Rating: 
Summary: A Broad Textbook
Review: Although I am extremely interested in the culinary arts, I do not enjoy reading and therefore I found myself getting bogged down in this extremely lengthy book. I had to read the book for my culinary arts class but do not think it should be required for a first year student. Some students might become intimidated by the vast amount of information that is given to them so quickly. Some of the history is interesting but I guess I was expecting to learn more about the actual cooking procedures. I'm sure I will use this book as a reference through out my culinary training, but I think it was too broad for use as a textbook.
Rating:
Summary: A review of Food a Culinary history for culinary history
Review: Book Review for Food a Culinary History Food a Culinary History was the book that we had to read for Culinary History 101 this semester. It was about the culture of different countries and their way of life through history. It told of how food in these different cultures has evolved since man was living in caves and scavenging or food. It seemed to lack however the way people are today witch was a large let down because that is something that interests me a lot.
I thought that this book was way to drawn out and last the reader about half way in on the first page. It just gave so much detail about the different cultures. The language of the book was that of someone really trying to be smart and I feel didn't connect with me as the reader. I believe that the way the book was written with it's over whelming amounts of information made the book something that u didn't want to read at all. I feel that I learned a lot from this book but it was all useless information about cultures that existed thousands of years ago. When it did finally get to the modern world it still drowned on about the same things from earlier in the book. It didn't seem to matter with some countries because some didn't change over time they just stayed the same and yet the author still talked about those things.
I found nothing interesting in this book. It was just someone telling the history of the world and not using anything that would entertain the reader. I found it to be more like a badly written text book from junior high then a text book from college. It might have caught the readers attention better if their had been more important facts rather then the ramblings of the author. The format of the book was one of the things that I actually liked. I found that it stated in the most logical place and ended there too. It also gave u a good over view of the historical timeline and was easy to keep up with. I think that this books worthiness was less then poor. Not only did it not seem to go well with what was taught in class or even come close to following that at all but it was overly long. It was nothing that would catch anyone's attention I believe and could be shortened by a few hundred pages and still carry all the information one would need to know. Over all I believe that either the curriculum should be better tailored to the book or the book should be done away with and something new found to replace it.
I didn't like this book at all. I usually find history to be a most exciting subject. This went into so much detail that it made u just not want to read it. If u did decide to read you could only handle a couple pages at a time so your head didn't start to pound after a little while. If something could be found that was a little less long winded and maybe a little more interesting then I would have been a happy student.
Rating:
Summary: A review of Food a Culinary history for culinary history
Review: Book Review for Food a Culinary History Food a Culinary History was the book that we had to read for Culinary History 101 this semester. It was about the culture of different countries and their way of life through history. It told of how food in these different cultures has evolved since man was living in caves and scavenging or food. It seemed to lack however the way people are today witch was a large let down because that is something that interests me a lot.
I thought that this book was way to drawn out and last the reader about half way in on the first page. It just gave so much detail about the different cultures. The language of the book was that of someone really trying to be smart and I feel didn't connect with me as the reader. I believe that the way the book was written with it's over whelming amounts of information made the book something that u didn't want to read at all. I feel that I learned a lot from this book but it was all useless information about cultures that existed thousands of years ago. When it did finally get to the modern world it still drowned on about the same things from earlier in the book. It didn't seem to matter with some countries because some didn't change over time they just stayed the same and yet the author still talked about those things.
I found nothing interesting in this book. It was just someone telling the history of the world and not using anything that would entertain the reader. I found it to be more like a badly written text book from junior high then a text book from college. It might have caught the readers attention better if their had been more important facts rather then the ramblings of the author. The format of the book was one of the things that I actually liked. I found that it stated in the most logical place and ended there too. It also gave u a good over view of the historical timeline and was easy to keep up with. I think that this books worthiness was less then poor. Not only did it not seem to go well with what was taught in class or even come close to following that at all but it was overly long. It was nothing that would catch anyone's attention I believe and could be shortened by a few hundred pages and still carry all the information one would need to know. Over all I believe that either the curriculum should be better tailored to the book or the book should be done away with and something new found to replace it.
I didn't like this book at all. I usually find history to be a most exciting subject. This went into so much detail that it made u just not want to read it. If u did decide to read you could only handle a couple pages at a time so your head didn't start to pound after a little while. If something could be found that was a little less long winded and maybe a little more interesting then I would have been a happy student.
Rating:
Summary: A review of Food a Culinary history for culinary history
Review: Book Review for Food a Culinary History Food a Culinary History was the book that we had to read for Culinary History 101 this semester. It was about the culture of different countries and their way of life through history. It told of how food in these different cultures has evolved since man was living in caves and scavenging or food. It seemed to lack however the way people are today witch was a large let down because that is something that interests me a lot.
I thought that this book was way to drawn out and last the reader about half way in on the first page. It just gave so much detail about the different cultures. The language of the book was that of someone really trying to be smart and I feel didn't connect with me as the reader. I believe that the way the book was written with it's over whelming amounts of information made the book something that u didn't want to read at all. I feel that I learned a lot from this book but it was all useless information about cultures that existed thousands of years ago. When it did finally get to the modern world it still drowned on about the same things from earlier in the book. It didn't seem to matter with some countries because some didn't change over time they just stayed the same and yet the author still talked about those things.
