Culinary History Reading Group

This reading group began meeting at Motte & Bailey in July of 2009, reading books about any aspect of culinary history. Books for the next meeting are determined at the end of each meeting, and members are encouraged to bring books to suggest or simply to show before the meeting. We meet the 3rd Wednesday of each month.

See our Book Events page for our current book and meeting times.

A small number of copies of each month's book are available at the shop.

To join the group or learn more, please contact us at 734.669.0451 or motte [at] mottebooks [dot] com. Directions are here.

Below are a few of the books we have read, and below them are books we are considering:

Books we have read

BLOOD, BONES & BUTTER: THE INADVERTENT EDUCATION OF A RELUCTANT CHEF by Gabrielle Hamilton.
TEQUILA : A NATURAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY by Anna G. Valenzuela-Zapata and Gary Paul Nabhan.
THOMAS JEFFERSON'S CREME BRULEE: HOW A FOUNDING FATHER AND HIS SLAVE JAMES HEMINGS INTRODUCED FRENCH CUISINE TO AMERICA by Thomas J. Craughwell
THE PHYSIOLOGY OF TASTE: OR MEDITATIONS ON TRANSCENDENTAL GASTRONOMY by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
OF SUGAR AND SNOW: A HISTORY OF ICE CREAM MAKING by Jeri Quinzio
BIRDSEYE: THE ADVENTURES OF A CURIOUS MAN by Mark Kurlansky
97 ORCHARD : AN EDIBLE HISTORY OF FIVE IMMIGRANT FAMILIES IN ONE NEW YORK TENEMENT by Jane Ziegelman
THE TUMMY TRILOGY: AMERICAN FRIED/ALICE, LET'S EAT/THIRD HELPINGS by Calvin Trillin
CAMEMBERT: A NATIONAL MYTH by Pierre Boisard
HUNGRY TOWN: A CULINARY HISTORY OF NEW ORLEANS, THE CITY WHERE FOOD IS ALMOST EVERYTHING by Tom Fitzmorris
THE KING OF VODKA: THE STORY OF PYOTR SMIRNOV AND THE UPHEAVAL OF AN EMPIRE by Linda Himelstein
THE TRUE HISTORY OF CHOCOLATE by Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe
BELLY OF PARIS by Emil Zola
APPETITE FOR AMERICA: FRED HARVEY AND THE BUSINESS OF CIVILIZING THE WILD WEST--ONE MEAL AT A TIME by Stephen Fried
THE POTATO: HOW THE HUMBLE SPUD RESCUED THE WESTERN WORLD by Larry Zuckerman
A REVOLUTION IN EATING: HOW THE QUEST FOR FOOD SHAPED AMERICA by James E. McWilliams
BEES IN AMERICA: HOW THE HONEY BEE SHAPED A NATION by Tammy Horn
THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA: A NATURAL HISTORY OF FOUR MEALS by Michael Pollan
THE BILLIONAIRE'S VINEGAR: THE MYSTERY OF THE WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE BOTTLE OF WINE by Benjamin Wallace
IN THE DEVIL'S GARDEN: A SINFUL HISTORY OF FORBIDDEN FOOD by Stewart Lee Allen
A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 6 GLASSES by Tom Standage
SHARK'S FIN AND SICHUAN PEPPER: A SWEET-SOUR MEMOIR OF EATING IN CHINA by Fuschia Dunlop
OLIVES: THE LORE OF A NOBLE FRUIT by Mort Rosenblum
PASTA: THE STORY OF A UNIVERSAL FOOD by Silvano Serventi & Francoise Sabban
HOTEL SPLENDIDE by Ludwig Bemelmans
THE INVENTION OF THE RESTAURANT: PARIS AND MODERN GASTRONOMIC CULTURE by Rebecca L. Spang
SWEETNESS AND POWER : THE PLACE OF SUGAR IN MODERN HISTORY by Sidney Mintz
DOWN AND OUT IN LONDON AND PARIS by George Orwell
SALT by Michael Kurlansky
BETWEEN MEALS: AN APPETITE FOR PARIS by A. J. Liebling
HARVEST OF THE COLD MONTHS: THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF ICE AND ICES by Elizabeth David
TENDER AT THE BONE by Ruth Reichl
THE GASTRONOMICAL ME by M.F.K. Fisher
RELISH : THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF ALEX SOYER VICTORIAN CELEBRITY CHEF by Ruth Cowen
ALICE WATERS AND CHEZ PANISSE by Thomas McNamee
SPICE : THE HISTORY OF A TEMPTATION by Jack Turner
CHARLEMAGNE'S TABLECLOTH : A PIQUANT HISTORY OF FEASTING by Nichola Fletcher
CURRY : TALE OF COOKS & CONQUERORS by Lizzie Collingham
FORTUNE COOKIE CHRONICLES by Jennifer Lee
COOKING FOR KINGS : THE LIFE OF ANTONIN CAREME, THE FIRST CELEBRITY CHEF by Ian Kelly
COD by Michael Kurlansky
THE APPRENTICE by Jacques Pepin
DOWN AND OUT IN LONDON AND PARIS by George Orwell
STAND FACING THE STOVE: THE STORY OF THE WOMEN WHO GAVE AMERICAN THE JOY OF COOKING by Anne Mendelson
LIQUID JADE : THE STORY OF TEA FROM EAST TO WEST by Beatrice Hohenegger

