A History of Food [Hardcover]

Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat (Author), Anthea Bell (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1998

This wide-ranging history covers the history of food from the earliest, vegetarian members of the human race to the present day. The book explores the relationship between people and diet, and between food and social mores. The book covers a vast variety of foodstuffs - honey, cereals, meat, coffee, chocolate, tea, bread, oil, cake, fungi, fish - and shows how their consumption has evolved down the ages. It concludes with an investigation of scientific issues, including methods of food preservation, dietics and he importance of vitamins.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although this voluminous compendium, mixing social and natural history, is a worthy resource, it lacks verve and narrative coherence. Toussaint-Samat, a French journalist and sociologist, is more accomplished at describing the past, such as the origins of hunting and gathering, than the uses of food today and the development of modern cuisine. The author canvasses the world but emphasizes Europe and especially France, which may interest Francophiles for Toussaint-Samat devotes more attention to foie gras than to pasta. The book contains interesting information--on winemaking at monasteries and the role of merchants in the Middle Ages--but subjects like chocolate and chilis beg for more creative exposition. Illustrations.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"This book is not only impressive for the knowledge it provides, it is unique in its integration of historical anecdotes and factual data. It is a marvellous reference to a great many topics." Raymond Blanc, Restauranter Writer

"Remarkable one-volume survey of a vast subject." Stephen Mennell, Monash University

"Indispensable, and an endlessly fascinating book. The view is staggering. Not a book to digest at one or several sittings. Savor it instead, one small slice at a time, accompanied by a very fine wine." New York Times

"Quirky, encyclopaedic, and hugely entertaining. A delight." Sunday Telegraph

"Readable and scholarly, profound and humorous." Ventura County Star Free Press

"One of the most important works on the subject to date and is a comprehensive reference. Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat is an accomplished writer, journalist and historian. Every serious culinary library should include this book. I unreservedly recommend its 801 pages to you." Association Mondiale de la Gastronomie

"The book makes one want to go into the kitchen, to cook and to eat. It is beautifully produced and the price is excellent." Oxford Magazine

"Gorgeous and unusually thought-provoking. I loved it." The Age

"This is a remarkable book, full of information culled from serious research." Nature

"An important contribution to the history of food." The Journal of European Economic History

"A History of Food is a monumental work, a prodigious feat of careful scholarship, patient research and attention to detail. Full of astonishing but insufficiently known facts." Times Higher Education Supplement

"Anyone interested in food, its origins, and how skilled craftsmen and tradesmen held the key to the long evolution of the present day status of food, would enjoy this book." ATEA Journal

"The author is a journalist and cultural historian, whose forte is the medieval and renaissance culture of Europe, especially the domestic economies, food and clothing. This is her eighteenth book and most likely her magnum opus. It is a thoroughgoing, comprehensive and encyclopedic reference book that covers the history of foodstuffs from as far back as the sources would allow, interspersed with the often bumpy road of their acceptance. The book is well organized, following the development of human self-preservation from hunger through gathering and hunting to domesticated animals and settled farming ... The author did a magnificent job of providing information that entailed an incredible amount of research ... The book belongs to every public and academic library, and on the book shelves of all people with curious minds. It rightfully received the History Prize of the Société des gens de lettres de France." International Journal of World Peace

"It's the best book when you are looking for very clear but interesting stories. Everything is cross-referenced to an extraordinary degree, which is great because the information given is so complex and interweaving." The Independent --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 801 pages
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble books; 1st B & N edition (1998)
• ISBN-10: 0760709696
• ISBN-13: 978-0760709696
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 6.7 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,066,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It shows its age, December 31, 2002

By 

J. Bretz "b3zsgirl" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A History of Food (Paperback)

I have serious misgivings about the facts presented in this book. The original French text was written in the 20's. I was given this book as I am working on a masterwork on the cultural history of Olives and Olive oil. In this respect she often jumps to the wrong conculsion, and makes broad judgements that have been discounted by anthropology since the 1960's. For instance she lists oil stores in ancient Babylonia as being olive oil. We know from further scholership that this would have been sesame oil, and that olive oil was a fuel and not a consumptive in that culture at the time. This causes me to question the entire book. This may be an interesting read, but at least with respect to Olives and Olive oil, there is much better out there.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor evidence of sources, May 31, 2003

By 

Bill W. Carpenter (Opelika, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: History of Food (Hardcover)

Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat provides a rather feeble excuse for her limited bibliography and fails to provide adequate citations for many of her assertions. There is an obvious French slant on history throughout the book. And in some cases there appear to be insertions of "local legends" or Francophile dreams for which there is no other evidence than Toussaint-Samat's statement (i.e., fabricated quotations attributed to Charlemagne's biographer in the cheese story on pages 116-117 - look it up!). In a generalized, broad-spectrum work such as this it would be all but impossible to check every fact. But, that being said, the book contains hundreds if not thousands statements of fact and her uncritical (at best!) inclusion of information for which there is no evidence in the source cited brings the whole book, as an authoritative source, into question.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Amusing but completely unreliable, March 19, 2006

By 

Stavros Macrakis (Cambridge, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A History of Food (Paperback)

This fat volume about food and cooking, packed with anecdotes and trivia and stories, is amusing but completely unreliable, very out of date (1920s!), and often just plain wrong.

As a source of information about the history of food, it is useless. Many of the assertions of fact here are questionable, and none of them are footnoted so you can check them out. The author seems to have taken snippets from here and there (mostly, apparently, from French sources), sorted them thematically, and uncritically assembled them into a continuous text. No doubt some part of the assertions here is true, but there is no way of telling the difference between the true ones and the others!

What's more, the translation is poor. Not only are some gallicisms rendered word-for-word (and so only intelligible if you translate them back into French), but there are no translator's notes for topical references.

I cannot recommend this book for anyone seriously interested in the history of food.