Food: The History of Taste

Science News,  Dec 1, 2007  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

FOOD: THE HISTORY OF TASTE PAUL FREEDMAN, ED,

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Climate, trade, fashion, economics, geography, and technology all shape our tastes in foods. Paul Freeman, a Yale historian, has gathered 10 experts to explore how these factors have influenced cuisines around the globe. The authors trace gastronomic trends from antiquity to the present, focusing not just on preferences of wealthy gourmands but also on features that determine the menus of common folk. For instance, one chapter points to the risks of eating fruits and vegetables in much of 19th-century Europe and why porridges and gruels evolved as dietary staples, despite their nutritional shortcomings. Another chapter explains how restaurants changed culinary expectations. And despite the disdain convenience foods evoke today, one chapter points to why their entry into European society around 1800 actually helped raise the quality of the working-class diet. Univ. California, 2007, 368 p., color photos, hardcover, $39.95.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Science Service, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning