For my birthday, way back in July, I received An Edible History of Humanity from my mother. She recommended it to me, and mentioned that it featured in New Scientist magazine. So was it written by an educated man, a food writer, a historian, a scientist, perhaps? I pondered...
To be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting a flowery book all about how Marianne Toinette may or may not have been misquoted about proclaiming; "let them eat cake". Or how something completely facile reminded the author of a certain dish that his grandma used to make him, way back when. I knew there had to be more substance to this book, just from scanning the cover.
My fascination with anthropology has been fuelled by this book, containing stark tales of people being scalped for growing certain crops and spices, about how the stubbornness of political leaders and generals led to the starvation of millions. And how we actually have food stored away within the icy realms of the Arctic, should nuclear war break out and civilisation need to start again.
This is food in relation to survival, in relation to the intrinsic shaping of societies. In coherence with the fall of one tribe, and the success of another.
Author Standage proclaims, this book is about everything but food. He speaks of its growth, production, refinement, distribution. Of how it is used as a weapon to control your enemies and strike while their defences are down, and their soldiers weak.
Standage, voices with some regret, our savage history, and how we as a nation gained position and power through the slave trade exploitation, import and export.
This book has so many facets to it, each one so wide and varied, you could easily get lost in it. This is the reason I didn't want to finish this book. This is also the reason why I want to continue reading his other works.
So raise your glasses to Mr Standage, and spare a thought for your ancestors the next time you raid the kitchen cupboard.
To be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting a flowery book all about how Marianne Toinette may or may not have been misquoted about proclaiming; "let them eat cake". Or how something completely facile reminded the author of a certain dish that his grandma used to make him, way back when. I knew there had to be more substance to this book, just from scanning the cover.
My fascination with anthropology has been fuelled by this book, containing stark tales of people being scalped for growing certain crops and spices, about how the stubbornness of political leaders and generals led to the starvation of millions. And how we actually have food stored away within the icy realms of the Arctic, should nuclear war break out and civilisation need to start again.
This is food in relation to survival, in relation to the intrinsic shaping of societies. In coherence with the fall of one tribe, and the success of another.
Author Standage proclaims, this book is about everything but food. He speaks of its growth, production, refinement, distribution. Of how it is used as a weapon to control your enemies and strike while their defences are down, and their soldiers weak.
Standage, voices with some regret, our savage history, and how we as a nation gained position and power through the slave trade exploitation, import and export.
This book has so many facets to it, each one so wide and varied, you could easily get lost in it. This is the reason I didn't want to finish this book. This is also the reason why I want to continue reading his other works.
So raise your glasses to Mr Standage, and spare a thought for your ancestors the next time you raid the kitchen cupboard.
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