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| Ladyfingers & Nun's Tummies: A Lighthearted Look at How Foods Got Their Names | 
 enlarge | Author: Martha Barnette
Publisher: Crown
Category: Book
List Price: $20.00
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $19.99 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 1409878
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0812921003
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.014
EAN: 9780812921007
ASIN: 0812921003
Publication Date: April 22, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read -> Recycle -> Reuse!
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Martha Barnette's Ladyfingers & Nun's Tummies is like a chocolate souffle: it's a light and fluffy indulgence, yet too delicate and complex to have been concocted by anyone other than a master. Sections on foods named after body parts, foods associated with religion, foods named by mistake, and others give a whole new meaning to the term food groups. The lollipop, it seems, is named for the smacking pop it makes when pulled away from an eager lolly (a northern-England dialectal term for "tongue"); the Reverend Sylvester Graham, an 1820s Connecticut minister who espoused the use of unrefined wheat flour, was the impetus behind graham crackers; the passion in passion fruit has more to do with the torture and crucifixion of Jesus than with erotic fervor; and Fig Newtons take their name from the Boston suburb of the same name. For some reason, though, the food meanings that provoke the most visceral reactions are the ones that most fascinate. Would linguine and vermicelli be so popular if it were widely known that they mean "little tongues" and "little worms," respectively? How about avocados, whose name derives from ahuacatl, the Aztec word for testicle? Prik khee noo, those teeny little hot-hot Thai chilies, translate as "rat droppings." And there are many etymologists who believe that pumpernickel comes from the German for "devil fart." They would be well advised to follow that corned beef sandwich with a bit of eggplant, which goes by aubergine in England and France; aubergine derives from the Sanskrit vatingana, or "antifart vegetable."
Product Description
artha Barnette casts hundreds of words into etymological history and reels in the whimsical tales of how foods have been named. Every food has a story to tell, whether it's graham crackers or the common leaf of lettuce, whose name contains its surprising origin. 10 illustrations.
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| Customer Reviews:
If Your Recipes Include Foods AND Words... June 30, 2004
I admit I'm a lover of both food and words, so this delicious book seemed the right menu choice when I borrowed it from the library recently. I was not disappointed; I have since purchased my own copy for reference in my food writing. The book is erudite, of course, but delightfully so. The origins of many of our food terms may indeed be obscure, but now that I have feasted on this little masterpiece, I no longer feel comfortable eating things with titles I cannot explain. Martha Barnette does go off on tangents that some may find vexing, explaining word relations that only begin with cuisine, but in doing so she adds richness to the stew. Both food and language are quintessentially civilizing; she's melded the two into an important book for any culinary or literary shelf.Food writer Elliot Essman's other reviews and food articles are available at www.stylegourmet.com
Deliciously funny AND nourishing for the mind August 23, 2000
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I've never written one of these reviews, but I just had to stop by and say what a big kick I got out of Martha Barnette's clever book. I bought it because I love food and cooking, but after reading "Ladyfingers and Nun's Tummies", I also bought a copy to send to my sister, because she's one of those people who're crazy about words and their origins.If you're like us, you'll learn a whole lot from this little book -- and enjoy a whole lot of laughs in the process!
A "feast of words" for any lover of food and language. March 18, 1999
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
I LOVED this book! The author has an amazing range of knowledge, both about the kitchen and about words, but what's truly wonderful is her terrific sense of humor, which makes learning all this stuff so much fun.I mean, who knew that Tootsie Rolls were named after a little girl or that Twinkies were named after shoes? Or that German chocolate cake isn't really German and Swiss steak isn't really Swiss? Or that the Italians like to nibble a plum they call a "nun's thigh," while the Dutch like to chow down on a dish of string beans and navy beans with a picturesque name that translates: "bare buttocks in the grass"? This is the perfect gift for the cook or food lover who has everything!
 Interesting but could be improved with food photos. August 21, 1997
I enjoyed this romp through gastronomic etymology. But the publisher should have printed in a more readable type-face, included pictures of the foods discussed, and edited out some of the redundancies. Also, the footnotes are too small to read easily, and much too detailed. It runs between a scholarly work and a Martha Stuart Living magazine. But I look forward to anything else written by Barnette, and I will devour it as I did this book (so to speak)
It's intelligent AND funny! May 10, 1997
This is one of the best word books I have ever seen. It's intelligent without being dry, and hilarious without being sophomoric. You can dip through it like selecting all the cream centers from a box of chocolates; or you can just start at the beginning and devour the whole thing in one hedonistic draught. "Nun's Tummies" is also featured on a killer Website,
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