Tomatoes, Potatoes, Corn, and Beans: How the Foods of the Americas Changed Eating Arou [Hardcover]

Sylvia A. Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Provides a close-up look at the various foods--including potatoes, corn, beans, tomatoes, chili peppers, squash, and peanuts--that originated in the New World and explains how they each made their way to Europe and changed eating habits in various regions of the world.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10. What do tomatoes, chocolate, beans, corn, peppers, and peanuts have in common? Johnson gives a straightforward overview of these and other foods that are native to the Americas, with a discussion of their early use, methods of preparation, and how they were transported and adapted beyond American borders. The presentation includes a variety of black-and-white photographic reproductions, botanical diagrams, and early food advertisements that add interest and expand understanding. Extensive endnotes for each chapter also give additional information. Useful for social-history collections as well as any library needing information about the history of foodstuffs.?Lois McCulley, Wichita Falls High School, TX
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 6^-10. It's hard to believe that maize and potatoes were once exotic foods in Europe, Africa, and Asia, and that the plants brought back from the Americas turned out to be of far greater value than any gold or silver. Johnson blends history, botany, geography, folklore, cookery, and art in a fascinating account of how Columbus' "discovery" in 1492 began an exchange of foods between the Americas and the Old World that improved the lives of millions. The prose style is not as lively as that in Milton Meltzer's The Amazing Potato (1992), but Johnson devotes a chapter each to maize, beans, peppers, peanuts, tomatoes, chocolate, and potatoes, showing how the plants were cultivated and used by Native Americans, how the foods spread across the world, and how, in many cases, they developed and became staple national dishes in their new homes. The illustrations on every page include many reprints from Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the chapter notes and bibliography will help readers find out more for class assignments and personal interest. Food is always a lively natural way to explore cultures and connections. Hazel Rochman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum; 1st edition (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689801416
• ISBN-13: 978-0689801419
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,242,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #88 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Vegetables & Vegetarian > Potatoes

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