Here are 100 books that Invitation to a Banquet fans have personally recommended if you like
Invitation to a Banquet.
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I have always been infatuated with smells, as many childhood photos of me with my nose stuck in something can prove. However, I did not consider studying olfaction as a primary area of research until mid-way through my PhD. As a full-time student, part-time lecturer, and primary caregiver to an inquisitive, energetic toddler at that time, I needed to gain a background understanding of smell as quickly and efficiently as possible. Thus began my obsession with books on smell, taste, and flavor. At the start of the millennia, the area was still small and has since blossomed, allowing me to continue to read books about smell for pleasure in my downtime.
When I started getting interested in smell as my primary area of research this was one of the first books I picked up and what a fantastic introduction. The material is written in a straightforward fashion that anyone with an interest in smell can easily digest.
Gilbert’s vast scientific experience allows him to pen engaging prose that provide the reader with an intricate and nuanced understanding of the science of smell that is far from just introductory. The book is a little old, it is aging well and hopefully it will entice you to learn even more about the chemosciences. So much exciting cutting-edge research has come out in these past few years.
Everything about the sense of smell fascinates us, from its power to evoke memories to its ability to change our moods and influence our behavior. Yet because it is the least understood of the senses, myths abound. For example, contrary to popular belief, the human nose is almost as sensitive as the noses of many animals, including dogs; blind people do not have enhanced powers of smell; and perfumers excel at their jobs not because they have superior noses, but because they have perfected the art of thinking about scents.In this entertaining and enlightening journey through the world of aroma,…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I have always been infatuated with smells, as many childhood photos of me with my nose stuck in something can prove. However, I did not consider studying olfaction as a primary area of research until mid-way through my PhD. As a full-time student, part-time lecturer, and primary caregiver to an inquisitive, energetic toddler at that time, I needed to gain a background understanding of smell as quickly and efficiently as possible. Thus began my obsession with books on smell, taste, and flavor. At the start of the millennia, the area was still small and has since blossomed, allowing me to continue to read books about smell for pleasure in my downtime.
This is a fantastic introduction to the history of smell. Despite being willing to read most anything written about smell, I usually balk at historical texts as often these have a soporific effect on me. However, this historical coverage kept me engaged from start to finish.
The chapters on early religious incense practices and the perfume trade throughout the Middle East and Europe are edifying. I learned a great deal about the impact of the economics of perfume on shifting trade routes, which is something I hadn’t come across in other books on smell. What truly grabbed my attention and formed the basis for many conversations when reading Past Scents were the chapters relating smell to race, gender, and class throughout recent American history.
Since the historical focus is predominantly Western, you might also want to consider reading Sandalwood and Carrion: Smell in Indian Religion and Culture by James McHugh.
In this comprehensive and engaging volume, medical historian Jonathan Reinarz offers a historiography of smell from ancient to modern times. Synthesizing existing scholarship in the field, he shows how people have relied on their olfactory sense to understand and engage with both their immediate environments and wider corporal and spiritual worlds.
This broad survey demonstrates how each community or commodity possesses, or has been thought to possess, its own peculiar scent. Through the meanings associated with smells, osmologies develop--what cultural anthropologists have termed the systems that utilize smells to classify people and objects in ways that define their relations to…
I have always been infatuated with smells, as many childhood photos of me with my nose stuck in something can prove. However, I did not consider studying olfaction as a primary area of research until mid-way through my PhD. As a full-time student, part-time lecturer, and primary caregiver to an inquisitive, energetic toddler at that time, I needed to gain a background understanding of smell as quickly and efficiently as possible. Thus began my obsession with books on smell, taste, and flavor. At the start of the millennia, the area was still small and has since blossomed, allowing me to continue to read books about smell for pleasure in my downtime.
I like to daydream about how my olfactory perspectives would change in different scenarios such as being one of the borrowers or colossus. This provides by far the most exhaustive and fun to read introduction to canine olfaction that provides so much fodder for my olfactory flights of fancy.
It is hard not to get caught up in thought experiments about what it must be like to have such a fantastically adept nose, how cool it would be to engage in overt social chemosignal behavioral exchanges, and at times even to wonder if we are odorifically missing out by not sniffing all the repugnant stuff that dogs simply love to wallow around in smelling.
