An Edible History of Humanity

The first civilizations were built on staple crops – barley and wheat in the Near East, miller and rice in Asia, corn and potatoes in the Americas. The adoption of farming opened the way to new, settled lifestyles, but it also replaced the egalitarian societies of hunter-gathers with strictly ordered social hierarchies. The complex cultures that emerged around the world were then interconnected by trade, particularly the trade in exotic spices. When European countries established direct access to the markets of the Indian Ocean, the age of exploration dawned; after explorers sailed west as well as east, the colonization of the New World began.

Food's influence over the course of history extends into modern times. In the late eighteenth century, Britain built its economy around manufacturing and used the proceeds to import food, becoming the first industrialised nation in the process. In Europe, Napoleon's rise and fall was intimately connected with his ability to feed his vast armies. In the twentieth century, millions starved as food was employed as an ideological weapon by communist leaders. And today the food we choose in the supermarket involves us in global debates over trade, development and the environment.

Drawing widely from fields ranging from genetics to archaeology, anthropology, ethno-botany and economics, An Edible History of Humanity is an appetizing and satisfying account of human history and development.