- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Methuen Publishing Ltd; First Edition edition (Oct 1973)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0413273407
- ISBN-13: 978-0413273406
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,673,164 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Nigella Lawson
‘The book that makes all your cookbooks make sense…Cooks, historians, novelists, eaters: everyone should read this book'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Jeanette Winterson, Sunday Times Books of the Year
‘Revised, re-issued, erudite and funny. Perfect present for dieters'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
In the very earliest times nature was in charge and the problem of the food supply was good deal simpler than it is now - although perhaps it would be wiser to say 'must have been simpler', since there are as many theories about prehistory and the pattern of human evolution as there are theoreticians. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
In the very earliest times nature was in charge and the problem of the food supply was good deal simpler than it is now - although perhaps it would be wiser to say 'must have been simpler', since there are as many theories about prehistory and the pattern of human evolution as there are theoreticians. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
This, for many years the leader in its field, is still a book worth reading. It is not a cookery book; it is a study of the role of food and food crops in the development of human society and history.
Unfortunately, it contains some errors and some of its assertions have been superceded by more modern research. At times the treatment is a little cavalier in style. A lot of the information seems to have been taken from a far better and more interesting book, The Englishman's Food: Five Centuries of English Diet By H Drummond. It is an excellent introduction to the subject however. There are a number of useful illustrations.
Unfortunately, it contains some errors and some of its assertions have been superceded by more modern research. At times the treatment is a little cavalier in style. A lot of the information seems to have been taken from a far better and more interesting book, The Englishman's Food: Five Centuries of English Diet By H Drummond. It is an excellent introduction to the subject however. There are a number of useful illustrations.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
It is described on the back as "a standard work", and I can well believe it. It is both comprehensive and very well written. From the pre-historic world to the present it covers aspects of the growth, production, consumption, nutritional value and trade of food in many parts of the world, showing also the social and historical circumstances and consequences.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
27 reviews
74 of 77 people found the following review helpful
Great Synopsis of Food, and also World History
13 Dec 2001
Format:Paperback
Food in History is an excellent introduction to a piece of human history that is probably so obviously important it's not widely researched: the crucial part that food played and plays in human society. Sure, everyone learns about how the spice trade was a leading factor in the Age of Exploration, and the discovery of crop rotation in the early Middle Ages, which "killed more than one child's interest in history" as the author rightly points out. This book goes much farther than that, showing the development of eating habits from neolithic man up to the early/mid 20th Century. Along the way, the author points out some truths that will be unpleasant to the food faddists of the early 21st Century: Humans ARE omnivores by evolution, and salt is also an evolution-induced craving, are just two of the basic points in the story of humans and food. (Speaking of food fads, these aren't limited to our Century and the US, fruit was considered dangerous by more than one culture and for reasons that sound depressingly familiar concerning dietary recommendations today...)
In a survey like this one, it can't do justice to EVERY culture's cuisine, but it does come close. Roman, Arab, Indian, Asian, and the influence of the Americas on European foods are well covered. The prose is lively, much wittier than I thought it would be given the subject, but also scholastic.
Is this a "popular" history? Yeah, I would say so, but there is also great material in here for the student and historian. So much so, that Food in History would make a great supplemental book for a World History course. Highly recommended.
In a survey like this one, it can't do justice to EVERY culture's cuisine, but it does come close. Roman, Arab, Indian, Asian, and the influence of the Americas on European foods are well covered. The prose is lively, much wittier than I thought it would be given the subject, but also scholastic.
Is this a "popular" history? Yeah, I would say so, but there is also great material in here for the student and historian. So much so, that Food in History would make a great supplemental book for a World History course. Highly recommended.
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Wonderful, enlighten read, with one caveat.
11 May 2006
Format:Paperback
I deeply enjoyed this engrossing read. Tannahill has done a superb job mixing history, culture, and the culinary arts. As a student of culture and a lover of food I was drawn in by Tannahill's attention to detail, while at the same time writing an informative work that was easy to read and hard to put down. My one and only criticism lies in her choices for footnotes. I was puzzled by her choice to footnote the definition for porter (it's possible that porter was a unique drink in 1977 when the book was first written), while on numerous occasions not footnoting the references to regional foods, ingredients, and preparations. I soon found that referring to my copies of the Food Lover's Companion (Herbst, 1995) and the American Heritage Dictionary (2001) made for a much fuller reading experience. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with a love of food and culture, Tannahill will not disappoint.
33 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Comprehensive
9 Dec 2001
Format:Paperback
This book is a comprehensive overview of both the history of food and how food changed history. Tannahill describes what people ate all over the world from prehistoric times through the present. The book is divided into the following sections: prehistoric times, 3000 BC to 1000 AD, 1000 AD to 1492, 1492-1789, and 1789 to the present. In each section, there are separate chapters on areas of the world, such as China, India, the Arab World, Europe, and the Americas. One slightly annoying facet of the book is Tannahill's tendency to shift focus from one time or region to another as she describes a topic in detail (for example, in chapter 12 where she is describing the animals that were kept in medieval towns in Europe, she includes comments about 19th century New York.) Tannahill writes from a British vantage point, and occasionally displays some lack of understanding of American culture, which can be either amusing or annoying for American readers (such as when she suggests that America is "more hygiene-conscious than other countries" "because it played host to so many religious sects that held cleanliness inseparable from godliness"). Nevertheless, these shortcomings are quite small, and the book is extremely informative and interesting to read.
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