Sai cosa mangi?: La scienza del cibo (I blu)

by Richard W. Hartel, AnnaKate Hartel, Massimo Caregnato (Translator)

Cosa mangia l’America nell’era moderna? Probabilmente molte delle cose che mangeremo anche noi nel prossimo futuro. Ormai la dinamica dei flussi è l’hamburger e la Coca Cola sono solo i simboli di un modello di consumo che, con diverse sfaccettature, ha definitivamente contaminato la nostra cultura del cibo. Se per noi gli spaghetti sono intoccabili e la pizza continua a essere il più gettonato tra i fast food , è comunque vero che le giovani generazioni sentono irresistibile il richiamo del cibo made in USA . All’insegna dell’intercultura e del mercato globale, ci troveremo sempre di più a fare i conti con prodotti per noi alieni come i Marshmallow (le famose caramelle spugnose a forma di cilindretto), magari in versioni addomesticate per sposarsi meglio con il gusto mediterraneo. Del resto il Parmigiano Reggiano e lo Speck dell’Alto Adige negli hamburger di McDonald’s sono già una realtà ed è un dato di fatto che i banchi del supermercato si arricchiscano ogni giorno di nuove proposte sempre più tecnologiche. Le "patatine" che hanno l’aspetto e il sapore del bacon (senza averlo mai visto nemmeno da lontano) sono dei must dell’happy hour, così come prosegue il successo degli energy drink dal gusto dubbio e delle gomme americane (per l’appunto…) che frizzano. Pagina dopo pagina, questo libro ci introduce in un mondo diverso ma certamente affascinante, dove si scopre che il cibo può avere dimensioni e significati differenti da quelli che gli attribuiamo abitualmente. Oltre il piacere, oltre il nutrimento, diventa gioco, ricerca tecnologica, sfida scientifica, desiderio di stupire e di distinguersi… Arricchito da informazioni inattese e uno humour sorprendente, Sai cosa mangi? approfondisce in maniera dettagliata e avvincente non solo come la scienza è presente nei nostri pasti quotidiani, ma anche quali sono i principi scientifici sottostanti ai diversi alimenti che ogni giorno mangiamo.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Food

255 pages, Paperback

First published August 19, 2008

Reviews

[Elana · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was written for someone who has never seen food in their entire life.

I swear I laughed out loud when I saw the goodreads description of the book included the prhase "superbly written".

I have to preface my review by stating that I read this book because it was assigned as our "textbook" in a food science class I am taking in college.

I have never read something so poorly written in my entire life. I didn't even finish it. The chapters are essentially short essays on a type of food or ingredient which answer questions such as "why do we need packaging" among other incredibly stimulating discussions. This book is excruciatingly boring.

I would imagine this book would be really well suited to a high school student trying to break into the world of food science.

Overal, if you know NOTHING about food science and like things explained to you simply and as if someone were talking to you, then by all means this book would suit your needs beautifully.

But if you've seen food before, and maybe even eaten it, it's time to graduate.

[Charlotte · Rating 1 out of 5]

This books is almost laughably bad. It has a very attractive cover and I'm always interested in food in science so it was hard to resist in the library. By page two, though, I was checking the back flap to see who the author was and why he was so invested in promoting the commercial processing of food. As it turns out, he has ties to the industry and I have my suspicions that the food industry is also the group that got the book published in the first place. For all that, the propaganda turned out to be very poorly done. It is written in an overly-simplistic manner and, whatever the author may think, telling me about how strawberries are irradiated or that dead pets can be kept by freeze-drying them in the same way that foods are freeze-dried does not whet my appetite.

[Stef · Rating 2 out of 5]

Series of short essays about modern methods of food production, manufacture, and distribution, with forays into the science and history of same.

Hartel is a bit more enthusiastic about the safety and benefits of high-volume food processing/production than might be warranted. In one essay he makes what seem to me to be excessive claims about how our food is safer than it ever has been in the past.

He avoids discussing butchering or meat processing and mainly sticks to discussions about the production of candies and snacks, methods for preserving freshness, and so on.

I learned some interesting information, but for me it was only barely worth slogging through the cutesy writing style.

[Helen Lind · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half was pretty interesting, but then it seemed like the author ran out of ideas and wrote several really dull chapters (like "What is gelatin?". I actually skipped the last three chapters and returned it.

[Jie Xuan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually i give up on the half way of reading.

It seem interesting but actually not.

Plus, since i am taking food science course for my degree, the information in this book is just too familiar and shallow.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There weren't as many fascinating facts in this book as I was expecting. It was a pretty boring book overall.

[yamiyoghurt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Easy to read, but no content.