Table of Contents

Editor's Note General Introduction Part One: Sumer and Egypt Part Two: Ancient Greece Part Three: Ancient Rome Part Four: Imperial China Part Five: Ancient India Part Six: Ancient Hebrews Part Seven: Early Middle Ages Part Eight: Medieval Islam Part Nine: Late Medieval and Renaissance Europe Part Ten: The Americas Part Eleven: Era of Nation-States 1500-1650 Part Twelve: The Mercantile Era 1650-1800 Part Thirteen: Nineteenth-Century Industrial Era 1800-1900 Part Fourteen: The Twentieth Century 1900-2000 Glossary Web Resources Bibliography Surveys of Food History Appendix of Sources Index

Promotional Information

The definitive reader for all students of food history, comprised of primary source extracts spanning the globe from classical antiquity to the present.

About the Author

Ken Albala is Professor of History at the University of the Pacific, USA. He is the author or editor of 17 books including Eating Right in the Renaissance, The Banquet and Beans: A History. He has also coauthored two cookbooks, The Lost Art of Real Cooking and The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home.

Reviews

A wonderfully rich celebration of our love of food through the ages.
*The Guardian*

The real strength of this book is the richness and variety of the sources presented, for which Albala must be highly commended. [...] The Food History Reader is a very welcome addition to the field of food history and will serve as a most valuable text to students and researchers alike . . . It will be essential reading for any university course on the subject and will also appeal to a wider audience interested in how what we eat today has been shaped by food practices of the past.
*LSE Review of Books*

An indispensable collection of historical documents, with rich treasures and surprises on every page!
*Warren Belasco, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA*

A very useful compendium for anyone interested in food history. There a lots of general histories out there, but nothing to compare with this book for its depth and inclusiveness. Rather than concentrating on the usual well-known European and American musings about food, the present volume has an extraordinary range of cultures and time periods. The writings deal with health, pleasure, fasting, danger and equilibrium. Few of them are widely known, anthologized or even translated. Ken Albala has done a heroic job of putting together a fascinating handbook of food through the ages.
*Paul Freedman, Yale University, USA*

A unique and valuable resource for all who are interested in the history of food.
*Jeffrey M. Pilcher, University of Minnesota, USA*

Ken Albala takes the reader on a turbulent, delightful journey into the history of food by selecting ninety-four texts, ranging from enigmatic marvels as 'Papyri on Food in Daily Life' to Atwater’s classic 'Food as Building Material and Fuel'. This book cuts to the core of human life: amazing and essential reading!
*Peter Scholliers, Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium*

What a great resource for food studies! This will be an instant classic in our canon of food studies materials for the classroom and research. Thank you!
*Marcie Cohen Ferris, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA*