Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food

Rating:
Summary: As entertaining as it is erudite
Review: "It is no way to eat oysters," proclaims Fernandez-Armesto in his opening sentence, referring to the fiddly habits of restaurant diners. "This is deliberate provocation, designed to refresh the bivalves before death, a little mild torture under which you can sometimes feel that you see the victims wriggle or flinch." He goes on to describe the proper method: "Unless you discard the utensils, raise the half-shell to your mouth, throw back your head, scrape the creature from its lair with your teeth, taste its briny juice and squelch it slightly against the palate before swallowing it alive, you deprive yourself of a historic experience." Unlike almost every other food in Western cuisine, the oyster has remained virtually the same "since the first emergence of our species."

Food writers need to be passionate and opinionated about their subject; dollops of wit and poetry are also esteemed. Though a scholar and historian rather than food writer, Fernandez-Armesto brings all of these qualities to the table as well as an almost staggering breadth of information. His aim, as stated in the preface: "to take a genuinely global perspective; to treat food history as a theme of world history, inseparable from all the other interactions of human beings with one another and with the rest of nature; to treat evenhandedly the ecological, cultural and culinary concepts of the subject; to combine a broad conspectus with selectively detailed excursions into particular cases; to trace connections at every stage, between the food of the past and the way we eat today; and to do all this briefly." Whew. And does he succeed? Yes, although at times the flow of knowledge overwhelms the ability to process.

But that's fine. This is a book to savor and enjoy, to dip into and re-read, to pull out at dinner parties to settle arguments. For, besides liveliness and wit, Fernandez-Armesto's writing has another invaluable quality - authority. When he makes an unequivocal statement, you, the reader, do not doubt him. For instance, sugar, he writes, "is now the world's biggest food product, beating even wheat." Startling perhaps, but not subject to debate. Unfortunately the reader's audience, those recipients of unrequested quotes, not being under the author's authoritative spell, sometimes require more convincing, which Fernandez-Armesto's notes, though copious, cannot always supply. Reference to his credentials - Oxford University professor, author of 13 serious, popular and opinionated histories ("Millenium: A History of the Last Thousand Years," "Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of Nature,") - may do the trick.

The book is organized into eight "revolutions," beginning with the advent of cooking, which not only sets us apart from other animals, but contributes to social cohesion. Food as ritual discusses, among other things, cannibalism ("Strangely, cannibals turn out to have a lot in common with vegans") health fads, and sacred and taboo foods. Next comes herding and farming animals, then agriculture, then food as status (which includes eye-popping menus of conspicuous consumption through the ages).

Things begin to get more complicated with "The Edible Horizon" - long-range trade and food in cultural exchange - which ranges from cultural bias in food to the broadening of diet through war and imperialism, particularly Western empire building in the 17th to 19th centuries. "Challenging Evolution" explores the movement of food around the world, particularly between "Old" world and "New" world. The "Colombian Exchange" of the last 500 years has resulted in radical diet change. Imagine Italy without the tomato, Ireland without the potato, India or Thailand without chilies, our Midwest without wheat. The final chapter concerns the industrialization of the last two centuries, from the "Green Revolution" of world feeding through pesticides and mono-crops and factory farms and production to the giants of food industry (Hershey and Mars, the Quakers of England) and preserving from canning and freezing to irradiation.

No surprise, Fernandez-Armesto is not in favor of irradiation, fast food ("the closest thing to conveyor-belt eating the Industrial Revolution had yet produced."), fusion cookery ("Lego cookery") or the microwave, which "is best suited to that public enemy, the solitary eater," destroying the communal ritual of mealtime. His opinions, which crop up with refreshing acidity throughout the book, portray a man of keen and discerning appetite, whose love of food extends to this scholarly and entertaining professional treatment. Although the author himself does not take this work as seriously as his other books, calling it a "devoir de vacances," with research spun-off from a previous work, "Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of Nature," it is enjoyably written, thought provoking, myth debunking and convincingly thorough. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in food that goes beyond shoveling it in.

Rating:
Summary: Delicious food for thought
Review: "Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food" by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is a very concise treatment of food, the most basic of human necessities yet one which has been generally overlooked by historians. The first half of the book, which looks at the oldest (mostly pre-historic) food traditions, was the most interesting for this reader. Fernandez-Armesto serves up some interesting "food for thought" on nearly every page, starting with the fact that oysters are just about the only food that is still commonly consumed live in modern times, then some thoughts about what may have been the first animals to be domesticated and raised for food. The sections dealing with human's transition from hunting to husbandry and gathering to agriculture are insightful. The author's command of the various literature related to food (not often combined in one text) is impressive.

