Moveable Feasts: The History, Science, and Lore of Food - Hardcover

McNamee, Gregory

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0275989313 ISBN 13: 9780275989316

Publisher: Praeger, 2006

Synopsis

Food has functioned both as a source of continuity and as a subject of adaptation in the course of human history. Onions have been a staple of the European diet since the Paleolithic era, while the orange is once again being cultivated in great quantities in Southern China, where it was originally cultivated. Other foods―such as the apple and pear in Central Asia, the tomato in Mexico, the chili pepper in South America, and rice in South Asia―remain staples of their original regions and of the world diet today.Still other items are now grown in places that would have seemed impossible in the past-bananas in geothermally heated greenhouses in Iceland, corn on the fringes of the Gobi, and tomatoes in space. But how did humans discover how to grow and consume these foods in the first place? How were they chosen over competing foods? How did they come to be so important to us? In this charming and frequently surprising compendium, Gregory McNamee gathers revelations from history, anthropology, chemistry, biology, and many other fields, and spins them into entertaining tales of discovery, complete with delicious recipes from many culinary traditions around the world.

Among the 30 types of food discussed in the course of this alphabetically-arranged work are: the apple, the banana, chocolate, coffee, corn, garlic, honey, millet, the olive, the peanut, the pineapple, the plum, rice, the soybean, the tomato, and the watermelon. All of the recipes included with these diverse food histories have been adapted for recreation in the modern kitchen.

About this title

About the Author

Gregory McNamee is a writer, editor, photographer, publisher, and publishing consultant. He is the author or editor of more than twenty-five books, among them Blue Mountains Far Away: Journeys Into the American Wilderness, Gila: The Life and Death of an American River, and American Byzantium: The New Las Vegas. McNamee's work has appeared in such 5ournals and online publications as Science News, The Nation, Newsday, Discovery, The Los Angeles Times, Salon, and The Washington Post. He is a contributing editor to The Bloomsbury Review, a regular reviewer for Kirkus Reviews, and the literary critic and books columnist for The Hollywood Reporter. McNamee is also a consultant in world geography to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and a regular contributor to it and its online adjunct, Britannica.com.
Please visit www.gregorymcnamee.com for more information. For news about this book, please visit http://moveable-feasts.blogspot.com.

Reviews

In delightfully readable prose, McNamee considers some 30 assorted foods that make up a substantial part of the earth's comestible bounty. His essay on honey excepted, these brief chapters address products derived directly from vegetable sources. Apples, pears, oranges, bananas, cantaloupes, watermelons, grapes, and pineapples make up his list of significant sweet fruits that can be readily eaten out of hand. Related fruits, olives and cranberries, require some processing to give them palate appeal. Vegetables McNamee describes are generally cooked except for leafy ones such as lettuce, basil, and spinach. He includes four grains: wheat, rice, corn, and the relatively obscure amaranth. And of the nut family, only almond appears. Recipes accompany each entry, running the gamut from ancient Roman and medieval through contemporary. Culinary traditions include Iranian, Mexican, Italian, and Chinese. McNamee imaginatively brings to life some archaic uses of Earth's bounty. Succinct bibliographies offer readers further satisfaction. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Praeger
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0275989313
• ISBN 13: 9780275989316
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 216