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In today's world it's easy to get what we desire to eat in our 24-hour consumer society. But where and how did these everyday recipes come from? This book features 100 essays, taking the reader logically and chronologically through the history of food and cooking, each with an accompanying recipe. Answers questions such as: When was bread first produced? When did we start using herbs and spices? Who invented spaghetti? and What was the first mass-produced meal? *Also appeared in March Buyer's Notes*
Synopsis
The ingredients, cooks, techniques and tools that have shaped our love of food.
Book Details
Publisher:
HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS
Publication Date:
12-Apr-2012
ISBN:
9780007411993
Observer review
A History of Food in 100 Recipes by William Sitwell review
Rebecca Seal the observer Sat 21 April 2012
In less steady hands, this book might have been a disaster. It's a bold move to try to explain the entire evolution of food via 100 dishes, and the result could easily have been dull and academic or overambitious and patchy. But William Sitwell has pulled off something clever: a thoroughly researched and witty history that is both compelling and teeming with scholarly facts. Each short chapter begins with a recipe, but don't mistake this for a cookery book. These are not recipes you will want or even be able to make. They include ancient Egyptian bread, Aztec hot chocolate and Roman sauces for flamingo, right up to Heston Blumenthal's Tudor-inspired "meat fruit" dish. Sitwell who is editor of Waitrose Food Illustrated then fills in the fascinating back story for each one. Because it's as much a socio-cultural history as a culinary one, you don't even need to be a raging foodie to enjoy this.
