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How Carrots Won the Trojan War: Curious (but True) Stories of Common Vegetables
Rebecca Rupp · back to the book
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24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorAnimal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
Barbara Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp, Camille Kingsolver · 384 pages
Bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver returns with her first nonfiction narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat."As the U.S. population made an unprecedented mad dash for the Sun Belt, one carload of us paddled against the tide, heading for the Promised Land where water falls from the sky and green stuff grows all around. We were about to begi
The True History of Chocolate
Sophie D. Coe, Michael D. Coe · 280 pages
"The food of the gods": Delicious indulgence or cause of migraines? Aphrodisiac or medicinal tonic? Religious symbol or Mesoamerican currency? This tale of one of the world's favorite foods draws upon botany, archaeology, socioeconomics and culinary history to present for the first time a complete and accurate history of chocolate. The story begins some 3000 years ago in the jungles of lowland Mex
The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks
Amy Stewart · 400 pages
Sake began with a grain of rice. Scotch emerged from barley, tequila from agave, rum from sugarcane, bourbon from corn. Thirsty yet? In The Drunken Botanist, Amy Stewart explores the dizzying array of herbs, flowers, trees, fruits, and fungi that humans have, through ingenuity, inspiration, and sheer desperation, contrived to transform into alcohol over the centuries. Of all the extraordinary a
Baking Yesteryear: The Best Recipes from the 1900s to the 1980s
B Dylan Hollis · 256 pages
A decade-by-decade cookbook that highlights the best (and a few of the worst) baking recipes from the 20th century Friends of baking, are you sick and tired of making the same recipes again and again? Then look no further than this baking blast from the past, as B. Dylan Hollis highlights the most unique tasty treats of yesteryear. Travel back in time on a delicious decade-by-decade jaunt as
The Comic Book Story of Beer: The World's Favorite Beverage from 7000 BC to Today's Craft Brewing Revolution
Jonathan Hennessey, Mike Smith · 180 pages
A graphic novel that tells the history of beer.
In the Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food
Stewart Lee Allen · 331 pages
Among the foods thought to encourage lust, the love apple (now known as the tomato), wormed its way over pastas and into catsup. The morality of this fruit was questioned due to its similarity to a plant called the mandrake, which medieval people believed carried demonic spirits (Joan of Arc's alleged possession of a mandrake root was one of the crimes that sent her to the stake). The sin of sloth
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
Mark Kurlansky · 304 pages
Wars have been fought over it, revolutions have been spurred by it, national diets have been founded on it, economies and livelihoods have depended on it, the settlement of North America was based on it. To those it has sustained, it is a treasure more precious than gold. It is the codfish, whose story – concisely and eloquently told by Mark Kurlansky – casts a fascinating and revealing fight on
Spice: The History of a Temptation
Jack Turner · 448 pages
"Spice: The History of a Temptation is a history of the spice trade told not in the conventional narrative of politics and economics, nor of conquest and colonization, but through the intimate human impulses that inspired and drove it. Here is an exploration of the centuries-old desire for spice in food, in medicine, in magic, in religion, and in sex - and of the allure of forbidden fruit lingerin
Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar
David Wondrich · 326 pages
From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a salute in stories and drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, pioneer of the American bar. Featuring the original formulae for 100 classic American drinks and a selection of new drinks contributed in his honor by the leading mixologists of our time.
Fannie's Last Supper: Re-creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie Farmer's 1896 Cookbook
Christopher Kimball
History of the Natural and Organic Foods Movement (1942-2020)
William Shurtleff; Akiko Aoyagi; · 1,237 pages
The world's most comprehensive, well documented and well illustrated book on this subject. With extensive subject and geographical index. 66 photographs and illustrations - mostly color. Free of charge in digital PDF format on Google Books.
What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories
Laura Shapiro · 313 pages
"A beloved culinary historian's short takes on six famous women through the lens of food and cooking--what they ate and how their attitudes toward food offer surprising new insights into their lives. Everyone eats, and food touches on every aspect of our lives--social and cultural, personal and political. Yet most biographers pay little attention to people's attitudes toward food, as if the great
Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozlum to the Zombie (100 Rediscovered Recipes and the Stories Behind Them)
Ted Haigh · 351 pages
"Vintage spirits and forgotten cocktails enthusiastically invokes the exotic tastes and styles of bygone eras. It is an homage to the grand beverages and great bartenders of the past, honoring and remembering them with persuasive sips of the lost cocktails they created!" -- P. [4] of cover.
The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York
Claudia Roden · 616 pages
In more than 800 glorious recipes interwoven with stories, reminiscences, and history, Claudia Roden traces the fascinating development of Jewish cooking over the centuries. The recipes - many of them never before documented - are the treasures garnered by the author during almost fifteen years of traveling around the world, tasting, watching, collecting recipes, talking to cooks and food sellers,
Curry: A Tale of Cooks And Conquerors
Lizzie Collingham · 336 pages
Curry serves up a delectable history of Indian cuisine, ranging from the imperial kitchen of the Mughal invader Babur to the smoky cookhouse of the British Raj. In this fascinating volume, the first authoritative history of Indian food, Lizzie Collingham reveals that almost every well-known Indian dish is the product of a long history of invasion and the fusion of different food traditions. We
Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer
Maureen Ogle · 432 pages
America the Edible: A Hungry History, From Sea to Dining Sea
Adam Richman · 271 pages
"The host of Travel Channel's most popular show explains how iconic American foods have captured our culinary imaginations. You won't look at a bagel the same way again! In America the Edible, Travel Channel host Adam Richman tackles the ins and outs of American cuisine, demonstrating his own unique brand of culinary anthropology. Believing that regional cuisine reveals far more than just our tas
Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World
Mark Pendergrast · 452 pages
From the Publisher: Uncommon Grounds is the definitive history of coffee-from its discovery on an Ethiopian mountainside to the age of Starbucks and the coffee crisis of the twenty-first century. A sweeping epic, Uncommon Grounds uses coffee production, trade, and consumption as a window through which to view broad historical themes: the clash and blending of cultures, slavery, the rise of brand m
Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States
Andrew Coe
In 1784, passengers on the ship Empress of China became the first Americans to land in China, and the first to eat Chinese food. Today there are over 40,000 Chinese restaurants across the United States--by far the most plentiful among all our ethnic eateries. Now, in Chop Suey Andrew Coe provides the authoritative history of the American infatuation with Chinese food, telling its fascinating story
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food
Jennifer 8. Lee · 314 pages
If you think McDonald's is the most ubiquitous restaurant experience in America, consider that there are more Chinese restaurants in America than McDonalds, Burger Kings, and Wendys combined. New York Times reporter and Chinese-American (or American-born Chinese). In her search, Jennifer 8 Lee traces the history of Chinese-American experience through the lens of the food. In a compelling blend of
Thomas Jefferson's Creme Brulee: How a Founding Father and His Slave James Hemings Introduced French Cuisine to America
Thomas J. Craughwell · 233 pages
In 1784, Thomas Jefferson struck a deal with one of his slaves, James Hemings. The founding father was traveling to Paris and wanted to bring James along to master the art of French cooking. In exchange for James's cooperation, Jefferson would grant his freedom. Thus began one of the strangest partnerships in United States history. As Hemings apprenticed under master French chefs, Jefferson studie