COMS 4607 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: The Cookbook

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Communication and Media Studies
• Course: COMS 4607
• Professor: Irena Knezevic

Document Summary

Chapter 5 in textbook: la cuisini re canadienne: the cookbook as communication. Cookbooks are not merely instructional texts designed to teach culinary technqiues and transmit recipes. They are cultural narratives, and embedded in the stories they tell are certain aspirations and values. Cookbooks entice readers with the implied possibility of an enhanced lifestyle and they often reflect a distinct aesthetic or ethical position, even an entire world view. Modern cookbooks, in particular, seek to suggest that a specific mode of eating will produce a transformational experience of some sort. Sometimes what appears to be a simple recipe actually contains an entire cultural agenda, complete with social, political, and economic goals. The cookbook empowers the individual to express identity, to perform a specific role, (cid:449)hether it i(cid:374)(cid:448)ol(cid:448)es o(cid:374)e"s eth(cid:374)i(cid:272) or religious perso(cid:374)a or (cid:374)atio(cid:374)al (cid:271)a(cid:272)kgrou(cid:374)d, or e(cid:448)e(cid:374) a particular ideological position.