Chilies to Chocolate: Food the Americas Gave the WorldColumbus stumbled upon the New World while seeking the riches of the orient, yet native peoples of the Americas already held riches beyond his knowing. From maize to potatoes to native beans, a variety of crops unfamiliar to Europeans were cultivated by indigenous peoples of the Americas, with other foods like chilies and chocolate on hand to make diets all the more interesting (even when used in combination, as aficionados of molé will attest). Chilies to Chocolate traces the biological and cultural history of some New World crops that have worldwide economic importance. Drawing on disciplines as diverse as anthropology, ethnobotany, and agronomy, it focuses on the domestication and use of these plants by native peoples and their dispersion into the fields and kitchens of the Old World: tomatoes to Italy, chili peppers throughout Asia, cacao wherever a sweet tooth craves chocolate. Indeed, potatoes and maize now rank with wheat and rice as the world's principal crops. "The sweetness of corn on the cob is sweeter for knowing the long, winding way by which it has come into one's hands," observe Foster and Cordell. Featuring contributions by Gary Nabhan, Alan Davidson, and others, Chilies to Chocolate will increase readers' appreciation of the foods we all enjoy, of the circuitous routes by which they have become part of our diets, and of the vital role that Native Americans have played in this process. |
Contents
Europeans Wary Encounter with | 1 |
The Renaissance of Amaranth | 15 |
Nectar of the Gods | 35 |
Copyright | |
9 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Chilies to Chocolate: Food the Americas Gave the World Nelson Foster,Linda S. Cordell Limited preview - 1992 |
Chilies to Chocolate: Food the Americas Gave the World Nelson Foster,Linda S. Cordell Limited preview - 1992 |
Chilies to Chocolate: Food the Americas Gave the World Nelson Foster,Linda S. Cordell Limited preview - 1992 |
Common terms and phrases
Africa agriculture ahipa Amado amaranth American beans American crops ancient Andean archaeological Arracacha Asia Aztec bean varieties Bolivia botanist breeding cacao capsicums cereal Chile chili peppers chinampa chocolate cocoa colonial color Colorado Columbian Exchange Columbus commercial common bean conquistadors corn Cortés cuisines cultivars cultivation cultural diversity domesticated early eggplant Europe European farmers farming fields flavor flowers fruit gardens Gary Nabhan genetic Gorad grain grow grown harvest huautli idols Inca Indian indigenous kernels kiwicha land lima maize Mesoamerica Mexican Mexico National Native Americans native crop nineteenth century North nutritional Old World percent Peru Phaseolus plant pods population Portuguese potato pre-Columbian primitive maize production protein Quechua quinoa ranth rice root seeds South America southern Spain Spaniards Spanish species spice taste teosinte tion tomato Totonacs trade traditional tropical tubers tural ture ulluco United Valley vanilla vanilla orchid vanillin vegetable vine wheat wild yields