Horowitz’s coverage is cutting edge based on her lab’s research and expansively covers a larger field of study than one might expect at the outset. This is one of those books you pick-up and just want…
Alexandra Horowitz's runaway bestseller Inside of a Dog began a movement among dog owners to not just quietly accept and enjoy the presence of the pooch at their sides, but to wonder at that dog, and let him show us how he sees the world, and what he knows. What the dog sees and knows comes mostly through his nose, and the information that every dog has about the world based on smell is unthinkably rich. It is rich in a way we humans once knew something about, once even acted on, but have since neglected. By smelling, tapping into…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
I have always been infatuated with smells, as many childhood photos of me with my nose stuck in something can prove. However, I did not consider studying olfaction as a primary area of research until mid-way through my PhD. As a full-time student, part-time lecturer, and primary caregiver to an inquisitive, energetic toddler at that time, I needed to gain a background understanding of smell as quickly and efficiently as possible. Thus began my obsession with books on smell, taste, and flavor. At the start of the millennia, the area was still small and has since blossomed, allowing me to continue to read books about smell for pleasure in my downtime.
Eating, one of my favorite daily rituals, is contiguous with my love of smelling and cooking. Most of what we consider to be the flavor of food arises from retronasal olfaction (the olfactory pathway from the back of the nose). And a great deal of our gustatory experiences are created from a confluence of multiple sensory channels within our headspace.
This piece of knowledge and many others are wonderfully covered in this book. Bringing to bear his cutting-edge research on mutli-modal perception, Spence provides what is to my mind the most enjoyable scientific introduction of gustatory perception and in particular an in depth explanation of why eating and drinking, when done well, are on of life’s greatest (multi-modal) pleasures.
A ground-breaking book by the world-leading expert in sensory science: Freakonomics for food
'Popular science at its best' - Daniel Levitin
Why do we consume 35% more food when eating with one more person, and 75% more when with three?
Why are 27% of drinks bought on aeroplanes tomato juice?
How are chefs and companies planning to transform our dining experiences, and what can we learn from their cutting-edge insights to make memorable meals at home?
These are just some of the ingredients of Gastrophysics, in which the pioneering Oxford professor Charles Spence shows how our senses link up in…
As a Latina living in the US, I encounter stereotypes about me and my culture. I am sure I have my own blind spots around other cultures and people. So, I like stories that break traditional tropes. Initially, fairytales were dark and used as moral teaching tools full of warnings and fear. I prefer retellings that spread joy and challenge assumptions. Lastly, I love to discover new—real or imaginary—places through the illustrations and the artist’s point of view, especially if it influences the twist.
Of the many retells I have read, this version turns the classic tale on its head the most. With my own reclusive artist tendencies, I found Ra Pu Zel’s wish for alone time to pursue her interests very alluring. I am always curious about new foods and I will set out to find stinky tofu in town, do I follow the smell? The art transports us to a setting with cultural and culinary delights.
A playful, feminist retelling of Rapunzel with a Chinese-cuisine twist
The story of Rapunzel where she’s being locked in a tower by a witch is a good one—but it’s not totally the truth.
The real story is about a young princess in China named Ra Pu Zel who doesn’t want to talk to princes or look proper. What Pu Zel wants is to cook and eat in peace, her long hair neatly braided to keep it out of her food. And when she gets tired of everyone telling her what to do, she locks herself in a tower with her…
My wife and I were at a red sauce joint in the West Village of Manhattan drinking a bit of wine when we posed the question: who invented all this? We knew Italian American food didn’t look all that much like the food we ate in Italy. Later, at home, I started Googling for answers. None were satisfactory. I read a few books before finding myself at the New York Public library sleuthing through JSTOR. After examining my notes, I said to myself, “oh, I guess I’m writing a book.”
Jennifer 8 Lee looks at the history of Chinese American food, but with an emphasis on restaurants and food production. For instance, I learned one of the leading fortune cookie manufacturers has a factory just a few blocks from where I live in Brooklyn, and the differences in low cost and fermented of soy sauce. Lee looks at modern Chinese American cuisine through a global lens showing the impact across continents, including exporting Chinese American favorites like fortune cookies back to China.
If you think McDonald's is the most ubiquitous restaurant experience in America, consider that there are more Chinese restaurants in America than McDonalds, Burger Kings, and Wendys combined. New York Times reporter and Chinese-American (or American-born Chinese). In her search, Jennifer 8 Lee traces the history of Chinese-American experience through the lens of the food. In a compelling blend of sociology and history, Jenny Lee exposes the indentured servitude Chinese restaurants expect from illegal immigrant chefs, investigates the relationship between Jews and Chinese food, and weaves a personal narrative about her own relationship with Chinese food. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles…
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
My wife and I were at a red sauce joint in the West Village of Manhattan drinking a bit of wine when we posed the question: who invented all this? We knew Italian American food didn’t look all that much like the food we ate in Italy. Later, at home, I started Googling for answers. None were satisfactory. I read a few books before finding myself at the New York Public library sleuthing through JSTOR. After examining my notes, I said to myself, “oh, I guess I’m writing a book.”
