Meat art from South America

May 16, 2012 2:54 AM

Can you recommend a book about the meat culinary in South America? Bonus points if it's focused on Uruguay's or Brazil's cuisine

I'm looking for a gift for a meat lover friend. I'm trying to find a book about meat in South America, specially one that focuses on the culinary art itself, like talking about the different kinds of cuts or the traditions involving meat and its preparation, specially in the south of Brazil, Uruguay or Argentina.

I'm not that much interested in a recipe book, but rather one that talks more about the culture, with beautiful pics, etc. Does this book even exist?

I realize my constraints are probably too specific, so let me know the closest I can get! My search-fu was unable to find anything good.

posted by just_another_one to food & drink (3 answers total)

Seven Fires by Francis Mallmann
posted by JPD at 4:08 AM on May 16, 2012

I've got a gorgeous coffee table called Culinaria The Caribbean. It has recipes, but it's a full color world of the different Caribbean cultures, with lots of beautiful pictures.

BTW, the recipes are incredible. The fish in coconut from the Dominican Republic is amazing and very simple to make.

I also enjoy the fact that when discussing the Rastafarian movement that they've included a recipe for ganja brownies.

I got it at Borders or Barnes and Noble for $25. It's about $85 on Amazon, but worth every penny, it's just beautiful.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:26 AM on May 16, 2012

Not sure that this guy is quite what you're looking for since he seems to specialize in Mexican sausage, but maybe looking some of his stuff up on Amazon will suggest something more in line with what you're looking for.

Jeffrey M. Pilcher, professor of history at the University of Minnesota, has traveled around the world eating tacos. For the past 20 years, he has investigated the history, politics and evolution of Mexican food, including how Mexican silver miners likely invented the taco, how Mexican Americans in the Southwest reinvented it, and how businessman Glen Bell mass-marketed it to Anglo palates via the crunchy Taco Bell shell. Pilcher is author and editor, respectively, of the forthcoming Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food (Oxford University Press) and The Oxford Handbook of Food History. His previous books include The Sausage Rebellion: Public Health, Private Enterprise, and Meat in Mexico City, 1890-1917 and Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Where-Did-the-Taco-Come-From.html#ixzz1v39vy4Tn
posted by forkisbetter at 9:16 AM on May 16, 2012