302923 Wed Feb 08 23:04:23 -0800 2006 14 29 Not About Food 0 1699473 I have read two books on the subject by Mark Kurlansky; Cod and Salt. I was thoroughly impressed by this genre of food writing. Are there any other good books on this subject out there that someone can reccomend? Wed Feb 08 23:04:23 -0800 2006 0 alex 1 1699476 i haven't read them but i know Andy Smith has done books on popcorn and the tomato that are supposed to be good. Thu Feb 09 04:33:31 -0800 2006 1699473 0 hobokeg 1 1699483 Kurlansky is a wonderful writer. I would recommend "Near a Thousand Tables" Felipe Fernandez-Armesto Free Press 2002 ISBN 0-7432-2644-5. Anything by the late Laurie Colwin. And any of the yearly series "Best Food Writing of 200X" Marlow & Co. published yearly. Happy Reading! Thu Feb 09 09:50:35 -0800 2006 1699473 0 Bruce 1 1699485 Anything written by Robb Walsh, the current food critic for the Houston Press, is a worthwhile read Link: http:\\www.robbwalsh.com Thu Feb 09 10:44:21 -0800 2006 1699473 0 ken 1 1699486 Oranges by John McPhee Much Depends on Dinner by Margaret Visser Thu Feb 09 11:05:47 -0800 2006 1699473 0 Junie D 2 1699487 Also, not only about food but a great read - Michael Pollan's book The Botany of Desire looks at the history of the apple and the potato. Thu Feb 09 11:07:57 -0800 2006 1699486 0 Junie D 1 1699491 In the GENERAL information category: James Trager's "The Bellybook", "The Food Chronology" and "The Food Book" are interesting reads. Thelma Barer-Stein's "You Eat What You Are", Carson Ritchie's "Food in Civilization", Martin Elkort's "The Secret Life of Food" and Reay Tannahill's "Food in History" all present a long view of food's role in man's history. If you want a francophile's view, read M. T. Samat's "History of Food". "Culture and Cuisine" by Jean-Francois Revel and Barbara Wheaton's "Savoring the Past" have a decidedly European emphasis also. Raymond Sokolove's "Why We Eat What We Eat" gives a thorough explanation of the food effects of the explorer's voyages on both the New World and the Old World. Pizer's "Eat the Grapes Downward" and Katie Stewart's "The Joy of Eating" are worthwhile but have been out of print for a while. Both "The Oxford Companion to Food" and "Cambridge University History of Food" are reference books that enrich your library but are not meant to be read straight through. I absolutely concur that "Salt" and "Cod" are great, single topic reads. Look for works by Sidney Mintz, professor of anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, "Sweetness and Power" and "Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom". He focuses on sugar. This listing only scratches the surface of Food History works and purposely does not include writers like Calvin Trillin, Jeffrey Steingarten, Robert Capon Farrar, etc. because, although they write about food, these are not exactly "history" writings as I define the term. Thu Feb 09 12:26:07 -0800 2006 1699473 0 Sherri 1 1699498 Waverly Root's Food of France and Food of Italy are not strictly speaking histories, being more "current" (1966 and 1971) surveys of the cuisines of those two countries. (By the way, as surveys go, if these aren't exhaustive, I don't know what is.) However, they both also give quite a bit of information about the origins of different foods and preparations. Thu Feb 09 14:06:05 -0800 2006 1699473 0 Mike McElliott 1 1699515 You may also be interested in some organizations and journals that are devoted to food history. Here are some: Southern Foodways Alliance http://www.southernfoodways.com/ Food History News http://foodhistorynews.com/ The Food Museum Online http://www.foodmuseum.com/ The Food Timeline http://www.foodtimeline.org/index.html The Culinary History Timeline http://www.foodtimeline.org/food1.html Historic Food http://www.historicfood.com/ Foodways of Austin http://www.main.org/foodways/ Thu Feb 09 17:03:14 -0800 2006 1699473 0 Nancy Berry 1 1699525 Two of my favorites are Evan Jones's "American Food" and John Egerton's "Southern Food", both excellent and entertaining historical surveys (with added emphasis on current practice in the Egerton book), and both containing good representative recipes. The Kurlansky books were a good way to get started on this! Great reads, both of'em. Thu Feb 09 19:34:47 -0800 2006 1699473 0 Will Owen 1 1699563 Why We Eat What We Eat by Raymond Sokolov Sat Feb 11 17:36:24 -0800 2006 1699473 0 Jim Washburn 1 1699569 Of the books that were suggested, do any talk about the global diffusion of foodstuffs around the world, for example about how the tomato (or potato or chocolate...)made it from New World to Old, and how it was incorporated so thoroughly in European cuisine... ? I know Sweetness and Power does...and the others? thanks... Sat Feb 11 20:32:34 -0800 2006 1699473 0 n milanich 2 1699572 I read a book many years back called "Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World" that gives quite a bit of detail about the dissemination of culinary wealth from the Americas to Europe and beyond. Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0449904962/sr=8-1/qid=1139709858/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-6572956-6088116?%5Fencoding=UTF8 Sat Feb 11 21:08:01 -0800 2006 1699569 0 butterfly 2 1699574 Yes, that's what the Sokolov book is all about. Jim Sun Feb 12 00:24:44 -0800 2006 1699569 0 Jim Washburn 1 1699573 It's more than just about the crab as food, more about the crab and its life, growth, habits, harvest, wholesale/retail, consumption, and the Chesapeake Bay and the Watermen, etc. but the Pultizer Prize winning book Beautiful Swimmers by William W. Warner is fantastic. Similar to Cod, but much, much better. Smokehouse ham, spoon bread, and scuppernong wine: The folklore and art of Southern Appalachian cooking by Joseph E. Dabney is very good. Sat Feb 11 21:14:18 -0800 2006 1699473 0 JMF