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Through the Kitchen Window: Women Writers Explore the Intimate Meanings of Food and Cooking
Through the Kitchen Window Women Writers Explore the Intimate Meanings of Food and Cooking Author:Arlene Voski Avakian (Editor) With recipes from many, and contributions by Maya Angelou, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, and Marge Piercy, among others. These days any woman knows that the sensual pleasures of food and cooking are all too often obscured by the increasing demands of careers, families, battles over body image, and the desire for a life outside the "traditional&quo... more »t; domain of the kitchen. Through the Kitchen Window offers a fresh look at food and cooking, arguing that food is a cultural declaration, an expression of hidden hungers, a symbol of our intimate connections to one another. Including memories of Latina, Geechee, Chinese and Indian kitchens, this book reveals everything from the painful struggles to overcome an eating disorder to the tantalizing delights of cornbread and barbecue eaten from a lover's hands, and challenges assumptions about women, food, and the true satisfaction of cooking. From Booklist Taking a feminist perspective on a subject encumbered by the ponderous weight of societal mores and cultural expectations, Avakian's collection illustrates how meal preparation remains a meaningful expression of emotional connections and a creative way to communicate. In stories, essays, and recipes, women reminisce about food to reveal a myriad of highly charged meanings. Personal reflections illustrate the metaphorical warmth a kitchen environment generates, strengthening familial ties. In other instances, the culinary mode is shown to be rejected, releasing precious energy for writing or other artistic outlets.
'A fascinating anthology of ground-roots cuisine from unknown kitchen heroines!' --John Whiting, News Editor of Fine Food Digest 2005. 'Through the Kitchen Window is a pathbreaking book. What Avakian's collection does so well is to integrate many kinds of experiences and social locations - class, race, immigration, nationalism, age, sexuality - in a variety of formats.' --Alice Julier, Professor of Sociology, Smith College, USA; President of the Association for the Study of Food and Society. « less