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    The Language Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu
    The Language Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu
    The Language Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu
    Audiobook6 hours

    The Language Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu

    Written by Dan Jurafsky

    Narrated by Steven Menasche

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Stanford University linguist and MacArthur Fellow Dan Jurafsky dives into the hidden history of food.

    Why do we eat toast for breakfast, and then toast to good health at dinner? What does the turkey we eat on Thanksgiving have to do with the country on the eastern Mediterranean? Can you figure out how much your dinner will cost by counting the words on the menu?
    In The Language of Food, Stanford University professor and MacArthur Fellow Dan Jurafsky peels away the mysteries from the foods we think we know. Thirteen chapters evoke the joy and discovery of reading a menu dotted with the sharp-eyed annotations of a linguist.

    Jurafsky points out the subtle meanings hidden in filler words like "rich" and "crispy," zeroes in on the metaphors and storytelling tropes we rely on in restaurant reviews, and charts a microuniverse of marketing language on the back of a bag of potato chips.

    The fascinating journey through The Language of Food uncovers a global atlas of culinary influences. With Jurafsky's insight, words like ketchup, macaron, and even salad become living fossils that contain the patterns of early global exploration that predate our modern fusion-filled world.

    From ancient recipes preserved in Sumerian song lyrics to colonial shipping routes that first connected East and West, Jurafsky paints a vibrant portrait of how our foods developed. A surprising history of culinary exchange-a sharing of ideas and culture as much as ingredients and flavors-lies just beneath the surface of our daily snacks, soups, and suppers.

    Engaging and informed, Jurafsky's unique study illuminates an extraordinary network of language, history, and food. The menu is yours to enjoy.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAscent Audio
    Release dateOct 1, 2014
    ISBN9781469092539
    The Language Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu

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    Reviews for The Language Food

    3.5/5

    46 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This book is about three of my favourite topics: history, food and language. Dan Jurafsky is a linguist whose research looks at what the migration and evolution of words can reveal about history, politics, psychology amongst other things. I think he has achieved a good balance between readability / accessibility and depth of research - it's actually a very 'academic' book, supported by detailed references and citations, but still very readable, partly because he uses many examples from his own experiences living in San Francisco. My only criticism is that the book is packed with annotations (equivalent to footnotes or references) that are not actually marked on the main text. I can understand that too many annotation symbols would be distracting, but discovering them at the end of the book doesn't seem very helpful (short of beginning the book all over again). Including them as footnotes at the bottom of each page would make a richer reading experience. This book has also taught me about the scope of modern-day linguistics research, enough to encourage me to perhaps try and look up his academic papers. I like how he has placed linguistics at the intersection of psychology, sociology, anthropology and history.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      The history of food is a fascinating one but until reading this book I hadn't considered much the source of our names for foods and I had no idea how much they had migrated and changed over the centuries. The amount of, now, obscure connections of our foods is rather mind blowing. Who knew there was such a strong connection between fish and chips, ceviche and the ancient Middle East? Who knew the Middle East was the source of so much of the foods and processing techniques we still use today? Heck who knew there was a relationship between word sounds and food tastes? This was well written, engaging and very, very educational, I love learning new things and I learned a lot with this book.
    • 2/5
      I love language, and I love food, so I rushed to buy this book as soon as it showed up in my recommended list. What a disappointment! To begin with, as other reviewers have noted, the Kindle edition is not well edited. But that happens more and more often, and I am learning to keep plugging regardless (or even irregardless). But beyond that, the book just doesdn't live up to its subject matter. It is mildly interesting in bits; the author stretches out his word origens through several mutations. But it seemed to me to be essentially a book about where specific words come from, not about the overall language of food. I abandoned ship about half way through, and doubt I will return t