Fifty Foods That Changed the Course of History - Couverture rigide

Price, Bill

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1770854274 ISBN 13 : 9781770854277

Editeur : Firefly Books Ltd, 2014

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Food plays a central role in ours lives: it is a necessity for all of us, a pleasure for many and an obsession for a few. Throughout our history, we have shaped the foods we eat, but, in Fifty Foods That Changed tHe Course oF History, we look at how it has shaped  us by discussing fifty different foodstuffs which have, in one way or another, changed  the world. We begin with our ancient ancestors, the hunters and gathers who first migrated into Europe 45,000 years ago, and continue right up to the present day, to the food riots which swept through many countries in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, and then on into the future by discussing the potential of golden rice, the first genetically modified food developed  for the good  of humanity rather than solely for profit.

In between,  we look at, among others, how the trade in olive oil in Ancient Greece  had a dramatic impact on its landscape, still apparent  today, and how the European taste for sugar in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries drove the transatlantic slave tade.  Over the course of our journey through the history of food, we also take in the Hanseatic League, a Medieval forerunner of the European Union, which first began  to develop because  of the salted herring, and the gin craze in Georgian  London,
an outbreak of public drunkeness compared  by some historians to the drug addictions of today. Then we move on to discuss how an Austrian ban on the import of pork from Serbia in 1906 was involved in the outbreak of the First World War, before getting right back up to date by considering  the cultural impact of the Big Mac around the world.

By taking examples from across such a wide stretch of history and from numerous different cultures

and societies, what emerges is a portrait of the enormous influence food has had on our history. It not only sustains us, but has played a central role in the way we live our lives, as it will no doubt continue to do in the future. If it is true to say that we are what we eat, then the examples described  here, of fifty foods that changed  the course of history, show us that it is equally the case that what we eat makes us who we are.

Biographie de l'auteur

BILL PRICE is a freelance writer and seasoned traveller currently working and living in North London. For fifteen years he worked in various areas of the book trade, but more recently he has built a reputation as a specialist in travel and history writing and has become a regular contributor to a large number of international publications as well as popular reference books. His published works include Charles Darwin: Origins and Arguments, Tutankhamun: Eg ypt s Most Famous Pharaoh, Winston Churchill: War Leader, Landmarks of the World, Great Modern Buildings, Celtic Myths, and History s Greatest Decisions.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Firefly Books Ltd
• Date d'édition: 2014
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1770854274
• ISBN 13: 9781770854277
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 223
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: Terminal Video; n.pederzini@terminaldistribuzione.com; ; Via Bruno Buozzi, 24/26,; Granarolo dell'Emilia BO,; Italie