Chinese American food has a rich history, and Andrew Coe explores the arrival of the cuisine in America, how it adapts, and how it is popularized across the country. The book focuses on restaurant culture and recipes, and Coe explains the origins of many dishes like chop suey and how and when the dishes grew into mainstream success, part of a broader American cuisine. The way Coe discusses Chinese American food is similar to how I write about Italian American food in my book.
In 1784, passengers on the ship Empress of China became the first Americans to land in China, and the first to eat Chinese food. Today, the United States is home to more Chinese restaurants than any other ethnic cuisine. In this authoritative new history, author Andrew Coe traces the fascinating story of America's centuries-long encounter with Chinese food. CHOP SUEY tells how we went from believing that Chinese meals contained dogs and rats to making regular pilgrimages to the neighborhood chop suey parlor. From China, the book follows the story to the American West, where both Chinese and their food…
I have loved reading my whole life. So when I became a mom, I started reading to my kids pretty much as soon as they came home from the hospital. They absolutely love to have books read to them, and we have shelves full of picture books. My favorite picture books to read out loud are ones with eye-catching illustrations, witty stories that spark imagination or learning, and rhymes that flow rhythmically. As a bonus, if the characters lend themselves to fun voices, those are always winners. I hope you enjoy reading these books to your kids as much as I do.
I can’t think of this book without picturing my own little girl when she was 3 years old with pigtails sticking out, just like Amy Wu.
She and I read this over and over again to the point that she could quote the whole book. It is such a sweet story about family traditions and pushing through the challenge it can be for little hands to learn how to do something new.
The story is precious and the illustrations are delightful.
When my kids were toddlers, there was a Burger King in the neighborhood with an indoor playground. It was glorious. A random guy walked up to me while we were there. “How do you do it, you know, the whole Dad thing” he asked. "Well… you don’t necessarily need to do a whole lot. Mostly just show up. Stick around." Never mentioned that by this time, I’d written and/or illustrated at least a couple dozen children’s books. I asked my nine-year-old daughter how she’d describe me as a Dad. “Most people think you’re creative, but I think you’re pretty average.” That’s good enough for me.
We’re not all cut out to work a nine-to-five, but any man can learn to stir-fry.
Cooking with a Wok is instantly gratifying, and Dad friendly. Kenji’s book is full of solid recipes, providing a solid foundation to improvise. Starting with the very basics, he goes further into the details as they come up. Don’t have oyster sauce? Try Worcestershire. Cooking offers endless opportunities to be creative and a semi-captive audience. At least when they're hungry. With practice, you can have a pretty good Chinese restaurant in your kitchen 24/7.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's debut cookbook, The Food Lab, revolutionised home cooking, selling more than half a million copies with its science-based approach to everyday foods. For fast, fresh cooking for his family, there's one pan Lopez-Alt reaches for more than any other: the wok.
Whether stir-frying, deep frying, steaming, simmering or braising, the wok is the most versatile pan in the kitchen. Once you master the basics?the mechanics of a stir-fry and how to get smoky wok hei at home?you're ready to cook home-style and restaurant-style dishes from across Asia and the West, from Kung Pao Chicken to Pad Thai…
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
Growing up, my family was a meat and potatoes family. The food was good but it was never really about the food. It was about eating together. When I got older, I ventured beyond the world of meat and potatoes, made more friends to eat with, and learned more and more to enjoy the little things in life. My two books are about food but also not really. They're community books. Family books. Adventure books. Same thing with the 5 books on my list. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
My Love For You Is Always feels like a hug. I love how it explains a parent's love toward their child using food. It's smart, simple, and satisfying.
I can imagine reading it to my daughter for bedtime. Sometimes I just want to express to my daughter Lucie how much I love her, and I feel like this book would be a fun way of doing that. Using the food theme was a good choice by the author. I think it's a great little book.
Warm like tea? Sweeter than red dates? A mother shares her love for her child as the two prepare a delicious meal together--perfect for fans of Guess How Much I Love You, Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You, and Mama, Do You Love Me?
What is love? a child wonders. What does it feel like, smell like, taste like? How does it move? How long does it last?
And as she prepares a traditional Chinese meal for her family, the child's mother replies: her love for him is rosy as wolfberries, warm like tea, sweeter than the red…
