Sweet Invention
A History of Dessert
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
From the sacred fudge served to India's gods to the ephemeral baklava of Istanbul's harems, the towering sugar creations of Renaissance Italy, and the exotically scented macarons of twenty-first century Paris, the world's confectionary arts have not only mirrored social, technological, and political revolutions, they have also, in many ways, been in their vanguard. Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert captures the stories of sweet makers past and present from India, the Middle East, Italy, France, Vienna, and the United States, as author Michael Krondl meets with confectioners around the globe, savoring and exploring the dessert icons of each tradition. Readers will be tantalized by the rich history of each region's unforgettable desserts and tempted to try their own hand at a time-honored recipe. A fascinating and rewarding read for any lover of sugar, butter, and cream, Sweet Invention embraces the pleasures of dessert while unveiling the secular, metaphysical, and even sexual uses that societies have found for it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A food historian and former chef, Krondl (The Taste of Conquest), combines copious research and skilled narrative in this delightful journey through the history of dessert. "When you talk about dessert you step away from analyzing basic human needs to a conversation about culture," Krondl writes. He begins his narrative in India, "because of its national obsession with dessert." Krondl then explores the habits and sweet predilections of the Middle East, Italy, France, Austria, and the U.S. Along this sugar-studded route, readers learn how at one time in France sugar was mainly used to season fish and was used as an additive to foods intended for invalids; why Paris confectioners tried rescuing Marie Antoinette from the guillotine; and why Austrians are the "maestros of cake." For those who want to indulge in more backstory, Krondl provides entertaining footnotes, a few recipes, and an extensive bibliography for further investigation.
