Edible – serie

Simple, healthy and comforting, breakfast cereals are a perennially popular way to start the day around the world. They have a long, distinguished and surprising history – around 10,000 years ago, with the advent of agriculture, people began breaking their fast with porridges made from wheat, rice, corn and other grains. It was only in the second half of the nineteenth century, however, in the United States, that a series of entrepreneurs and food reformers created the breakfast cereals we recognize today: Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Cheerios and Quaker Oats, among others.In this global, entertaining and well-illustrated account, Kathryn Cornell Dolan explores the history of breakfast cereals, including many historical and modern recipes that the reader can try at home.

The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, a conflict that solidified SPAM’s place in global food culture. Created by Hormel Foods in 1937 to utilize surplus pork shoulder during the Great Depression, SPAM became an essential resource during the Second World War, and helped shape perceptions of American culture. This book explores SPAM’s complex history, from its inception to its resurgence during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting its enduring legacy in places like Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, Okinawa and South Korea. It demonstrates how SPAM, a long-lasting and valuable protein, played a crucial role during wartime and continues to influence dietary practices worldwide.

This beautifully illustrated book takes us on a tour through the rich world of mangoes, which inspire fervent devotion across the world. In South Asia, mangoes boast a history steeped in Hindu and Buddhist mythology, even earning a mention in the Kama Sutra. Beyond myth, mangoes hold literary significance as a potent metaphor. While mango-flavoured smoothies grace Western shelves, the true essence of sweet, juicy mangoes or tangy, unripe varieties is a rarity: supermarket offerings often prioritize shelf-life over taste. True mango aficionados savour the sensory delight of over a thousand vibrant varieties, relishing diverse colours, flavours from sweet to sour, textures and fragrances.

Look. Swirl. Sniff. Taste. Savour. Whether you’re tasting a refreshing white or an aromatic red, these well-known steps are the only proper way to take the first sip of wine.How did wine surpass all other beverages to achieve global domination? In Wine, Marc Millon travels back to the origins of modern man to find the answer, discovering that this heady drink is intertwined with the roots of civilization itself. Wine traces the long history of the most complex, mysterious and magical of the world’s beverages. It takes us from the Transcaucasus some 8,000 years ago across the Mediterranean Sea and throughout Europe with classical civilization, to the New World with the conquistadors, on to the distant lands of Australia and New Zealand and now to the burgeoning economies of India and China, where wine culture has exploded in the past decade.Wine explains winemaking techniques past and present, looking at every part of the process from vine-growing to bottling and marketing, as well as exploring the culture – and character – of wines around the world. Crisp and concise, it is the perfect introduction for novices while offering an engaging chronicle for experts.

‘Too ravishing for mortal taste . . . like lovers’ kisses she biteth – she is a pleasure bordering on pain, from fierceness and insanity of her relish’, the poet Charles Lamb wrote of the pineapple, the fruit that seduced the world. From the moment Christopher Columbus encountered it in 1493, the pineapple became an object of desire: the first New World explorers thought it must be the fruit with which Eve tempted Adam.The fruit was first transported to Europe, where it could only be grown at great expense in hothouses. The pineapple was the ultimate status symbol – London society hostesses would even pay extravagantly to rent a pineapple for a single evening to be the centrepiece of a party. Beloved by George Washington, a favourite of kings and aristocrats, the pineapple quickly achieved an elite status among fruits that it retains today. It remained a seasonal luxury for the rich until developments in shipping and refrigeration allowed it to be brought to the major markets in Europe and America. Today, canning processes – and the discovery of the pineapple’s ideal home in Hawaii – have made it available and affordable throughout the year.Packed with vivid illustrations and irresistible recipes from around the world, Pineapple follows the world’s culinary romance with this exotic fruit.

