{"product_id":"0307593452","title":"The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food","description":"\n\u003cp\u003eNever before have we cared so much about food. It preoccupies our popular culture, our fantasies, and even our moralizing—“You \u003ci\u003estill\u003c\/i\u003e eat meat?” With our top chefs as deities and finest restaurants as places of pilgrimage, we have made food the stuff of secular seeking and transcendence, finding heaven in a mouthful. But have we come any closer to discovering the true meaning of food in our lives?\u003cbr\u003e With inimitable charm and learning, Adam Gopnik takes us on a beguiling journey in search of that meaning as he charts America's recent and rapid evolution from commendably aware eaters to manic, compulsive gastronomes. It is a journey that begins in eighteenth-century France—the birthplace of our modern tastes (and, by no coincidence, of the restaurant)—and carries us to the kitchens of the White House, the molecular meccas of Barcelona, and beyond. To understand why so many of us apparently live to eat, Gopnik delves into the most burning questions of our time, including: Should a Manhattanite bother to find chicken killed in the Bronx? Is a great vintage really any better than a good bottle of wine? And: Why does dessert matter so much?\u003cbr\u003e Throughout, he reminds us of a time-honored truth often lost amid our newfound gastronomic pieties and certitudes: What goes on the table has never mattered as much to our lives as what goes on around the table—the scene of families, friends, lovers coming together, or breaking apart; conversation across the simplest or grandest board. This, ultimately, is who we are.\u003cbr\u003e Following in the footsteps of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Adam Gopnik gently satirizes the entire human comedy of the comestible as he surveys the wide world of taste that we have lately made our home. \u003ci\u003eThe Table Comes First\u003c\/i\u003e is the delightful beginning of a new conversation about the way we eat now.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eCategories:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCookbooks, Food \u0026amp; Wine\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCooking Education \u0026amp; Reference\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\u003cli class=\"category-tree\"\u003eEssays\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRegional \u0026amp; International\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEuropean\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\u003cli class=\"category-tree\"\u003eFrench\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eScience \u0026amp; Math\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAgricultural Sciences\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\u003cli class=\"category-tree\"\u003eFood Science\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTravel\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEurope\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrance\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\u003cli class=\"category-tree\"\u003eGeneral\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\u003cli class=\"category-tree\"\u003ePolitics \u0026amp; Social Sciences\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eBook details\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Gopnik, Adam\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e hardcover\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eEdition:\u003c\/strong\u003e First Edition\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Knopf\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/strong\u003e English\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 320\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780307593450\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Knopf","offers":[{"title":"Used - Good","offer_id":49275455045822,"sku":"0307593452-4","price":8.24,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0640\/9689\/5166\/files\/61BYrHODWcL.jpg?v=1791919947","url":"https:\/\/shop.sustainablebooks.com\/products\/0307593452","provider":"Sustainable Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}