Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece

Rating:
Summary: Not a casual read
Review: All of Andrew's Dalby's Books tend to be scholarly, and it's a little like reading somebodies doctoral thesis.
He gives a comprehensive list of the foods available from Neolithic Greece to Byzantium times and quotes several plays that made referances to Greek food (from the Classical times). The problem is, he makes the usually fascinating subject of food history a dry read and it feels somewhat like a chore plowing through the material. I would have liked a description of the Dionysian Cult and how that tied into alcohol comsumption. I never did figure out if meat was only eaten after if was sacrificed or not. I've read far better descriptions of Symposiums and Banquets, and there wasn't much information on the Agora. I would have liked to have a whole section on Archestratus (the first great food writer) and what he wrote rather than have quotes scattered throughout the Classical Greece section. Lasty, after reading Reah Tannahills "Food in History" (still the best overall book on this topic IMO, I looked for any mention of the envirnomental degradation by the earliest populations which she writes about, and the effect that Solon's ruling on no exports except olive oil had on agriculture - but failed to see any referance to these topics.

If however you want a very complete and well researched book on what foods where available during these times, then this is the book for you.