Synopsis
One of The New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year • One of Civil Eats Best Books of the Year
A celebrated culinary writer’s expansive, audacious excavation of the roots of modern queer identity and food culture.
The food on our plates has long been designed, twisted, and elevated by queer hands. Piecing together a dazzling mosaic of queer lives, spaces, and meals, beloved food writer John Birdsall unfolds the complex story of how, through times of fear and persecution, queer people used food to express joy and build community―and ended up changing the shape of the table for everyone.
Tracing the evolution of queer food from the early decades of the twentieth century through the LGBTQ civil rights movement of post-Stonewall liberation and the devastation of AIDS, Birdsall fills the gaps between past and present. He channels the twin forces of criticism and cultural history to propel readers into the kitchens, restaurants, swirling party houses, and buzzing interior lives of James Baldwin, Alice B. Toklas, Truman Capote, Esther Eng, and others who left an indelible mark on the culinary world from the margins. Queer food, as Birdsall brilliantly reveals, is quiche and Champagne eleganza at Sunday brunch and joyous lesbian potlucks in the bunker world of Cold War homophobic purges. It’s paper chicken for the gender-rebel divas of Chinese opera in San Francisco, Richard Olney’s ecstatic salade composée, and Rainbow Ice-Box Cake from Ernest Matthew Mickler’s White Trash Cooking. It’s the intention surrounding a meal, the circumstances behind it, the people gathered around the table.
With cinematic verve and delicious prose, What Is Queer Food? is a monumental work: a testament to food’s essential link to modern queerness that reveals how, like fashion or pop music, cooking and eating have become a crucial language of LGBTQ+ identity. By reframing our understanding of both food and queerness, it opens the door for courageous reckoning and boundless conversation.
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About the Author
John Birdsall is the author of The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard and is the recipient of two James Beard Awards for food and culture writing. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.
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What Is Queer Food?: How We Served a Revolution
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Hardback. Condition: New. Food in America and Europe has long been shaped, twisted and upended by queer creatives. Beloved food writer John Birdsall fills the gap between the past and present, channelling the twin forces of criticism and cultural history to propel readers into the kitchens, restaurants, swirling party-houses and humming interior lives of James Baldwin, Alice B. Toklas, Truman Capote, Esther Eng and others who left an indelible mark on the culinary world from the margins. Queer food is brunch quiche à la Craig Claiborne, Richard Olney's ecstatic salade composée and Rainbow Ice-Box Cake from Ernest Matthew Mickler's White Trash Cooking. It's the intention surrounding a meal, the circumstances behind it, the people gathered around the table.With cinematic verve and prose that dazzles, What Is Queer Food? is a monumental work: a testament to food's essential link to a modern queerness that reveals how, like fashion or tastes in music, food has become a language of LGBTQ+ identity. Seller Inventory # LU-9781324073796