated by: Jessica Harris
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Acclaimed cookbook author Jessica B. Harris weaves an utterly engaging history of African American cuisine, taking the listener on a harrowing journey from Africa across the Atlantic to America, and tracking the trials that the people and the food have undergone along the way. From chitlins and ham hocks to fried chicken and vegan soul, Harris celebrates the delicious and restorative foods of the African American experience and details how each came to form an important part of African American culture, history, and identity.
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more of a history lesson than a culinary book
- By Scott Johnson on 09-02-15
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The Blue Zones Solution
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- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
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Dan Buettner, the New York Times best-selling author of The Blue Zones, lays out a proven plan to maximize your health based on the practices of the world's healthiest people. For the first time, Buettner reveals how to transform your health using smart eating and lifestyle habits gleaned from new research on the diets, eating habits, and lifestyle practices of the communities he's identified as "Blue Zones"—those places with the world's longest-lived and thus healthiest people.
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Good Info, Well Presented
- By Soozzone on 06-29-15
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Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
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A visionary new master class in cooking that distills decades of professional experience into just four simple elements, from the woman declared "America's next great cooking teacher" by Alice Waters.
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EXCELLENT, BUT...
- By KJNuri on 01-23-18
By: Samin Nosrat
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Chop Suey
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- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
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In 1784, passengers on the ship Empress of China became the first Americans to land in China and the first to eat Chinese food. Today there are over 40,000 Chinese restaurants across the United States - by far the most plentiful among all our ethnic eateries. Now, in Chop Suey, Andrew Coe provides the authoritative history of the American infatuation with Chinese food, telling its fascinating story for the first time.
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Wanted to like this
- By Irene on 02-13-21
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The Tastemakers
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In this eye-opening, witty work of reportage, David Sax uncovers the world of food trends: Where they come from, how they grow, and where they end up. Traveling from the South Carolina rice plot of America’s premier grain guru to Chicago’s gluttonous Baconfest, Sax reveals a world of influence, money, and activism that helps decide what goes on your plate.
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Informative - Engaging - Entertaining!
- By Rena on 09-01-14
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Healthy at Last
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Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is on a mission to tackle one of the most stubborn health problems in the country: chronic disease in the African American community.
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Inspirational book for a great health
- By Fiore Roman on 04-28-21
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Eating for England
- The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table
- By: Nigel Slater
- Narrated by: Nigel Slater
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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The British have a relationship with their food that is unlike that of any other country. Once something that was never discussed in polite company, it is now something with which the nation is obsessed. But are we at last developing a food culture or are we just going through the motions? Eating for England is an entertaining, detailed, and somewhat tongue-in-cheek observation of the British and their food, their cooking, their eating, and how they behave in restaurants.
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A Must-Hear!
- By Laura on 07-04-08
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Ten Restaurants That Changed America
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Ten Restaurants That Changed America reveals how the history of our restaurants reflects nothing less than the history of America itself. Whether charting the rise of our love affair with Chinese food through San Francisco's the Mandarin, evoking the richness of Italian food through Mamma Leone's, or chronicling French haute cuisine through Henri Soulé's Le Pavillon, Paul Freedman uses each restaurant to tell a story of race and class, immigration and assimilation.
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Worthwhile listen, cringe-worthy pronunciations
- By Tag Christof on 09-01-20
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Ferran
- The Inside Story of El Bulli and the Man Who Reinvented Food
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In his lively, unprecedented close-up portrait of Ferran Adrià, award-winning food writer Colman Andrews traces this groundbreaking chef’s rise from resort hotel dishwasher to culinary deity, and the evolution of El Bulli from a German-owned beach bar into the establishment voted annually by an international jury to be “the world’s best restaurant”.
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recasting needed
- By Marco I on 09-09-18
By: Colman Andrews
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What listeners say about The Language of Food
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- cpip
- 01-24-15
Highly interesting but a lot of fluff
I loved the points and Information being expressed... There was too much fluff to get to the point... It made it very hard to focus
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3 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 07-14-24
A 4 degraded to 3/5 because of the narration
Very interesting account of the history behind food and food cultures around the world, as well as its connection with languages and human perceptions, highlighting their interconnectedness. However, the narrator is unprofessional and would mispronounce English words such as “prevalent”, let alone French, Chinese, Arabic, etc. If possible I would love to hear the author’s voice as linguists would narrate their own work better thanks to their ability in pronunciation (e.g. David Chrystal and his books). In this case I’d recommend reading the book rather than adding this title to your library, if you’re truly interested don’t let the narration ruin your experience of The Language of Food — even though it’s free. Don’t do it
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- Fastidious Kingdoms
- 10-02-18
You may prefer the print edition.
Though the book is interesting and full of insights, the narrator sounds faintly (or not so faintly) like a buzzsaw. It’s not the worst narration I’ve heard, but it’s far from the best.
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- qal
- 12-10-17
not that interesting
This book was not particularly informative and quite boring at times. He repeated himself or draw out his discussions much too long.
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- Mohammad M
- 11-07-17
Get the book, not the audiobook
I really liked the contents of this book. It covers a number of linguistic adventures into the meaning of various food words and how they have evolved across different cultures. However, audiobook is not the best medium for the contents of this book. The book contains menus, recipes, and illustrations that do not translate well in audio format. On top of this, the narrator mispronounces several non-English words. I'm going to return this audiobook and the get the paper book instead.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mary
- 07-21-23
Very interesting
I liked the information presented and I feel like it all related to each other in an interesting way. It’s cool to hear about where different foods come from and how they are named. Very interesting take on food history.
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- Gwenna Laithland
- 10-04-17
A good blend of food and language.
Not a bad read. Short and interesting enough. He swings from being a bit too heady to a smidge pedantic from time to time but overall it has good content and explanation of terms, techniques and ideas. He uses anecdotal transitions quite a bit that I found slightly out of place given the rest of the story but not so much as it detracted from the overall story. I didn't much care for the narrator at first but ultimately his tone and pacing worked with the book.
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- Diane Campion
- 02-20-19
Language and Food
This is well worth your time if you love food & have an interest in food history and linguistics.
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- khaledalyami001
- 12-20-15
great book..
reading this book for one time is not enough as it is very interestingly informative
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- Suman V Ravuri
- 05-31-15
Narrator ruins this otherwise interesting book
This would have been a nice, interesting but light and fast listen if the narrator hadn't been so insufferable. Try reading this instead.
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2 people found this helpful