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The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Small Batch: Pickles, Cheese, Chocolate, Spirits, and the Return of Artisanal Foods
Small Batch details the history and changing social implication of artisanal foods, from the days of early American settlers to the present explosion of small-batch and artisanal food businesses. Interviewing over fifty artisanal producers, Cope details the influences, challenges, and evolving identity of these modern craft industries.
Book Details
- Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
- Publish Date: Oct 10th, 2014
- Pages: 244
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 9.27in - 5.15in - 0.93in - 0.93lb
- EAN: 9781442227347
- Categories: • History• Agriculture & Food (see also Political Science - Public Poli• Industries - General
About the Author
Suzanne Cope, is a scholar of food studies and narrative. Recent and upcoming publications include articles and essays in The New York Times, Time.com, XOJane, Italian American Review, Edible Boston, Edible Cape Cod, among others. She lives in Brooklyn and teaches college writing. Additional information can be found at www.suzannecope.com
Praise for this book
Earnest and anecdotal yet scientific, this exploration of revived forms of artisanal entrepreneurialism tries to capture the sense of value and nostalgia that accompanies the creation of handmade foods. Now residing in Brooklyn, the heart of the artisanal food 'incubator, ' writing teacher and scholarly journalist Cope tracks down numerous examples of the new artisan class to elicit their take on the virtues of craft as they rigorously define themselves in contrast to what is mass-produced and industrial-scale. For each product, such as the humble pickle beloved of Dutch, German, and Jewish immigrants, Cope offers a brief history of its apotheosis in America. She also explores how the introduction of the Mason jar in 1858 invited home picklers to preserve food in smaller portions and with more consistent results. According to her research, these new artisans are fairly well educated, youngish urbanites across the country, most of whom were faced with job uncertainty in the mid-2000s and inspired--usually by family knowledge or a passion for personal or environmental health--to make a go at homemade production as a way to make a living. Indeed, the value of each product is increased by its story--a narrative about provenance and terroir, a sense that the farmer knows the goats that make her chèvre or the anthropologist turned chocolate maker who employs Oaxacans in Mexico to grow his cacao beans for sustainable, fair sourcing. Cope offers much that is pertinent and thought provoking.
Small Batch is one large feat! We have so many words buzzing around our food world nowadays: locavore, lacto-fermented, artisanal, carbon footprint, GMO, sustainable, and more. Suzanne Cope's excellent book is the ultimate map out of the woods and into the light with these extremely meaningful and timely discussions with our fellow residents of what R. Buckminster Fuller sagely called 'Spaceship Earth.'
Small Batch will make you yearn to eat pickles that really crunch and mozzarella that isn't 'just for melting.' Suzanne Cope's thoughtful take on the American artisanal food movement traces its evolution from frugal grandmothers canning peaches to DIY picklers and distillers in Brooklyn. Cope's fresh and delightful book shares the idealism of these craft producers, who want to change the world 'one bite at a time.'
Anyone interested in today's artisanal movement will appreciate the depth of research, historical context, and anecdotes of modern day small-scale producers that Suzanne Cope has so deftly compiled in Small Batch. From how the United States moved away from craft production, to the technologies and processes behind some of our favorite foods, and the socio-economic movement that brought us back to our artisanal roots, Cope's account will inspire and inform, compelling us, if we haven't already, to seek out pickles (or cheese, or chocolate, or spirits) that come with a story.
Small Batch is a fascinating investigation into the contemporary American artisan food revival. It situates this growing movement in broader historical and social contexts, and reflects on the question of what exactly makes a food artisanal.