Food Fights & Culture Wars: A Secret History of Taste - Hardcover

Nealon, Tom

3.33

254 ratings by Goodreads

9781468314410: Food Fights & Culture Wars: A Secret History of Taste

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1468314416 ISBN 13: 9781468314410

Publisher: Overlook Pr, 2017

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In this eclectic book of food history, Tom Nealon takes on such overlooked themes as carp and the Crusades, brown sauce and Byron, and chillies and cannibalism, and suggests that hunger and taste are the twin forces that secretly defined the course of civilization. Through war and plague, revolution and migration, people have always had to eat. What and how they ate provoked culinary upheaval around the world as ingredients were traded and fought over, and populations desperately walked the line between satiety and starvation.

Parallel to the history books, a second, more obscure history was also being recorded in the cookbooks of the time, which charted the evolution of meals and the transmission of ingredients around the world. Food Fights and Culture Wars: A Secret History of Taste explores the mysteries at the intersection of food and society, and attempts to make sense of the curious area between fact and fiction.

Beautifully illustrated with material from the collection of the British Library, this wide-ranging book addresses some of the fascinating, forgotten stories behind everyday dishes and processes. Among many conspiracies and controversies, the author meditates on the connections between the French Revolution and table settings, food thickness and colonialism, and lemonade and the Black Plague.

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Review:

[Nealon] serves up the literary equivalent of tapas: elegant, nourishing, and enjoyable stories that leave room for what comes next. As with those small, delicious dishes, a favorite among the offerings here is hard to choose.--Rebecca Rego Barry

Glorious . . . eclectic and free-ranging . . . delightful information made more delightful still by lavish illustrations . . . of cakes that look like architectural follies and advertisements for 'fluid beef' that promise fortifying masculine results.--Lisa Abend

A fun and engaging illustrated history of food.

Tracing the history of culinary practice, Nealon uncovers some fascinating and significant relationships between food and seemingly disparate historical events. Diverse elements, from carp to chocolate to barbecue, each turn out to have significantly influenced historical eras and episodes . . . Nealon keeps his prose lighthearted, but never to the point of undermining his deep historical and cultural research . . . [This] ever-entertaining text wraps around lavish, copious illustrations . . . and they deserve closest scrutiny.

Nealon applies his deep knowledge and dry wit to some of the most prevalent of modern foods, from chocolate to mayonnaise to Marmite.

This book is a feast! The wealth of stories, the luxurious illustrations, the sharp details, and Tom Nealon's deep culture and dry wit come together in a banquet of Lucullan proportions. You can gorge yourself without suffering heartburn or gaining an ounce.--Luc Sante

As someone who enjoys reading about food almost as much as cooking it, I'd highly recommend settling down with a glass of sherry and Tom Nealon's fascinating and copiously illustrated book of culinary history . . . Just the thing to work up an appetite.--Felicity Cloake "Best Books on Food 2016 "

Astonishing . . . [A] wide-ranging history of food--and civilization itself.--Best New Books

Enjoy dinner with a side of history . . . and in between these cold-hard facts is some great eye candy.--Best New Cookbooks for Spring 2017

An illustrated history of diet and society, which bubbles with culinary curiosities and fascinating tidbits.--Best Books of 2016

About the Author:

Tom Nealon is a food writer and antiquarian bookseller who specializes in early printed books, literature, and anything to do with the often elusive history of food. His work has appeared in Slate, The Boston Globe, and extensively at Hilobrow.com. He lives with his wife and two children in Boston, where he runs Pazzo Books and occasionally insists that he is one of the world's leading authorities on condiments.

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