Moveable Feasts

by McNamee, Gregory

• ISBN13: 9780275989316
• ISBN10: 0275989313
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-11-30
• Publisher: Praeger Pub Text

Summary

Food has functioned both as a source of continuity and as a subject of adaptation in the course of human history. Onions have been a staple of the European diet since the Paleolithic era, while the orange is once again being cultivated in great quantities in Southern China, where it was originally cultivated. Other foods-such as the apple and pear in Central Asia, the tomato in Mexico, the chile pepper in South America, and rice in South Asia-remain staples of their original regions and of the world diet today; but now they're also grown in some places that would have seemed impossible in the past-bananas in geothermally heated greenhouses in Iceland, corn on the fringes of the Gobi, and tomatoes in space. But how did humans discover how to grow and consume these foods in the first place? How were they chosen over competing foods? How did they come to be so important to us? In this charming and frequently surprising compendium, Gregory McNamee gathers revelations from history, anthropology, chemistry, biology, and many other fields, and spins them into entertaining tales of discovery-complete with delicious recipes from many culinary traditions around the world.