Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People

Front Cover
John Wiley & Sons, Mar 29, 2011 - Cooking - 448 pages
Cuisine and Culture presents a multicultural and multiethnic approach that draws connections between major historical events and how and why these events affected and defined the culinary traditions of different societies. Witty and engaging, Civitello shows how history has shaped our diet--and how food has affected history. Prehistoric societies are explored all the way to present day issues such as genetically modified foods and the rise of celebrity chefs. Civitello's humorous tone and deep knowledge are the perfect antidote to the usual scholarly and academic treatment of this universally important subject.
 

Contents

Chronologies
4
The Fertile Crescent
5
The Nile River
13
The Indus River
21
BigosPolish Stew 300
28
Olive
34
WineAncient
42
Who Was Apicius?
48
Election Day
173
St Lucias Day December 13
190
Bastille Day July 14
206
iii
219
Christmas December 25
223
Testicle Festivals
234
Columbus Day October 12
240
St Patricks Day March 17
246

Feed a Cold Starve a Fever
62
Imam Bayaldi Holy Man Fainted
70
Coffee
72
The Late Middle Ages in Europe
74
The Poison Taster
80
Famines and Ergotism Epidemics
86
Potato
97
Explorations
120
Mole Myths
124
Sugar
131
Spices and Rotten Meat
141
Squanto and Fish Fertilizer
155
A New People and a New Cuisine
167
Yam Festival
259
Mishani
270
Selametan
284
Japanese Tea Ceremony
290
San Gennaro
297
Mothers Day
306
St Urhos Day March 16
355
French Pronunciation
404
Notes
411
Selected Bibliography
424
Index
431
Copyright

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About the author (2011)

LINDA CIVITELLO holds an MA in History from UCLA and a BA in English from Vassar. She has taught food history at Le Cordon Bleu and Art Institutes culinary schools, and has recorded an audio tour on food and art for the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The first edition of Cuisine and Culture won the 2003 Gourmand World Cookbook Award for Best Culinary History Book in English, United States.

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