Rating:
Summary: Delicious food for thought
Review: "Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food" by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is a very concise treatment of food, the most basic of human necessities yet one which has been generally overlooked by historians. The first half of the book, which looks at the oldest (mostly pre-historic) food traditions, was the most interesting for this reader. Fernandez-Armesto serves up some interesting "food for thought" on nearly every page, starting with the fact that oysters are just about the only food that is still commonly consumed live in modern times, then some thoughts about what may have been the first animals to be domesticated and raised for food. The sections dealing with human's transition from hunting to husbandry and gathering to agriculture are insightful. The author's command of the various literature related to food (not often combined in one text) is impressive.

Rating:
Summary: fascinating, unusual
Review: Felipe Fernandez-Armesto has written a comprehensive, unusual book about food and eating in human history. Beginning with his chapter, "The Invention of Cooking", and ending with a discussion of the fast food industry, his scholarly yet opinionated approach is thought-provoking. He debunks several widely held beliefs, such as the importance of the spice trade and its role in the voyages of European explorers.

Also interesting is his attitude that sugar, salt, and fat are not villains in destroying health: He cites small percentages of people who are vulnerable to high cholesterol and heart disease, but says that for most people, consumption of these three food items should not be an issue.

He writes of the "Columbian exchange" of animals and crops between the New World and the Old; of how the six major grain crops came to be grown, and where; of how colonization produced mixed cuisines.

"Near a Thousand Tables", a blend of fact and opinions, is sure to provide excellent dinner table discussions with your friends.
Gathering round the cooking fire is an ancient human pleasure, one that endures despite the rise of microwave single-serving meals and hectic family schedules. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Disappointment
Review: I bought the book based on positive reviews, but was truly disappointed. Other than the dividing of the history of food into eight "themes" there is little intellectual content here. It reads as if the author's note cards were sorted into eight "bins" and a paragraph written for each card. The history of food may indeed be an interesting story, but you wouldn't guess it from reading this book. I was expecting much more.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Disappointment
Review: I bought the book based on positive reviews, but was truly disappointed. Other than the dividing of the history of food into eight "themes" there is little intellectual content here. It reads as if the author's note cards were sorted into eight "bins" and a paragraph written for each card. The history of food may indeed be an interesting story, but you wouldn't guess it from reading this book. I was expecting much more.

Rating:
Summary: A nice companion for other Food Histories
Review: Instead of providing a linear timeline of food history, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto does soemthing a little different: He writes about the several food "revolutions". From the use of heat, to the idea of haute cuisine, Fernandez-Armesto explores how these revolutions affected teh various cultures throughout the world.

I highly enjoyed this book and it's take on food history. It clarified some points that I had been mulling over in my head, and found it a wonderful companion to Reay Tannehill's book "History of food"

Rating:
Summary: A nice companion for other Food Histories
Review: Instead of providing a linear timeline of food history, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto does soemthing a little different: He writes about the several food "revolutions". From the use of heat, to the idea of haute cuisine, Fernandez-Armesto explores how these revolutions affected teh various cultures throughout the world.

I highly enjoyed this book and it's take on food history. It clarified some points that I had been mulling over in my head, and found it a wonderful companion to Reay Tannehill's book "History of food"

Rating:
Summary: Stimulates The Food Knowledge Appetite
Review: The key to enjoying this book is, perhaps, to have dipped widely into culinary lore before picking it up. The author presupposes not only a passion for food, but also a good breadth of knowledge and context among his readers. Yes, he has his opinions and tastes, but for every statement he makes he opens a question to remain answered. I particularly enjoyed his excoriation of food faddists like Horace Fletcher and James H. Salisbury, his keen analysis of cultural food proclivities, and the good taste he exercised by including a lengthy quote from Duke Ellington on the "cult of abundance." Near A Thousand Tables is a book for those who view cuisine as a multifaceted phenomenon, quintessentially human, and about as easy to understand as humankind itself. It may not be for every reader, but it offers a great deal to any food buff who likes to read and think.

Food writer Elliot Essman's other reviews and food articles are available at www.stylegourmet.com