I realize that’s an extremely general concept, but after reading Home by Bill Bryson, where he briefly touches on foods eaten in early human history and on the spice trade in England, I realized it’s such a fascinating subject and I want to know more about why we eat certain foods at breakfast, lunch and dinner across cultures.
Have you guys read anything similar that you enjoyed, not too dry?
by Miskychel
7 Comments
_Cooked_ by Michael Pollan
Chocolate: A Global History (Edible) by Sarah Moss.
This one is super dry, but actually really important: The Darjeeling Distinction, by Sarah Besky. It focuses on the labor and justice issues around tea and associated fair-trade policies. 100% recommend this if you want to become a more mindful consumer as well as an educated foodie.
You may also enjoy the movie Black Gold, released in I think 2007. Documentary on coffee, super informative.
Explored these for a class in college called “Coffee, Chocolate and Justice.” There were a heck of a lot of articles that were good too, but I can’t seem to find my syllabus to pass them along. I’ll come back to this if I find it.
*Salt: A World History* – Kurlansky
Health and the Rise of Civilization by Mark Nathan Cohen
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, *History of Food*.
Someone below has recommended Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat’s History of Food, and I second that. A slightly earlier “big picture” view is Reay Tannahill’s Food in History. Tannahill’s book was one of the first to break ground in treating the history of food as a respectable area of study.
Bruce Kraig has a book called *A Rich and Fertile Land: A History of Food in America*, that you might also find interesting. And the same publisher has books on the history of German, Russian, Italian, Indian, Australian, and Vietnamese cooking. These are all written for a general audience who wants a little depth in the subject.
Columbia University Press publishes a series of food history books called Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History. Some of the books are written for a general audience while others are more academic. Some titles are
– *Eating History: Thirty Tuning Points in the Making of American Cuisine*;
– *Gastropolis: Food in New York City*;
– *Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America*
– *British Food: An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History*
Fuchsia Dunlop just published *Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food* which should be pretty good. Some other good books on Chinese food history are *Slippery Noodles* by Ju-lin Hsiang, and *The Emperor’s Feast* by Jonathan Clements. All three of these are written for a general audience.
If you’re interested in Southern food, there is a great “encyclopedia” volume put out by The University of North Carolina Press called *The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture:* ***Volume 7: Foodways****.* The first half of the book is essays and the latter half is like a traditional encyclopedia where you can look up individual things. There’s a fascinating section on how fast food broke into the Southern market. It was all because of biscuits. 🙂
Along the lines of the above, the *Oxford Companion to American Food* and the *Oxford Companion to Food* may also be of interest. They’re not books you can read straight through, but I’m always dipping into them and learning something new.
This list is probably overkill (and there are more I could add) but I hope you find something useful from it.
I just came to day I LOVE At Hole by Bill Bryson 😍