I found nothing interesting in this book. It was just someone telling the history of the world and not using anything that would entertain the reader. I found it to be more like a badly written text book from junior high then a text book from college. It might have caught the readers attention better if their had been more important facts rather then the ramblings of the author. The format of the book was one of the things that I actually liked. I found that it stated in the most logical place and ended there too. It also gave u a good over view of the historical timeline and was easy to keep up with. I think that this books worthiness was less then poor. Not only did it not seem to go well with what was taught in class or even come close to following that at all but it was overly long. It was nothing that would catch anyone's attention I believe and could be shortened by a few hundred pages and still carry all the information one would need to know. Over all I believe that either the curriculum should be better tailored to the book or the book should be done away with and something new found to replace it.
I didn't like this book at all. I usually find history to be a most exciting subject. This went into so much detail that it made u just not want to read it. If u did decide to read you could only handle a couple pages at a time so your head didn't start to pound after a little while. If something could be found that was a little less long winded and maybe a little more interesting then I would have been a happy student.
Rating: 
Summary: A unique and fascinating historical compendium.
Review: Feasts of the ancient and modern culinary dining alike are considered in this extensive survey of food customs and food in different cultures. From the evolution of classic recipes to the origins of foods now known the world over, this provides a lively yet scholarly history of food from prehistory to modern times. Recommended for culinary school collections.
Rating: 
Summary: A Culinary Review
Review: Food: A Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present
The book, Food: A Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present, edited by Jean-Louis Flandrin and Massimo Montanari, offers the reader a wonderful progression through the history of culinary arts. Starting with the developments of early man and finishing with the "McDonaldization" of our culture, the compilation of different essays covers, in very grave detail, the culinary practices of man during certain periods of time. The book which actually is a compilation of many works, by separate writers, has varying tones throughout the book. Each writer has a certain style and tone to his or her words. While some express great detail, others simply skim the surface. This in turn creates a confusing book separated not only by different writing styles but different tones. Granted the book does have its sections where the language and material is dry and dull, but the overall coverage of important information is excellent. Going along with the language aspect, the understanding of the language can become quite difficult at times. However, the book makes sense in the end. It really depends on what writer one is reading. Some are confusing and dry while others are simple and excited about what they are writing. I found myself multiple times flipping through the book to find interesting topics and writers. But the overall value of the book is high. The content it contains is also very interesting. The cultures of different societies are clearly presented and information on each culture is insightful and beneficial towards those who wish to learn more on past techniques and practices. The book, in the end, comes out on top solely because of the valuable information provided.
Rating:
Summary: A real Sleeper
Review: Food: A Culinary History is our History book for our culinary class. This book was very long and had a lot of information on the history of food. Anything you need to know about Food History from Prehistory onto the development of McDonalds today. This book had a lot of useless information that did not need to be read. I do not suggest this as a book to read. This book may be good to go over in a class with a teacher, but not as a book to just read. It is not really a novel, it just talks about history. Any History book that is huge is not enjoyable to read. The book was about the different cultures and food origins of different countries. The book did not keep me very interested. It did not keep my attention; I kept drifting off because it was so boring. I noticed they focused on certain points that did not seem very important. There was too much information that was piled all into one book. The content could have been organized in a more orderly fashion rather going from European cultures to the Indies back to European food. The book was on a higher level than the readers. It was hard for me to read and interpret what the author was trying to say. Although the book was good into putting every little fact about the culinary history all into one book. It would be good to be taken a small bit at a time. I do not request this a book to read.
Rating:
Summary: Trial Textbook: Doesn't make the grade in my book
Review: Food: A Culinary History was the required text for my Culinary History class at Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University. On the whole, it is an informative reference book with a wealth of information covering an overwhelming amount of culinary history. However, it is more suitably written and organized for research purposes and was not a complimentary learning tool for our class since the book focuses on the European perspective and our objectives were more global.
Rating: 
Summary: a students review
Review: I did not like the book A culinary food history by Albert Sonnenfield. I found that the book was way too wordy. The organization of the book was terrible because none of the topics were organized by country. The words were placed way too close together and they were also way too small. This book did not even begin to help me when I wrote a research paper. I found the language of this book confusing. This book had way too much information for me to process. The book was not the proper book for this culinary class but it was an interesting source of information since the book tells you many interesting things. This book would be great for someone who is interested in learning about all the countries.
Rating:
Summary: a students review
Review: I did not like the book A culinary food history by Albert Sonnenfield. I found that the book was way too wordy. The organization of the book was terrible because none of the topics were organized by country. The words were placed way too close together and they were also way too small. This book did not even begin to help me when I wrote a research paper. I found the language of this book confusing. This book had way too much information for me to process. The book was not the proper book for this culinary class but it was an interesting source of information since the book tells you many interesting things. This book would be great for someone who is interested in learning about all the countries.
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