Customer Reviews

The Cambridge World History of Food (2-Volume Set)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a bumper book, stuffed with good articles by leading authorities in the field. As other reviewers have pointed out, this is a relatively dry volume that concentrates overmuch on archaeology and evolution (well documented elsewhere) and not enough on food history, on which there is a huge amount of misleading literature.

Sadly these volumes require a warning notice for their dictionary of plant foods (a hefty part of the book: pages 1711-1889). Evidently a last-minute attempt to widen the appeal of the book, this is woefully and grossly inaccurate. For example, pink peppercorns are wrongly identified as Piper nigrum, rather than Schinus terebinthifolius (and their mild toxicity is not noted either). Almost every entry in the directory is wrong or questionable. There is further evidence of underinvestment in editing elsewhere in the book; for example, botanical names are not consistent between chapters.

Most readers would fare much better with Alan Davidson's amusingly written, comprehensive and (above all) accurate "Oxford Companion to Food". This Cambridge volume belongs on library shelves - where it will occasionally be very useful.

If you are hardcore into food history this book is for you. The articles are done in a dry academic style but are absolutely full of information. Folks who are into nutritional or food anthropology will have hours of reading before them. Be prepared, the articles are long.

The food dictionary section is not as detailed as say the Oxford Dictionary of Food but it is still good.

The main complaint that may be raised is the fact that there are some foods that are ignored or not given their own specialty article. I was surprised to see only wine was covered for alcoholic beverages in great detail while a general article on "distilled beverages" covered the rest of the alcohol world. Folks hoping to find a detailed discussion on beer or other grain based drinks wil have to look elsewhere.

Do not expect any recipes. Instead, you will find academic articles on a variety of topics all related to food. It is not as comprehensive as one may think but it is very WIDE none the less. It is a monumental work and deserves a great deal of praise.

Highy recommended for the collection, but you will think that there should have been more. Buy other great reference books as well to round out your collection and your information.

I just got this multi-thousand page boxed set for Christmas, and as a foodie with a growing interest in the broader issues surrounding food, this work has engrossed me for hours on end. To reiterate the comments of the earlier reviewers, do not purhcase this book if you are looking for recipies; nor, needless to say, if you are hoping for a light read.

I just got this multi-thousand page boxed set for Christmas, and as a foodie with a growing interest in the broader issues surrounding food, this work has engrossed me for hours on end. To reiterate the comments of the earlier reviewers, do not purchase this book if you are looking for recipes; nor, needless to say, if you are hoping for a light read.

By and large, the book has all the food history you want to know, and does an excellent job of including articles on a great variety of non-Western culinary traditions. It provides an overview of the culinary history of each continent, and attempts to trace the interactions between them. Its dictionary of plant foods is useful in case you ever feel the desire to know what an African mandrake is (different from the poisonous European one.) Other articles cover a broad variety of food-related issues, like food fads, the history of fast food, the history of government regulation of food, and the history of nutrition. Although the book is billed as an encyclopedia of food, it has articles on current food issues such as regulation and food as it related to health.

One earlier review criticized the book for not having much on alcohol; that, unfortunately, is not the only weakness. It lacks articles on the history of a number of prepared but staple foods such as pasta; the food-focus here is definitely on the raw. Still, I highly recommend the book for those with an interest in food; though the writing can be somewhat scholarly, it is by no means too dull for general consumption. Yes, [the price] is quite a bit for a book. But by and large, this one is worth it.

Part of the dissatisfaction among some reviewers is that this book is not a light, cheerful cook-book/dictionary. For those who want something more along those lines, there are plenty of light-weight volumes that purport to tell the story of this or that cooking tradition with lots of nice glossy pictures and maybe more than three accurate facts if you're really lucky. Try Jane and Michael Stern's road trip food voyages for example.

This two volume set is not for the faint of heart. It is a book for the enthusiast and the professional food historian alike: people who are looking for the social, biological and historical context to the food they enjoy. It is not completely encyclopaedic and there are a few inaccuracies in the identification of plant names and such but these are minor quibbles in the face of the sheer comprehensiveness of the work and the undoubted scholarly care that has gone into its preparation.

I for one appreciated the early chapters on the archaeology of food. People tend to forget the time depth that surrounds eating as a human activity. This is not surprising in a modern world that emphasizes fast food over aesthetics or knowledge. It's my observation that those who are most interested in food purely as a consumable item seem to have little interest in where it really comes from. For example, one of the great tragedies of modern industrial living is the increasing absence of knowledge of or even respect for the fact that real animals died to provide you with your McChicken Burger, or your Poached Sole in Tuscan Orange Sauce.

This book is an invaluable reference. I recommend it to all my students in my Anthropology of Food and Eating class, and I myself use it all the time. The Oxford Companion to Food is also a fine volume, and while it is sometimes more useful with regard to specific foods, it is much lighter on analysis and unneccesarily flippant in places. I would recommend that you buy both the Cambridge volumes and the OCF. Together they almost completely fill the reference spot on the bookshelf of the serious student of food.

