La Cocina Futurista

«Contrariamente a las críticas que se le han hecho, y que pudieran hacérsele, la revolución culinaria futurista presentada en este volumen se propone el grande, noble y útil designio de modificar radicalmente la alimentación de nuestra raza, fortificándola, dinamizándola y espiritualizándola con la ayuda de alimentos absolutamente nuevos en los que la experiencia, la inteligencia y la imaginación forman un sustituto económico a la trivialidad, la repetición y el gasto. Nuestra cocina futurista, regulada para las grandes velocidades como el motor de un hidroavión, parecerá loca y peligrosa a los ojos de un paseante melindroso, cuando en realidad tiende a crear una armonía entre el palacio de los hombres y su vida de hoy y de mañana. Con algunas célebres y legendarias excepciones, los hombres se han alimentado hasta el presente como las hormigas, las ratas, los gatos y los bueyes. Con nosotros, los futuristas, nace la primera cocina auténticamente humana, el arte de cocinar que, como todo arte, excluye el plagio y exige la originalidad creadora. Publicamos esta obra no por azar durante una crisis económica mundial cuyo desarrollo futuro puede parecer incierto pero que con seguridad nos supondrá la depresión y el pánico. A este pánico nosotros oponemos una cocina futurista, es decir: el optimismo a la mesa.»

An irresistible sampling of the city's rich food heritage, Gastropolis explores the personal and historical relationship between New Yorkers and food. Beginning with the origins of New York's fusion cuisine, such as Mt. Olympus bagels and Puerto Rican lasagna, the book describes the nature of food and drink before the arrival of Europeans in 1624 and offers a history of early farming practices. Specially written essays trace the function of place and memory in Asian cuisine, the rise of Jewish food icons, the evolution of food enterprises in Harlem, the relationship between restaurant dining and identity, and the role of peddlers and markets in guiding the ingredients of our meals. They share spice-scented recollections of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, and colorful vignettes of the avant-garde chefs, entrepreneurs, and patrons who continue to influence the way New Yorkers eat.

Both madcap cookbook and manifesto on Futurism, Marinetti's exuberant and entertaining book has been described as one of 'the best artistic jokes of the century' No other cultural force except the early twentieth-century avant-garde movement Futurism has produced a provocative work about art disguised as an easy-to-read cookbook. Part manifesto, part artistic joke, Fillippo Marinetti's The Futurist Cookbook is a collection of recipes, experiments, declamations and allegorical tales. Here are recipes for ice cream on the moon; candied atmospheric electricities; nocturnal love feasts; sculpted meats. Marinetti also sets out his argument for abolishing pasta as ill-suited to modernity, and advocates a style of cuisine that will increase creativity. Although at times betraying its author's nationalistic sympathies, The Futurist Cookbook is funny, provocative, whimsical, disdainful of sluggish traditions and delighted by the velocity and promise of modernity. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was born in 1876 to Italian parents and grew up in Alexandria, Egypt, where he was nearly expelled from his Jesuit school for championing scandalous literature. He then studied in Paris and obtained a law degree in Italy before turning to literature. In 1909 he wrote the infamous Futurist Manifesto, which championed violence, speed and war, and proclaimed the unity of art and life. Marinetti's life was fraught with controversy: he fought a duel with a hostile critic, was subject to an obscenity trial, and was a staunch supporter of Italian Fascism. Alongside his literary activities, he was a war correspondent during the Italo-Turkish War and served on the Eastern Front in World War II, despite being in his sixties. He died in 1944. 'A paean to sensual freedom, optimism and childlike, amoral innocence ... it has only once been answered, by Aldous Huxley's Brave New World' Lesley Chamberlain

A History of Cookbooks provides a sweeping literary and historical overview of the cookbook genre, exploring its development as a part of food culture beginning in the Late Middle Ages. Studying cookbooks from various Western cultures and languages, Henry Notaker traces the transformation of recipes from brief notes with ingredients into detailed recipes with a specific structure, grammar, and vocabulary. In addition, he reveals that cookbooks go far beyond offering recipes: they tell us a great deal about nutrition, morals, manners, history, and menus while often providing entertaining reflections and commentaries. This innovative book demonstrates that cookbooks represent an interesting and important branch of nonfiction literature.

Distributed by Van Nostrand Reinhold.