Some books, one reads and forgets. It is hard to acknowledge that, but it is true. Sometimes, I cannot even remember if I have read a book, let alone its contents. Some of that is me. It may be my age or my reading speed, or the ways I am distracted by the life I lead or the work I do.
Other books are memorable. And, in the case in point, it is not about me, it is about the book, Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson. (Here is the site associated with the book.) She also wrote another book I truly loved, The Hive, subtitled The Story of the Honeybee and Us. In both cases, the writing is/was swell -- and the topics covered in ways that others addressing related themes do not. (Now that I know she is a recovering academic who now writes, I am a different combination of jealous and admiring.) Click here for my review of The HIve.
Anyway: some reflections. First: the word technology sometimes means, today, computers and digital worlds as in "I hate technology" coming from someone who writes with a fountain pen or spends afternons on the telephone or loves her (or his) motorcycle. Wilson reminds us that we all use technologies, that they come from somewhere (and someone) and that they are historically interesting ways into the wider question of who we are (not to mention what and how we eat). A long fork, turniing roasts by hand, but very low level kitchen servants, in front of very hot fires, and with high risk of hte flames meets the lovely forks of a different class and different era. Pits and pans. Toasters (interestingly in a chapter on fire). The role of tongs and the place of ice. All parts of this wonderful book.
Like all examinations of technology, this is really (also) a book about humanity and thus culture. My favorite is (I think) the comments on the mortar and pestle, how early its form was, and why it may be worth keeping (at least that is how I read it) despite the advent of one of the revolutionary things -- the cuisinart. I do so love chopping, despite knowing it can be done more quickly by electrical means. For me, in some ways, it is a luxury, not the demanding labor of an entire day to make curry pastes in India or to chop for a family of 20. And yet, while Wilson acknowledges the ways technology both eases - and does not ease -- labor, changes the role of servants (rendering some unemployed in dreadful ways), and links (for example) to enslavement, she informs without either sentimentalizing or pushing my guilt button.
Plus: who would not want to learn about the history of the technologies associated with ice ceram. right?
By considering the fork, we are considering much much more. And we owe it to Wilson. So: Thanks. A memorable, fun book, historically deeper than most who write to catch the foodie trend,
