Moveable Feasts: The History, Science, and Lore of Food

by Gregory McNamee

Overview

Food has functioned both as a source of continuity and as a subject of adaptation over the course of human history. Onions have been a staple of the European diet since the Paleolithic era; by contrast, the orange is once again being cultivated in large quantities in southern China, where it was originally grown. Other foods remain staples of their original regions as well as of the world diet at large. Still others are now grown in places that would have seemed impossible in the past-bananas in heated greenhouses in Iceland, corn on the fringes of the Gobi Desert, tomatoes on the International Space Station.

But how did humans discover how to grow and incorporate these foods into their diet in the first place? How were they chosen over competing foods? In this charming and frequently surprising compendium, Moveable Feasts gathers revelations from history, anthropology, chemistry, biology, and many other fields and spins them into entertaining tales of discovery while adding more than ninety delicious recipes from various culinary traditions around the world.

Among the thirty types of food discussed in the course of this alphabetically arranged work are the apple, the banana, chocolate, coffee, corn, garlic, honey, millet, the olive, the peanut, the pineapple, the plum, rice, the soybean, the tomato, and the watermelon. All the recipes accompanying these diverse food histories have been adapted for re-creation in the modern kitchen.

Gregory McNamee is the author or editor of twenty-eight books and has published articles in a wide variety of periodicals, from Smithsonian and Sierra to the Washington Post. He is a contributing editor for Encyclopaedia Britannica, for which he writes about world geography and culture, including food.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803216327
Publisher:	UNP - Bison Books
Publication date:	04/01/2008
Series:	At Table
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Gregory McNamee is a writer, editor, photographer, publisher, and publishing consultant. He is the author or editor of more than twenty-five books, among them Blue Mountains Far Away: Jourbaneys Into the American Wilderness, Gila: The Life and Death of an American River, and American Byzantium: The New Las Vegas. McNamee's work has appeared in such 5ourbanals and online publications as Science News, The Nation, Newsday, Discovery, The Los Angeles Times, Salon, and The Washington Post. He is a contributing editor to The Bloomsbury Review, a regular reviewer for Kirkus Reviews, and the literary critic and books columnist for The Hollywood Reporter. McNamee is also a consultant in world geography to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and a regular contributor to it and its online adjunct, Britannica.com.
Please visit www.gregorymcnamee.com for more information. For news about this book, please visit http://moveable-feasts.blogspot.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Almond
Amaranth
Apple
Artichoke
Asparagus
Banana
Basil
Broccoli
Cantaloupe
Carrot
Chile
Corn
Cranberry
Eggplant
Garlic
Grape
Honey
Lettuce
Okra
Olive
Onion
Orange
Pear
Pineapple
Potato
Rice
Spinach
Tomato
Watermelon
Wheat
Index

What People are Saying About This

Michael Ableman

"Everything we eat has a story. Knowing that story not only enhances the pleasure of the table, it also helps us regain a relationship to food—-no longer as anonymous commodity, but as a critical part of our history, our culture, and the natural world we all come from. From almonds to wheat, Gregory McNamee tells us these stories with humor and intelligence in an engaging style that is both entertaining and enlightening."

Editorial Reviews

"Moveable Feasts is a pleasure to read and serves to highlight the strength of an interdisciplinary approach to studying food."—Jonathan Deutsch, Gastronomica

Gastronomica - Jonathan Deutsch

“In delightfully readable prose, McNamee considers some 30 assorted foods that make up a substantial part of the earth's comestible bounty.”—Mark Knoblauch, Booklist

Booklist - Mark Knoblauch

"Moveable Feasts is a pleasure to read and serves to highlight the strength of an interdisciplinary approach to studying food."—Jonathan Deutsch, Gastronomica

— Jonathan Deutsch

Gastronomica

“In delightfully readable prose, McNamee considers some 30 assorted foods that make up a substantial part of the earth's comestible bounty.”—Mark Knoblauch, Booklist

— Mark Knoblauch

Booklist

All food is the product of history, but who ate the first tomatoes and garlic, and how did they become so important in our diet and ubiquitous at the grocery store? Writer, journalist, editor, and critic McNamee presents a cultural geography of how food, such as broccoli, corn, rice, and honey, has moved about the planet. Each chapter contains a brief history of the food, basic nutritional information, and trivia, spun together in a chatty, conversational tone, followed by several recipes containing the featured ingredient and suggestions for further reading. While the primary focus is supposedly history, this title is heavy on anecdote with its true focus on storytelling. Recipes seem like a bit of an afterthought and, on occasion, in some ways unrelated to the text. Nevertheless, this amusing volume will likely appeal to casual readers; serious scholars of food history, as well as those writing reports, will want to explore further reading. For larger collections.
—Pauline Baughman

Library Journal

Moveable Feasts is not an overall history of food; rather, it is an easily readable history of selected foods with some recipes. Starting with almonds and ending with wheat, McNamee discusses 30 foods such as eggplant, cranberry, honey, and olives. Each chapter details the history of their production, culinary preparation, evolution of use over time, some historical and contemporary recipes, and a brief list of articles and books for additional information. This book could be a useful addition to an extensive food history or food science collection….General readers; lower- and upper-division undergraduates.” —Choice

“All food is the product of history, but who ate the first tomatoes and garlic, and how did they become so important in our diet and ubiquitous at the grocery store? Writer, jourbanalist, editor, and critic McNamee presents a cultural geography of how food, such as broccoli, corn, rice, and honey, has moved about the planet. Each chapter contains a brief history of the food, basic nutritional information, and trivia, spun together in a chatty, conversational tone, followed by several recipes containing the featured ingredient and suggestions for further reading….[t]his amusing volume will likely appeal to casual readers; serious scholars of food history, as well as those writing reports, will want to explore further reading. For larger collections.” —Library Jourbanal

“In delightfully readable prose, McNamee considers some 30 assorted foods that make up a substantial part of the earth's comestible bounty….Recipes accompany each entry, running the gamut from ancient Roman and medieval through contemporary. Culinary traditions include Iranian, Mexican, Italian, and Chinese. McMamee imaginatively brings to life some archaic uses of Earth's bounty. Succinct bibliographies offer readers further satisfaction.” —Booklist

“Of all the cultivatable ingredients, why have we chosen certain of them and rejected others? McNamee evaluates 30 of the most important ingredients, organized alphabetically, from almonds to wheat. He looks at their scientific makeup and nutritional value, as well as their social and culinary history and cultural relevance….Each entry includes several recipes, culled from a variety of contemporary and historical sources. The author's research is exhaustive, his pages packed with fascinating detail, and he does an excellent job of marrying the historical and scientific aspects of each ingredient….Well-executed.” —Kirkus Reviews

“McNamee asks a question that has occurred to many people while eating artichokes: how did humans come to consume certain foods and why were they chosen over other foods? His answers draw on history, anthropology, chemistry, biology and other fields and describe the adaptation of 30 foods, including apples, bananas, chocolate, peanuts, pineapples, tomatos and watermelons. The descriptions include recipes from many culinary traditions around the world.” —Reference & Research Book News

From the Publisher