Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson

More aptly subtitled, "What A Sociologist Talks About When She Talks About Food". For Parkhurst Ferguson, that means hefty helpings of jargon and sweeping generalizations about cooking and food culture. The former I found hard to understand (I still don't know what she means by "field"), and the latter I sometimes disagreed with. I especially disliked her insistence on drawing a distinction between feminine home cooks and male chefs -- a divide that, with the rise of many, many women chefs, no longer makes sense. (Besides which, the word she made up? "Chefing"? Ugh.) And her book focuses almost exclusively on Western gastronomy, particularly French, so the pronoun "We" in the title is really misleading. But she does have some interesting things to say about the various competing priorities of a restaurant experience, and it was fun to read about some food history and food-related films and stories, though one could probably find all that somewhere else -- or better yet, just watch "Ratatouille" for yourself.… (plus d'informations)