Pilsners, blonde ales, India pale ales, lagers, porters, stouts: the varieties and styles of beer are endless. But as diverse as the drink is, its appeal is universal – beer is the most-consumed alcoholic beverage in the world. From pubs and inns to restaurants, bars and microbreweries, beer has made itself a staple drink around the globe. Celebrating the heritage of the world’s favourite tipple, Gavin D. Smith traces beer from its earliest days to its contemporary consumption.After exploring the evolution of brewing technology, the book travels from Mexico to Milwaukee, Beijing, Bruges and beyond, demonstrating the dazzling variety of beer styles and brewing processes to be found around the world. Once brewed in monasteries to be consumed as ‘liquid bread’ on fast days, beer is now the drink of choice at festivals and celebrations worldwide. Containing a wealth of detail in its concise, wonderfully illustrated pages, Beer will appeal to connoisseurs and casual fans alike.

From almonds and pecans to pistachios, cashews and macadamias, nuts are as basic as food gets – just pop them out of the shell and into your mouth. The original health food, the vitamin-packed nut is now used industrially in confectionery and in all sorts of cooking. The first book to tell the full story of how nuts came to be in almost everything, Nuts takes readers on a gastronomic, botanical and cultural tour of the world.After tackling the surprisingly difficult problem of defining a nut – some foods we think of as nuts are actually seeds and some are fruits – award-winning food writer Ken Albala provides a fascinating account of how nuts have been cooked, prepared and exploited through history and around the world, from cultivation and harvesting to processing and consumption – or non-consumption, in the case of those with nut allergies. With scrumptious recipes, surprising facts and fascinating nuggets inside, this entertaining and informative book will delight lovers of almonds, hazelnuts, chestnuts and more.

Figs, fresh and dried, have become the fruit of celebrations and festivities throughout the Western world, and have been typically associated with Christmastime since the nineteenth century.In Figs: A Global History, David C. Sutton examines the festive and celebratory importance of figs in many countries by placing this luscious and festive fruit in its historical context. Beginning with an account of the strange biology of the fig – which is botanically not a fruit at all, but rather a cluster of ingrowing flowers – Sutton moves on to consider the Arabian origins of figs, including the possibility that the earliest fig seeds were transported from Yemen to Mesopotamia in the dung of donkeys.Proposing that the ‘forbidden fruit’ eaten by Adam and Eve was in fact a fig rather than an apple, this book explores the history of the fruit in fascinating detail, from the Crusaders to the wonderful fig festivals of the modern world. Including numerous recipes both sweet and savoury, and countless facts, myths and stories about the fig, such as the bizarre tale of the American fig-wasp, Figs is a fascinating account of this unique and delicious food.

Sugar is one of the most beloved substances consumed by humans, and also one of the most reviled. It has come to dominate our diets – whether in candy, desserts, soft drinks or even bread and pasta sauces – for better and for worse. This fascinating history of this addictive ingredient reveals its incredible value as a global commodity and explores its darker legacies of slavery and widespread obesity.Sugar’s past is chock-full of determined adventurers: relentless sugar barons and plantation owners who worked alongside plant breeders, food processors, distributors and politicians to build a business based on our cravings. Exploring both the sugar cane and sugar beet industries, Andrew F. Smith tells story after story of those who have made fortunes and those who have met their demise because of sugar’s simple but profound hold on our palates. Delightful and surprisingly action-packed, this book offers a layered and definitive tale of sugar and the many people who have been caught in its spell, from barons to slaves, and from chefs to the countless among us born with that insatiable devil – the sweet tooth.

With its unique aroma and heady buzz – the perfect accompaniment to even the spiciest tacos – tequila has won its way into drinkers’ hearts worldwide. There are few places on earth besides Mexico that have the climate and terrain to evolve the agave plant from which tequila is made, and there are even fewer people who have the patience to wait the seven years or more that it takes ‘the tree of marvels’ to grow. Tequila is a lively history of this potent and popular drink.Mayans, Olmecs and Aztecs fermented a drink called pulque from the sap of the agave. It was reserved for pregnant women and priests – and their sacrifices. Later the Mexicans began to use distillation to make tequila and mescal and since its humble beginnings as a local firewater, it has exploded into global popularity.Ian Williams visits countless tequila producers, distributors and connoisseurs to tell the story of how tequila started in the agave lands of Mexico, became an icon of youthful inebriation and then developed into a truly artisanal product which today draws the most discerning drinkers.Including recipes for cocktails, as well as advice on the buying, storing, tasting and serving of tequila, mescal and other agave spirits, this book will delight beverage aficionados and anyone interested in the history of Mexico and its unique drinking culture.

