National Dish - Anya von Bremzen - 2023
Around the World in Search of Food, History, and the Meaning of Home
By: Anya von Bremzen
Narrated by: Kathleen Gati
Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 06-20-23
Categories: Food & Wine, Home & Garden, Gastronomy, Travel & Tourism
Language: English
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Format: mp3 64/48 stereo
In this engrossing and timely journey to the crossroads of food and identity award-winning writer Anya von Bremzen explores six of the world’s most fascinating and iconic culinary cultures—France, Italy, Japan, Spain, Mexico, and Turkey—brilliantly weaving cuisine, history, and politics into a work of scintillating connoisseurship and charm
We all have an idea in our heads about what French food is—or Italian, or Japanese, or Mexican, or . . . But where did those ideas come from? Who decides what makes a national food canon? Recipient of three James Beard awards, Anya von Bremzen has written definitive cookbooks on Russian, Spanish, and Latin American cuisines, as well as her internationally acclaimed memoir Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking. Now in National Dish, she sets out to investigate the truth behind the eternal cliché—“we are what we eat”—traveling to six storied food capitals, going high and low, from world-famous chefs to scholars to strangers in bars, in search of how cuisine became connected to place and identity.
Paris is where the whole idea of food as national heritage was first invented, and so it is where Anya must begin. With an inquisitive eye and unmistakable wit, she ponders the codification of French food and the current tension between locavorism and globalization. From France, she’s off to Naples, to probe the myth and reality of pizza, pasta, and Italian-ness. Next up, Tokyo, where Anya and her partner Barry explore ramen, rice, and the distance between Japan’s future and its past. From there they move to Seville, to search for the community-based essence of Spain’s tapas traditions, and then Oaxaca, where debates over postcolonial cultural integration find expression in maize and mole. In Istanbul, a traditional Ottoman potluck becomes a lens on how a former multicultural empire defines its food heritage. Finally, they land back in their beloved home in Queens, for a dinner centered on Ukrainian borsch, a meal that has never felt more loaded, or more precious and poignant.
A unique and magical cook’s tour of the world, National Dish brings us to a deep appreciation of how the country makes the food, and the food the country.
©2023 Anya von Bremzen (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Critic Reviews
“Vivid . . . for readers who appreciate a sensorial journey and eschew arriving at easy conclusions, this will hit the spot.”—Booklist
“Revealing and richly detailed . . . Fans of food and travel writing will want to sink their teeth into this.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“In this piquant platter of a book, von Bremzen tackles questions of culture, history, and the meaning of a good meal . . . Her vivid narrative is packed with intriguing characters, and in some countries, conversations about the food can be as important as the dish itself.”—Kirkus
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