In this Book
- Eating as I Go: Scenes from America and Abroad
- Book
- 2006
- Published by: The University Press of Kentucky
What do we learn from eating? About ourselves? Others? In this unique memoir of a life shaped by the pleasures of the table, Doris Friedensohn uses eating as an occasion for inquiry. Munching on quesadillas and kimchi in her suburban New Jersey neighborhood, she reflects on her exploration of food over fifty years and across four continents. Relishing couscous in Tunisia and khachapuri in the Republic of Georgia, she explores the ways strangers come together and maintain their differences through food. As a young woman, Friedensohn was determined not to be a provincial American. Chinese, French, Mexican, and Mediterranean cuisines beckoned to her like mysterious suitors. She responded, pursuing suckling pig, snails, baba ghanoush, tripe, jellyfish, and anything with rosemary or cumin. Each rendezvous with an unfamiliar food was a celebration of cosmopolitan living. Friedensohn's memories range from Thanksgiving at a Middle Eastern restaurant to the taste of fried grasshoppers in Oaxaca. Her wry dramas of the dining room, restaurant, market, and kitchen ripple with tensions—political, religious, psychological, and spiritual. Eating as I Go is one woman's distinctive mélange of memoir, traveler's tale, and cultural commentary.
Table of Contents
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- pp. viii-x
- INTRODUCTION
- pp. 1-8
- YOM KIPPURS AT YUM LUK
- pp. 11-12
- A KITCHEN OF ONE’S OWN
- pp. 13-17
- MARRIAGE MEXICAN STYLE
- pp. 18-22
- DINNER PARTY PROTOCOLS
- pp. 23-27
- THE PENULTIMATE PASSOVER
- pp. 28-31
- BUDDHIST DELIGHTS
- pp. 32-36
- THANKSGIVING IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN
- pp. 37-40
- Part 2: CRAZY SALAD
- p. 41
- OPAKAPAKA AND POKE, TOO
- pp. 78-89
- KITSCH ETHNIC
- pp. 90-95
- KIMCHI PRIDE
- pp. 96-113
- THE REAL SENEGAL
- pp. 117-118
- THE POLITICS OF COUSCOUS
- pp. 119-129
- THE BEST CHEESE IN THE WORLD
- pp. 130-135
- A VIEW FROM THE FORTRESS POLANA
- pp. 136-146
- DAL BHAT AT PHARPING
- pp. 147-149
- SCHLOSS LEOPOLDSKRON
- pp. 150-157
- CHAPULINES, MOLE, AND FOUR POZOLES
- pp. 158-170
- GEORGIA ON MY MIND
- pp. 171-181
- CHEESECAKE
- pp. 182-187
- GRADUATION
- pp. 191-192
- INDUSTRY RULES AND ETHNOGRAPHIC ANGST
- pp. 193-195
- THE LORD IS HIS SHEPHERD
- pp. 196-199
- PERFECTIONIST
- pp. 202-203
- THE WAY TO A WOMAN’S HEART
- pp. 204-206
- VOLUNTEER CHEF
- pp. 207-208
- TRAINING AND CHANGING
- pp. 211-213
- Part 5: EATING ALONE
- p. 215
- HOW DO YOU EAT?
- pp. 217-218
- MY OWN MUERTOS
- pp. 219-223
- WHEN CHOPSTICKS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM
- pp. 224-227
- SUNDAYS AT WHOLE FOODS
- pp. 228-230
- THE MOON IN MY DINING ROOM
- pp. 231-236
- SALAD DAYS AND NIGHTS
- pp. 237-241
- HAPPY MARKET
- pp. 242-246
- EPILOGUE: MY BOOK OF MAPS
- pp. 247-249