Do you know your onions? From large, sweet onions to shallots, garlic, chives and leeks, the allium family contains some of the most popular vegetables in the world. Shy of the spotlight – except when repelling vampires, preserving mummies, curing heart disease or predicting the future – this lowly family of plants has been a friend to mankind from earliest times.Onions and Garlic follows the trail of these cherished plants through history and across the globe, tracing their story back to the earliest civilizations of the Fertile Crescent and the recipes of ancient Mesopotamia. Traders spread onion varieties through Central Asia and from there they moved across the world, as civilizations from the ancient Romans and Greeks to the Koreans and Japanese found this humble family of vegetables an indispensable part of their cuisines – and of their culture. The book reveals the close relationship between the allium and human worlds: the Welsh have proudly adopted the leek as their national symbol; in many societies, garlic has long been identified as a magical herb with supernatural origins; while onions symbolized the simple peasant life to French painters of the nineteenth century.Celebrated, denigrated, avoided or sought-after, the story of the allium family is filled with fine cuisine and art, peasants and kings, colonization and conquest, magic and medicine. But most of all, it’s the story of a very ordinary vegetable.

Despite their fearsome reputation, chillies have helped to shape the identities of innumerable world cuisines. Chillies traces the culinary journey of the spice and uncovers cultural and spiritual links between chillies and humans, from their use as an aphrodisiac, to the recent discovery that chilli heat shows promise as a treatment for neuropathic pain, prostate cancer and leukaemia. It also makes a compelling link between the history of global trade and conflict and the spread of spicy cuisine worldwide. Peppered with lively anecdotes and details of chilli taxonomy and ecology, this entertaining history is sure to spice up your bookshelf.

Few things in life have as much universal appeal as flowers. But why in the world would anyone eat them? Throughout history Greeks, Romans, Persians, Ottomans, Mayans, Chinese and Indian cooks have all recognized the feast for the senses that flowers brought to their dishes. Today, contemporary chefs and adventurous cooks are using ingredients like flowers in innovative ways, such as in molecular gastronomy and the farm-to-table movement.Edible Flowers is the fascinating history of how flowers have been used in cooking around the world, from ancient customs to modern kitchens. Exploring cultural, symbolic, and religious aspects, the book travels to the dining rooms of Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, serving up novel ways to prepare and eat soups, salads and stews, garnishes, desserts and beverages. Discover something new about the flowers all around you with this surprising history.To find out more about the authors, visit their website at constancekirker.com.

Since the dawn of time oysters have inhabited the earth. Naturally high in essential vitamins and minerals, they are one of the oldest known and most widely enjoyed foods consumed by humans. Varying in size from as small as a grape to as large as a dinner plate, the oyster has driven countries towards discovery and exploration. It has been the food of the rich and the sustenance of the poor. Renowned for its supposed aphrodisiac quality, it has inspired writers, poets, painters and lovers. Throughout history, it has also contributed to the spread of diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Follow the story from the prehistoric up to the present day, discovering how the oyster became the food of both paupers and kings, contributed to the building of empires and the demise of ecosystems, and why it may be the creature to help save the world’s dying coastal shorelines and reefs.

How could a vegetable be so beloved, so universal, and at the same time so disdained? One of the oldest crops in the world, cabbage has provided European and Asian peoples with vitamins A and C, and even with babies – according to folk tales about infants found ‘under a cabbage leaf’, that is. It has appeared in senators’ speeches in ancient Rome and the luggage of South Korean astronauts. Cabbage is both a badge of poverty and an emblem of national pride; a food derided as cheap, common and crass, and an essential ingredient in iconic dishes from sauerkraut to kimchi. Cabbage is easy to grow because it contains sulphurous compounds that repel insect pests in the wild – and human diners indoors who smell its distinctive aroma. We can’t live without cabbage, but we don’t want to stand downwind of it.In this lively book, Meg Muckenhoupt traces cabbage’s culinary paradox, exploring the cultural and chemical basis for its smelly reputation and enduring popularity. Filled with fascinating facts and recipes for everything from French cabbage soup to sauerkraut chocolate cake, Cabbage is essential reading for both food lovers and historians around the globe.