To dine well is to touch the face of God

Massive amounts of information. At times long-winded and difficult to read. Don't look for any sample recipes although they do periodically give a "uses" paragraph(s). They are definitely more for the academic rather than the foodie -- one look at the table of contents will convince you of this. Sample entry: "The Question of Paleolithic Nutrition and Modern Health: From the End to the Beginning". One's simple question may be deluged with a tremendous amount of information. That aside, they are very good reference books. Very informative and very seriously written. The books are divided into "Parts" and, within the Parts, "Chapters". Very good bibliography for each chapter. The index was very helpful however, since the index is in volume 2 and a topic can be in volume 1, it can get a little unwieldy. I would recommend the Oxford Companion to Food for a little more simplicity.

This is a tremendously expensive reference that one should expect to be trustworthy. But it isn't. Nor is it as definitive as should be expected, though it does have some fascinating entries, such as the role of dogs in the history of food. For the price, there should be line drawings for some of the more unusual fruits and veg, because as it is, the verbal descriptions would lead a reader to think that something looked quite different than it does. So I use these two volumes with caution, referencing further anything said here before I take it as a given. Although some other reviewers here have criticized the dryness of style, that is what I want in this sort of thing, so I have no complaints there. Of far more importance is the slant that many of the articles have, which clearly have a political agenda that the information is wrapped around. So, while the bibliographies for same are useful, they also are selectively chosen. Given the guides to food now, and the many histories, I would think that a few books judiciously chosen are better value than this one reference, though if you are monied, this is an interesting addition to your library, to be read with a grain of salt in every 'Oh, my! I didn't know that.'

I bought this book recently and really enjoy reading the various articles. The style is quite scholarly, like articles published in refereed scientific journals, complete with a reference list at the end of every article. Being an engineer and not a medical doctor or biologist I usually have to look up several words per article. So this is not necessarily light reading.

Unfortunately, with very few exceptions, the chapters of the book are almost devoid of illustrations. This is my big gripe and the reason I rate this work 4 stars instead of 5. I guess I should have been warned by the absence of the word "illustrated" from the title. Especially where more exotic food stuffs (such as a Durian) are concerned illustrations (pictures) would be helpful. Also, where different variants of the same produce, e.g. bananas are compared it would be easiest to show the difference with a pictorial comparison instead of with a table. The descriptions are very good and detailed, but as they say 'a picture says more than a thousand words'.

Also, for some of the articles more maps would be helpful to give a quick overview where certain items are grown and foods are used. Unless proficient in geography, having an atlas by your side may be a good idea when reading some of the articles.

Due to the growing awareness of culinary history, books which trace the paths of culinary treasures to their sources have become increasingly popular.

"That about half of the books are recently published encourages me to believe that historians have begun to take food history seriously. And it makes me feel good to think that there are at least a few people out there who like a little history with their dinner. -Michael Hastings, discussing the site called Food Books.

While this extravagant two-volume work may seem overwhelming, scientific and highly intellectual, it is a true researchers dream reference. I was almost overwhelmed by the sheer volume of condensed knowledge. I had to work up the courage to casually page through the two volumes for over a week. You can hardly hold and read one book while standing. The books are reference size and quite heavy.

Once you open the first volume you will realize the incredible amount of work which went into this compilation. Not only did 160 scholars prepare over 200 entries, it was edited by an army of highly qualified professionals. It is in fact a collection of original essays.

If you have a thirst for knowledge and a hunger for tantalizing tidbits, this set will satisfy your appetite. I recommend glancing through the book to become aware of its properties and then taking time each day to read about one specific food. Otherwise, it will be too overwhelming. I found the story of sago, cacao, chickens, coffee and onions interesting, yet I had read many of the history details in other works. What I have never seen was all the additional information provided in such detail, it is exhaustive.

The author makes an excellent point by explaining how central food is to history. Without food there would be no life and therefore no history. The information on never before heard of delicacies and staples will delight you. You can learn about food from all over the world. Volume Two has an A-Z quick reference from page 1713-1886. You can look up anything from Australian blue squash to zula nuts. I will still have to go back and read about cinsault, damiana, lecheguilla, sea holly, tansy, viognier, and wampi.

To further your knowledge of the Latin names, there is a nice index. For further research...which I doubt is needed...you can see the sources consulted. The contents pages are found in both volumes for ease of use.

The index takes up the greater part of a fourth of the second book. You can easily find various foods on the contents page or look for every single mention of a food in the Index.

~The Rebecca Review

Unbelievably engrossing and captivating 2,000 pages of apparently all the information that exists about food. The greatest pleasure is knowing that even after hours of reading, there is always still more. Well worth the price!

These two hefty volumes comprise on the most useful generally-accessible material history resources I have ever seen. It contains dozens of articles on just about every aspect of food in cultural history. The entries range from essays on what early human begins ate to essays on specific foods (Oats, Chili Peppers, Soybeans, Ducks, etc.) along with some entries on foods that are somewhat surprising (Algae, Dogs, etc.). There are entries on vitamins, on beverages, on food deficiently diseases and eating disorders. On top of that, there are articles on the foods of different regions around the world. There are entries on nutrition, on fads and on the political implications of foods. There really just aren't any angles these volumes have overlooked.

The articles are written by different contributors, so there is not much consistency from piece to piece, but overall they are well written, engaging, informative, and generally lots of fun. I can't recommend this book strongly enough.