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THE CAROLINA RICE KITCHEN

Name: THE CAROLINA RICE KITCHEN
Author: Karen Hess
ISBN: 0-87249-666-X

THE AFRICAN CONNECTION

by Karen Hess ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1992

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Culinary historian Hess (coauthor, The Taste of America, 1977- -not reviewed) explores the rice cooking of South Carolina, where that food has been and is a ritual staple. Hess traces the worldwide forces and migrations behind the cultivation in South Carolina of ``Carolina Gold,'' the world's most prized rice from the late 1600's to the early 1900's. (Today's packaged rice with the brand name ``Carolina,'' while decent, is not grown in that state and bears no relation to its former crop except for adopting the prestigious name.) The author makes clear that it was slaves brought from rice-cultivating parts of Africa whose knowledge and efforts established and maintained the local Carolina rice industry, which began to die out after emancipation because their masters lacked the necessary rice-growing background- -though, more than other Americans, they did share a rice-eating past. Hess notes that almost half of South Carolina's white settlers were French and that even many of the English came via the West Indies, then explains the connection by tracing pilaf, which originated in Persia, through two routes to Carolina: The Arabs brought it to Africa, where it became (for one salient example) the dish that slaves later passed along as Carolina's Hoppin' John; and Sephardic Jews fleeing to Provence passed it along to their fellow religious outcasts, the Huguenots, who later fled to the New World. Though common cooking practices are poorly documented in history, Hess masterfully employs old texts, recent scholarship, internal culinary evidence, linguistic arguments, and rice recipes from scattered sources to make her case on several intriguing points—and she provides enlightening comments both culinary and historical on the dishes set down in Mrs. Stoney's 1901 Carolina Rice Cook Book. (Four halftones—not seen.)

Pub Date: June 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-87249-666-X

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Univ. of South Carolina

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1992

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.