Coffee is a global beverage: it is grown commercially on four continents, and consumed enthusiastically in all seven. There is even an Italian espresso machine on the International Space Station. Coffee’s journey has taken it from the forests of Ethiopia to the fincas of Latin America, from Ottoman coffee houses to ‘Third Wave’ cafés, and from the simple coffee pot to the capsule machine. In Coffee: A Global History, Jonathan Morris explains how the world acquired a taste for coffee, yet why coffee tastes so different throughout the world.Morris discusses who drank coffee, as well as why and where, how it was prepared and what it tasted like. He identifies the regions and ways in which coffee was grown, who worked the farms and who owned them, and how the beans were processed, traded and transported. He also analyses the businesses behind coffee – the brokers, roasters and machine manufacturers – and dissects the geopolitics linking producers to consumers. Written in an engaging style and featuring wonderful recipes, stories and facts, this book will fascinate foodies, food historians and the many people who regard the humble coffee bean as a staple of modern life.

Which is your favourite biscuit (or cookie, if you're from the USA)? Chocolate-chip, gingernut or oreo cookie? Oatmeal and raisin, black and white cookie, digestive or florentine? Biscuits and cookies have a myriad forms and flavours, and as well they have a rich and ancient history: evidence of biscuit-making exists from around 4000 BC.Biscuit/Cookie by Anastasia Edwards explores the abundant history of this versatile snack, from earliest beginnings through Middle Eastern baking to Northern Europe in the Middle Ages, and on into the New World. From German lebkuchen to the animal cracker, more than half-a-billion of which are produced each year in the United States alone. From brownies and sugar cookies in the US, to shortbread and rich tea biscuits in the UK, to Anzac and Girl-Guide biscuits in New Zealand and Australia, this book is crammed with biscuit and cookie facts, stories, images and recipes from around the world.

In the history of food, the tomato is a relative newcomer but it would now be impossible to imagine the food cultures of many nations without them. The journey taken by the tomato from its ancestral home in the southern Americas to Europe and back is a riveting story full of discovery, innovation, drama and dispute. Today it is at the forefront of scientific advances and heritage conservation, but the tomato has faced challenges every step of the way into our gardens and kitchens including the eternal question: is it a fruit or a vegetable?Clarissa Hyman charts the eventful history of this ubiquitous everyday item that is often taken for granted. Hyman discusses tomato soup and ketchup, heritage tomatoes, tomato varieties, breeding and genetics, nutrition, tomatoes in Italy, tomatoes in art, and tomatoes for the future. Featuring delicious modern and historical recipes, such as the infamous ‘man-winning tomato salad’, this is a juicy and informative history of one of our most beloved foods.

Whether grainy or smooth, spicy or sweet, Dijon, American or English, mustard accompanies our food and flavours our life around the globe. It has been a source of pleasure, health and myth from ancient times to the present day, its tiny seed a symbol of faith and its pungent flavour a testimony to refined taste. In this delightful global history, Demet Güzey takes readers on a tour of the ubiquitous mustard, exploring its origins, its use in medicine and in the kitchen, its place in literature, language and religion, and its strong symbolism of sharpness, perseverance and strength. There are stories of mustard plasters used to treat melancholy, runners eating mustard to prevent cramps, and Christians spreading mustard seeds along pilgrimage trails.Packed with entertaining mustard facts, anecdotes and images, as well as a selection of historic and modern recipes, this surprising history of one of the world’s most loved condiments will appeal to food history aficionados.

The avocado is the iconic food of the twenty-first century. It has gone from a little-known regional food to a social media darling in less than a hundred years. This is an astounding trajectory for a fruit that isn’t sweet, becomes bitter when it is cooked and has perhaps the oddest texture of any fruit or vegetable. But the idea that this rich and delicious fruit is also healthy despite being fatty and energy-dense gives it unicorn status among modern eaters, especially millennials.Through lively anecdotes, colourful pictures and delicious recipes, Jeff Miller explores the meteoric rise of the avocado, from its co-evolution with the megaherbivores of the Pleistocene to its acceptance by the Spanish conquistadores in Mexico and its current dominance of food consumers’ imagination.

