The Unprejudiced Palate: Classic Thoughts on Food and the Good Life (Modern Library Food)

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The Unprejudiced Palate

Read it Forward Read it first. This delightful classic is a must read for those who live in our fast-food nation. This Italian born, beloved Seattle professor, friend and colleague of MFK Fisher, wrote with charm, wit, and a rare intelligence about food.

They are no longer in print. I am once again enjoying his view of life, food, a balanced life. I am sorry that he is not longer alive to write more, but each of his books is a real treasure of wisdom and joy. This book is one of his later works and I was able to find it. View all posts by blica.

Written in it's a book way ahead of its time, written by an Italian immigrant about how to appreciate and prepare good food from whole ingredients. Feb 05, Deb rated it liked it Shelves: I can't say that I fully loved this book for as much as I admire the author's passion and his way of bringing simple, seasonal ingredients together in delicious combinations--ahead of his time in many ways, he does have a tendency to grate on the nerves because as sweetly pointed out by Alice Waters, unprejudiced he is not.

It should have been called 'The Prejudiced Palate,' because he is so absolutely sure I can't say that I fully loved this book for as much as I admire the author's passion and his way of bringing simple, seasonal ingredients together in delicious combinations--ahead of his time in many ways, he does have a tendency to grate on the nerves because as sweetly pointed out by Alice Waters, unprejudiced he is not. It should have been called 'The Prejudiced Palate,' because he is so absolutely sure and unwavering in his vision of how to live a beautiful and delicious life.

Pellegrini makes many good points about food, growing, cooking and eating but his oft condescending tone and sweeping generalizations of America, amateur cooks--particularly the dreaded housewife and her "unimaginative culinary routine"--make the chapters a bit of hit or miss.

The best parts of the book for me were his descriptions of an immigrants life in America and the rise of ingredients like olive oil, garlic, and pasta that we take for granted today, but were once either exotic and hard to find or unpopular in this country. Pellegrini's recipe for the now ubiquitous pesto was published in Sunset magazine in , the first major publication of a pesto recipe recipe. Pretty amazing to think about that now. Although not a cookbook per se, there are so many great little recipe ideas and cooking tips tucked into the pages of this little book that it makes the frustration in getting there worth it.

Pellegrini was a master, just not someone I would have wanted to hang out with. Nov 19, Sanjay Varma rated it it was ok Shelves: I enjoyed this book as one would enjoy summer reading at a cottage during a weekend getaway. It's light reading, episodic, adventurous, and it's skimmable. I read the episodes that resonated with me, skimmed some others, and when I was half way through I put it down to finish next summer.

Let me catalog a few of them: Both narrators discover that opinions about food can give them a power in I enjoyed this book as one would enjoy summer reading at a cottage during a weekend getaway.

3 editions of this work

Both narrators discover that opinions about food can give them a power in social situations. Both sneer at the ignorance of American cooks although Pellegrini has more of a fatherly disapproval.

Classic Thoughts on Food and the Good Life

Both ignore the well trodden path of cookbook writing, and prefer to write cultural critiques. Both write about a hidden world of gourmands For Pellegrini it is the 1st generation immigrants whose talents for foraging, growing, and cooking are unleashed in America the land of abundance, as well as the white collar WASPS who have fetishized the European diet; for Bourdain it is the sweatshop world of immigrant kitchen staff as well as the Yuppies who glamorize the restaurant scene. This hidden world is where the focus of the book resides.

Pellegrini lives in an America where immigrant families still possess the knowledge of Old Word peasant food and the memory of scarcity. But they have been plopped down in a land of abundance, America. The historical accident produces an incredible vitality, in the culinary arts, but one could also read it as a year explanation of the affect that America has had on every generation of immigrants.

Sep 30, Jon rated it really liked it.

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The focus is on how American react to foods from the perspective of someone who was immigrated at some point in the early 20th century. The book itself is about 60 years old at this point, but it feels like it could have been written yesterday. If you like reading about food, pick this one up. I'm very tempted to purchase a copy[return][return]Some rough highlights: Grow what you cannot find in your stores. Things like unusual peppers and fruits, herbs that wilt quickly, salad greens.

He's got lots of advice for how to also do it by combining food plants with decorative books.

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So far it's one of the better books I've read on gardening. The author describes getting rude looks for taking a shot of alcohol with breakfast, but is mystified by long cocktail parties with sugary strong drinks and little food.

He also has a rather relaxed approach to teaching his kids to drink. They get watered down wine, if they want. Not surprisingly, he also recommends creating your own wine. His gallon system might be a bit much for some folks though. Jun 21, Amy rated it liked it Shelves: The first quarter of the book, in which the authors continuously scorns America especially the uninspired, novice American housewife had me gritting my teeth and reminding myself that he was speaking to the 's America and housewife.

Nonetheless, it was an absolute slog and I nearly gave up on the book. After that, the author moves on to explain his peasant upbringing in Italy and eventually immigration to the US and the book begins to pick up. Finally, about halfway through he begins to sha The first quarter of the book, in which the authors continuously scorns America especially the uninspired, novice American housewife had me gritting my teeth and reminding myself that he was speaking to the 's America and housewife.

Finally, about halfway through he begins to share recipes, though not in typical recipe book format only charlatans would do such a thing but in a more home-style, "sitting around grandpa's table" sort of way. And yet, I'd be reading happily along and there would be another scornful zinger hefty children and fat bottomed aunts, anyone? I found that imagining the author as a curmudgeonly 90 year old grandfather though he was only in his 40's when this book was published helped me get through it.

The unprejudiced palate : classic thoughts on food and the good life

That being said, speckled throughout, there are many delicious recipes, many good thoughts on gardening and our response to food and wine my favorite is when eh compares eating pasta with a side to bread to eating mashed potatoes with french fries - I always thought it was rather redundant! May 19, Steve rated it really liked it. If you were a resident of the NW, you knew about Pellegrini. If not, you had to wait for Alice waters to discover him for you.

And listen to her make the quip voiced by just about anyone who ever read this book, "I'd say a more appropriate title would be 'The Prejudiced Palate'.

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