Food and Love:; a cultural history of East and West

London: Verso, 1998. First edition (stated). Hardcover. Extremely gentle wear and small nick to DJ protected in archival brodart, top-rear corner barely rubbed, little scuff to spine foot fold, else near fine(-) in very good+ DJ.. Octavo in white DJ; ix, 305 p; 24 cm. Contents: Pt. I. Family. 1. The East in the West. 2. The uniqueness of the European family? 3. Comparing family systems in Europe and Asia: are there different sets of rules? 4. Women, class and family. 5. Love, lust and literacy -- Pt. II. Food. 6. Food, family and feminism. 7. Structuralism, materialism and the horse. 8. The globalisation of Chinese food. 9. Why no wine on the table? -- Pt. III. Doubts. 10. The Great and Little Traditions in the Mediterranean. 11. A kernel of doubt. 12. Man and the natural world: reflections on history and anthropology. 13. Creation and evolution. 14. Civil society in a comparative perspective. "Jack Goody is a thinker who enjoys subverting neat simplifications and rigid preconceptions. Perhaps best known for his acclaimed critique of crude historical distinctions between 'West' and 'East' - and overblown claims for the uniqueness of the West - Goody in this new collection pursues his argument into the sphere of culture. The development of romantic love, the evolution of national and regional cuisines, the globalisation of Chinese food, the histories of various taboos on certain types of food and drink, the uniqueness of the European family - such are the fascinating and diverse themes Goody addresses, effortlessly ranging from Europe to Asia and Africa. Throughout the book, Goody demonstrates that the ethnocentricity of much of Western scholarship has distorted not only the comprehension of the East but also developments in the European past and present."--BOOK JACKET. Food -- History -- Asia.