Beans are considered a basic staple in most kitchen cupboards, yet these humble foodstuffs have a very long history: there is evidence that beans have been eaten for 9,000 years. Whether dried, frozen or canned, beans have substantial nutritional and environmental benefits, and can easily be made into a wholesome, satisfying meal. From garbanzos to lentils, and from favas to soybeans, Beans: A Global History narrates the rich story of these small yet mighty edibles. Featuring historic and modern recipes that celebrate the wide variety of bean cuisines, this book chimes with the modern trend for healthy eating, and takes readers on a vivid journey through the gastronomical, botanical, cultural and political history of beans.

Intoxicating and evocative, vanilla is so much more than a spice rack staple. It is a flavour that has defined the entire world – and its roots reach deep into the past. With its earliest origins dating back 70 million years, the history of vanilla begins in ancient Meso-America and ends with its current significance. It has been used by nearly every culture as a spice, a perfume and even a potent aphrodisiac, while renowned figures from Louis xiv to Casanova to Thomas Jefferson have been captivated by its aroma and taste.Featuring recipes, facts and fables, Vanilla unravels the delightfully rich history, mystery and essence of a flavour that reconnects us to our own heritage.

Few ingredients inspire more high-soaring praise and provoke greater outrage than foie gras. Literally meaning ‘fat liver’, foie gras is traditionally produced by force-feeding geese or ducks, a process which has become the object of widespread controversy and debate. In Foie Gras: A Global History, Norman Kolpas strives to provide a balanced and engaging account of this luxurious ingredient’s history and production from ancient Egypt to modern times. Kolpas also explores how foie gras has inspired writers, artists and musicians including Homer, Melville, Asimov, Monet and Rossini. The book includes a guide to purchasing, preparing and serving foie gras as well as 10 easy recipes from classic dishes to contemporary treats.

Whether they make it themselves or just enjoy it with breakfast, people can be passionate about their favourite jam, jelly or marmalade. Award-winning jam-maker Sarah B. Hood looks at the history of these sweet treats from simple fruit preserves to staple commodities, gifts for royalty, global brands, wartime comforts and valued delicacies. She traces connections between sweet preserves and the Temperance movement, the Crusades, the prevention of scurvy, medieval banquets, Georgian dinner parties, Scottish breakfasts, Joan of Arc and the adoption of tea-drinking in Europe. She explores the birth of unique local specialties and treasured regional customs, the rise and fall of international marmalade mavens, the mobilisation of volunteer preserve-makers on a grand scale and a jam-factory revolution.

An estimated two billion people worldwide regularly consume insects, yet bugs are rarely eaten in the West. Why are some disgusted at the thought of eating insects while others find them delicious? Edible Insects: A Global History provides a broad introduction to the role of insects as human food, from our prehistoric past to current food trends. On the menu are beetles, butterflies, grasshoppers and grubs of many kinds, with stories that highlight traditional methods of insect collection, preparation, consumption and preservation. We encounter in this book the culinary uses of creepy-crawlies across many cultures, and also learn of the potential of insects to alleviate global food shortage and natural resource overexploitation, as well as the role of world-class chefs in making insects palatable to consumers in the West.

This is a global history of hummus bi-tahina, the delicious combination of chickpeas, tahini, lemon and garlic that we know and love as hummus. The story begins in the medieval kitchens of the near and middle east and ends with its rise in popularity in the western world at the end of the twentieth century. This book also addresses the international controversy over ownership of the dish, and illustrates the extent to which hummus has been embraced by western food culture today. Though other Mediterranean dishes have become popular in the West, none can be compared to hummus, which can be found in any supermarket and in vast numbers of eating establishments. Hummus has become a global phenomenon, and our very favourite dip.

The flavour and image of the coconut are universally recognizable and conjure up sweet exotic pleasures. Called the ‘Swiss Army knife’ of the plant world, the versatile coconut can be an essential ingredient in savoury curries, or a sacred element in Hindu rituals or Polynesian kava ceremonies. Coconut’s culinary credentials extend far beyond being sprinked on a fabulous layer cake or cream pie, and include products such as coconut vinegar, coconut sugar, coconut flour and coconut oil. This book explores the global history of coconut from its origin to its recent elevation to superfood status.