Moveable Feasts From Ancient Rome to the 21st Century, the Incredible Journeys of the Food We Eat

by Murray, Sarah

• ISBN13: 9780312428143
• ISBN10: 0312428146
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-28
• Publisher: Picador

Summary

Today the things we eat and drink have crossed oceans, continents, and even airspace before reaching the dinner table. The complex systems and technologies devised throughout the centuries to deliver our food supply reveal surprising things about politics, culture, economies-and our appetites. In Mumbai, India's chaotic commercial capital, men use local trains, bicycles, and their feet to transport more than 170,000 lunches a day from housewives to their husbands, with almost no mix-ups. Modern shipping containers allow companies to send frozen salmon to China, where it can be cheaply thawed, filleted, and refrozen, before traveling back to the United States where it's sold in supermarkets as fresh fish. Moveable Feasts takes a novel look at the economics, logistics, and environmental impact of food, and brings new perspective to debates about where we get our meals.

Author Biography

Sarah Murray is a travel writer and longtime Financial Times contributor who reports on the relationship of business to the environment. She lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. ix
Liquid Gold: The Ancient Amphora Delivers Roman Riches	p. 1
The Business of Bones: The Norwegian Salmon Pays a Visit to China	p. 23
Cannon Fodder: Battlefield Food Fuels Packaging Technology	p. 46
Plane Fare: The Berlin Airlift Secures a Cold War Victory	p. 64
Tiffin Travels: Curry Catches the Corporate Imagination	p. 85
Yes, We Can Do Bananas: Refrigerated Ships Shape Central American Regimes	p. 109
Whey to Go: Mongolian Nomads Practice Mobile Biochemistry	p. 133
Barrels and Bouquets: The Oak Tree Leaves Its Mark	p. 159
A Quick Cuppa: Commercial Competition Speeds the Racing Tea Clippers	p. 176
Food with Altitude: Jet Planes Dispatch a Strawberry for All Seasons	p. 199
Elevated Design: Buffalo Grain Feeds Bauhaus Inspiration	p. 220
Going with Gravity: Cold War Weaponry Finds a New Purpose	p. 240
Epilogue	p. 259
Acknowledgments	p. 271
Select Bibliography	p. 273
A Note on Sources	p. 283
Index	p. 285
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