"Discoveries, travels, conquests, and expansions during the Renaissance introduced Europeans to exotic cultures, mores, manners, and ideas. The cross-fertilization between the Old and the New Worlds, the East and the West brought new foods, preparations, and flavors. That culinary revolution led to the development of new utensils and table manners, initiating a way of eating that differed radically from medieval traditions. Some of the impact is still felt - and tasted - today."--BOOK JACKET.

We are what we eat. Food has shaped our bodies and our history like no other influence. Yet so much is misunderstood about our rich relationship with nutrition. In daily life and feasts the people of the Middle Ages ate following strict rituals - both inspired by religious conviction and the seasons. Using stunning recreations, this is a fascinating, knowledgeable and thought-provoking program about the complex relationship with food.

"Food has functioned both as a source of continuity and a subject of adaptation over the course of human history. But how did humans discover how to grow and consume these foods in the first place? How were they chosen over competing foods? How did they come to be so important to us? In this charming and frequently surprising compendium, Gregory McNamee gathers revelations from history, anthropology, chemistry, biology, and many other fields, and spins them into tales of discovery, complete with delicious recipes from many culinary traditions around the world." "Among the 30 types of food discussed in the course of this alphabetically arranged work are: the apple, the banana, chocolate, coffee, corn, garlic, honey, millet, the olive, the peanut, the pineapple, the plum, rice, the soybean, the tomato, and the watermelon. All of the recipes included with these diverse food histories have been adapted for recreation in the modern kitchen."--BOOK JACKET.

"[This book] is the first to apply the discoveries of food historians to the romantic appeal of food. Here are the accomplishments of civilizations, from prehistory to the present day, to the pleasures of dining ? ingredients, preparation and presentation."--Publisher website.

With the proliferation of food history courses and avid interest among scholars and the general public, the need for a solid comprehensive collection of key primary texts about food of the past is urgent. This collection spans the globe from classical antiquity to the present, offering substantive selections from cookbooks, fiction, gastronomic and dietary treatises and a wide range of food writing. Offering a solid introduction to each period with extensive commentary and suggestions for interpretive strategies, this reader provides extracts undigested, for the student who needs immediate and direct contact with the ideas of the past. Readings illustrate the various ways religion, politics, social structure, health and agricultural policy shaped what people ate in the past and offer instructive ways to think about our own food systems and how they have been shaped by historical forces.