My Best Books

Did you know that carrots were white or purple until the familiar variety was created by 16th century Dutch growers as a tribute to William I, Prince of Orange? Or that the first farmers were “invariably less healthy”, due to a more restricted diet and heavier work-load, than their hunter-gatherer predecessors? Dense in revelations, An Edible History of Humanity demonstrates how food has continually and often radically affected the human story. Spice comes from the Latin word species, which was also the root for the word “special”. Imports such as cinnamon and ginger were special and taxed accordingly.