The Gourmet Atlas: The History, Origin, and Migration of Foods of the World [Hardcover]

Susie Ward (Author), Claire Clifton (Author), Jenny Stacey (Author), Mary Deirdre Donovan (Consultant Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1997

Here is the essential reference guide for everyone who is passionate about cooking, travel, and food. The Gourmet Atlas explores the origins of foods and traces their movements throughout the world. Learn where tomatoes were first eaten and what medicinal qualities the Egyptians thought certain spices had. Discover how chocolate arrived in America and why the French refused to eat potatoes. Relish in the history and rich detail of the foods we encounter every day. Satiate your appetite for knowledge about food with The Gourmet Atlas. 50 beautiful, full-color maps depict the history of major foodstuffs, tracing their movements across the world • Numerous and extensive A–Z listings detail the backgrounds and uses of major food groups, including herbs and spices, fruits and vegetables, types of grains, and much more • More than 300 lavish photographs and drawings tell the story of food throughout history • Authentic recipes featuring the highlighted ingredient bring you closer to the food's native and regional flavors So whether encountering an unusual ingredient or a common, everyday food, with The Gourmet Atlas you'll be able to answer the questions, "Where did this come from and how did it get here?"

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Buyer beware: once you've started leafing through the pages of The Gourmet Atlas, you probably won't be able to put it down. It is more than just a book about food; within the atlas's pages you'll discover the historical origins of various foods, their political and cultural ramifications, and their positions in the societies in which they're found. Ancient Egyptians, for example, eschewed the bean because they considered it impure, while the Romans believed that the souls of the dead resided in beans, so eating them was akin to cannibalism. The Gourmet Atlas reveals that there are 13 kinds of honey, explains the difference between Italian and French cheeses, and discusses the origins of the cucumber. It includes A-Z listings that detail the backgrounds and uses of major food groups, plus herbs, spices, fruits, nuts and berries, and more. As if that weren't enough, there are also regional recipes scattered throughout the book and illustrations--more than 300 photographs and drawings--that make each page a joy to view as well as to read. The Gourmet Atlas really is the definitive roadmap to the world of food--just don't read it when you're hungry!

From the Inside Flap

The Gourmet Atlas Did you ever wonder where the cucumber originated? Do you know where eating chocolate was invented? Are you familiar with the 13 varieties of honey? Curious to learn the difference between French and Italian cheeses? The Gourmet Atlas, enriched with information about the bounty of foods we encounter every day, takes you around the world to the farms and villages, ancient cities and modern-day factories where the history of food comes to life. This is the first atlas of its kind, exploring the historical origins of favorite and exotic foods, and tracing their movements throughout the world. The Gourmet Atlas explains where a particular food came from and the path it took to arrive on your dinner plate. Learn the power and influence foods have had on government, economies, and culture. Find out where foods were discovered and who brought them to America. Explore the different positions foods have in various societies. With The Gourmet Atlas you will journey to exotic places throughout the world, and travel back in time, while learning about the wonderful foods we enjoy, such as tomatoes, pumpkins, onions, lamb, and olive oil. Fifty beautiful, full-color maps clearly show the origination and migration of particular foods throughout the world, tracing historical trade movements, patterns of development, present-day cultivation, and regions associated with particular ingredients and recipes. Satiate your appetite with a wealth of information:

• How did pasta arrive in America? While in Italy, Thomas Jefferson, enjoying his pasta, sent macaroni back to his homeland.
• Until recently, many Europeans believed the idea of eating corn was ridiculous — it was cattle feed, or food for chickens. With the infiltration of American-style restaurants, corn is now a common side dish on their dinner tables.
• The flavor of eggs is not only affected by their freshness, but also by what the bird has eaten; grain is thought to give the best taste.

Numerous and extensive A–Z listings detail the backgrounds and uses of major food groups, including herbs and spices, fruit, nuts, and berries, types of pastas, and much more. The Gourmet Atlas features regional recipes utilizing the highlighted ingredients. So once you have learned where potatoes originated and how they spread from country to country, you can make authentic Swiss Potato Cakes. The Gourmet Atlas also includes lavish illustrations with more than 300 photographs and drawings, which help to tell the history of food. This colorful, elegant volume is an indispensable companion in the kitchen and a must for every home library. The Gourmet Atlas is for all of us whose interest in food does not end with our next meal. http://www.mcp.com/mgr

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (October 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028619889
• ISBN-13: 978-0028619880
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 0.9 x 11.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #568,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointment, November 22, 1999

By 

Rhonda Tranks (Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gourmet Atlas: The History, Origin, and Migration of Foods of the World (Hardcover)

I was expecting something more scholarly I suppose. The Gourmet Atlas contains: some great maps of the migration of foodstuffs; recipes which look good; time-lines; charts and some wonderful photos and pretty pictures. But this visual appeal is at the expense of the text, which I found light-weight, and the writing is sometimes confusing. If you are serious about food then this is lacking in many areas - no bibliography or references for starters and I found some factual errors. The very short introduction promises that the atlas will be THE source for the avid student and casual inquirer. The serious student would be better to stick to something like Waverley Root's FOOD.Meanwhile I await Alan Davidson's The Oxford Companion to Food. The Gourmet Atlas is a pretty book and could prove quite handy butis hardly a definitive reference. Good for someone starting out with an interest in food.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing. . ., February 19, 2002

By 

Tarik J. Ghbeish "blkeagl" (Santa Cruz, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gourmet Atlas: The History, Origin, and Migration of Foods of the World (Hardcover)

I love food books and history books and was perhaps expecting a more thorough discussion of the history of food and it's migration from region to region. At best, the discussions were cursory and hardly as comprehensive as one would expect in a book labeled as an atlas. Significant information was missing about foods that weren't of interest to the authors and information about other foods important enough in historical economic impact to require their entry still left out detail I know from other, better sources.

At best, this book serves adequately, perhaps even well, as an introduction to it's subject, but it is little better than that. IMO, for cover price, it's not worth it. For $..., it certainly is worth the content. Amazon's price comes close, but not close enough for me to give this as a gift (unless I give my own copy).

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars not a great atlas of foods, February 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Gourmet Atlas: The History, Origin, and Migration of Foods of the World (Hardcover)

I am currently taking an upper division geography course on food topics and we are using the "The Gourmet Atlas" as a text. The general feeling of the class is that the maps in this book lack a reasonable cartographic approach. This is quite sad considering that it is an 'atlas'. However, the book does offer some background knowledge on various kinds of foods(though minimal). I personally think the subject the authors tried to take on is extremely fascinating but the manner in which they did so was not successful.