Ritz & Escoffier: The Hotelier, the Chef & the Rise of the Leisure Class, by Luke Barr. Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2018 Cesar Ritz started his career as a waiter in Parisian restaurants. He worked his way up to better and better eateries, and finally made the step to being a hotel manager. He had an eye for improving things and a memory for what ( Read more... )

Baking Powder Wars: The Cutthroat Food Fight That Revolutionized Cooking, by Linda Civitello. Heartland FoodWays, 2017 Before there baking powder was invented, there were no fluffy cakes, no cookies, no muffins, no biscuits, and no quick breads. Everything had to be leavened with yeast, and since there was no dried yeast available at the grocery ( Read more... )

Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World, by Steven Johnson. Riverhead Books, 2016 Steven Johnson has a broad definition of ‘play’; he speaks not of just toys and sports but of anything that seems frivolous or unnecessary that brings happiness to people. He puts forth a pretty good argument that pleasant things were the driving force behind many ( Read more... )

Facepaint: The Story of Makeup, by Lisa Eldridge. Abrams Image, 2015Famous makeup artist Lisa Eldridge brings us a history of makeup. She goes into both the chemistry (what the makeup was made of) and the sociology (how social mores influenced its use) of it to create a rounded view of makeup. It’s been around for thousands of years- the ancient ( Read more... )