Nancy’s Comments on Consider the Fork

May 25th, 2013

One of our MAMs Book Club Springfield members picked this book after seeing it reviewed by the Smithsonian. She told us “I often see books I want to read there. I needed a book for my selection, so I thought this would be fun.” In our book club, we have agreed to take turns selecting, with no guidelines, so we found ourselves reading this anthropological look at the history of eating and food preparation.

I would first like to say “Thank you, Bee Wilson, for taking the time to look back and help us consider the history of food preparation over time and culture.”  Bee meticulously researched and compiled information on 8 topics – from Pots and Pans to Knives; from Fire to Measuring, from Grinding to Eating, Ice and finally the Kitchen.

Those of us born into this time of convenience have only a vague awareness of the hard work necessary to prepare food in most of human history. Reading Bee’s book, helped me image those who literally kept the fire burning, the young boys and later dogs turning the first roast rotisseries, the women and men whose days were defined by hunting and gathering, cooking and tending the pots.

This book calls me to be grateful for all the innovation and development leading to the modern kitchen.  And it reminds me to savor the simple things – like the timeless wooden spoon.

I realized how mindlessly I often use my own kitchen tools. As I seek to be more mindful, I found myself wanting to scrub my pots so the copper shines. I want to learn to sharpen my knives, and maybe shop for a really good one. I’d like to buy a mortar and pestle that my Mexican friend uses to adeptly to make guacamole. And this book reminded me I need to go through my cupboards and remove all the things I really don’t use and don’t need.