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Title: Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto ISBN: 0-7432-2644-5 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 20 June, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: A Great Disappointment
Comment: I bought the book based on positive reviews, but was truly disappointed. Other than the dividing of the history of food into eight "themes" there is little intellectual content here. It reads as if the author's note cards were sorted into eight "bins" and a paragraph written for each card. The history of food may indeed be an interesting story, but you wouldn't guess it from reading this book. I was expecting much more.
Rating: 4
Summary: fascinating, unusual
Comment: Felipe Fernandez-Armesto has written a comprehensive, unusual book about food and eating in human history. Beginning with his chapter, "The Invention of Cooking", and ending with a discussion of the fast food industry, his scholarly yet opinionated approach is thought-provoking. He debunks several widely held beliefs, such as the importance of the spice trade and its role in the voyages of European explorers.
Also interesting is his attitude that sugar, salt, and fat are not villains in destroying health: He cites small percentages of people who are vulnerable to high cholesterol and heart disease, but says that for most people, consumption of these three food items should not be an issue.
He writes of the "Columbian exchange" of animals and crops between the New World and the Old; of how the six major grain crops came to be grown, and where; of how colonization produced mixed cuisines.
"Near a Thousand Tables", a blend of fact and opinions, is sure to provide excellent dinner table discussions with your friends.
Gathering round the cooking fire is an ancient human pleasure, one that endures despite the rise of microwave single-serving meals and hectic family schedules. Recommended.
Rating: 4
Summary: Delicious food for thought
Comment: "Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food" by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is a very concise treatment of food, the most basic of human necessities yet one which has been generally overlooked by historians. The first half of the book, which looks at the oldest (mostly pre-historic) food traditions, was the most interesting for this reader. Fernandez-Armesto serves up some interesting "food for thought" on nearly every page, starting with the fact that oysters are just about the only food that is still commonly consumed live in modern times, then some thoughts about what may have been the first animals to be domesticated and raised for food. The sections dealing with human's transition from hunting to husbandry and gathering to agriculture are insightful. The author's command of the various literature related to food (not often combined in one text) is impressive.
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Title: Food in History by Reay Tannahill ISBN: 0517884046 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: 10 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Culture of the Fork by Giovanni Rebora, Albert Sonnenfeld ISBN: 0231121504 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: The Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson, Soun Vannithone ISBN: 0192115790 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $65.00 |
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Title: History of Food by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, Anthea Bell ISBN: 0631194975 Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Pub. Date: September, 1994 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: In the Devil's Garden : A Sinful History of Forbidden Food by Stewart Lee Allen ISBN: 0345440161 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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