Books we are considering

BLUE TROUT AND BLACK TRUFFLES: THE PEREGRINATIONS OF AN EPICURE by Joseph Wechsberg
BETWEEN MEALS: AN APPETITE FOR PARIS by A. J. Liebling
THE STORY OF SUSHI: AN UNLIKELY SAGA OF RAW FISH AND RICE by Trevor Corson
TENDER AT THE BONE by Ruth Reichl
DELIGHTS FROM THE GARDEN OF EDEN: A COOKBOOK AND HISTORY OF THE IRAQI CUISINE by Nawal Nasrallah
BREAD AND OIL : MAJORCAN CULTURE'S LAST STAND by Tomas Graves
ARRANGING THE MEAL : A HISTORY OF TABLE SERVICE IN FRANCE by Jean-Louis Flandrin
MOVEABLE FEASTS : FROM ANCIENT ROME T THE 21ST CENTURY, THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEYS OF THE FOOD WE EAT by Sarah Murray
DEARIE: THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF JULIA CHILD by Bob Spitz
HAUTE CUISINE: HOW THE FRENCH INVENTED THE CULINARY PROFESSION by Amy B. Trubek
CULINARY EPHEMERA: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY by William Woys Weaver
THE MAN WHO CHANGED THE WAY WE EAT: CRAIG CLAIBORNE AND THE AMERICAN FOOD RENAISSANCE by Thomas McNamee
EATING RIGHT IN THE RENAISSANCE by Ken Albala
THE LAST DAYS OF HAUTE CUISINE: THE COMING OF AGE OF AMERICAN RESTAURANTS by Patric Kuh
THE COFFEE HOUSE: A CULTURAL HISTORY by Markman Ellis
UNCOMMON GROUNDS: THE HISTORY OF COFFEE AND HOW IT TRANSFORMED OUR WORLD by Mark Pendergrast
FRESH: A PERISHABLE HISTORY by Susanne Freidberg
THE COOKBOOK LIBRARY: FOUR CENTURIES OF THE COOKS, WRITERS, AND RECIPES THAT MADE THE MODERN COOKBOOK by Anne Willan, Mark Cherniavsky, and Kyri Claflin
AMERICAN TUNA: THE RISE AND FALL OF AN IMPROBABLE FOOD by Andrew F. Smith
WHITE BREAD: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE STORE BOUGHT LOAF by Aaron Bobrow-Strain
FOR ALL THE TEA IN CHINA: HOW ENGLAND STOLE THE WORLD'S FAMOUS DRINK by Sarah Rose
FOR GOD, COUNTRY, AND COCA-COLA: THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF THE GREAT AMERICAN SOFT DRINK AND THE COMPANY THAT MAKES IT by Mark Pendergrast
BRITISH FOOD: AN EXTRAORDINARY THOUSAND YEARS OF HISTORY by Colin Spencer
QUE VIVAN LOS TAMALES!: FOOD AND THE MAKING OF MEXICAN IDENTITY by Jeffrey M. Pilcher
SOMETHING FROM THE OVEN: REINVENTING DINNER IN 1950'S AMERICA by Laura Shapiro
BLACK POTATOES: THE STORY OF THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE, 1845-1850 by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
GASTROPOLIS: FOOD AND NEW YORK CITY edited by Annie Hauck-Lawson (collection of scholarly essays)
APPETITE CITY: A CULINARY HISTORY OF NEW YORK by William Grimes