Cuisine and Empire

October 1, 2013

In her new book, Jane Grigson Prize-winning author Laudan (The Food of Paradise: Exploring Hawaii's Culinary Heritage) has written a broad overview of culinary history, from early humans to McDonald's. Laudan does an excellent job of taking the reader across the globe and through time, using food as her vehicle. She explores how cuisines moved and evolved as a result of changes in politics, society, and religion as well as evolving health beliefs. For instance, Laudan describes how during the 17th century, fermentation was deemed more important than cooking; thus, foods such as mushrooms and fresh fruit were considered healthy, despite years of tradition to the contrary. Notably, the author also shows how armies helped spread foods--the Romans, for example, took their cuisine to the Orient and brought Eastern cooking back to Rome. Laudan successfully breaks down a complex and sweeping topic into a fascinating read. VERDICT This well-written and well-researched scholarly work will appeal to historians as well as foodies.--Lisa Ennis, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham

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