The Culture of Food

aeo A 2000 year history of the linked histories of food, culture and regional identity -- from Roman antiquity to the present. aeo The first book of its kind. aeo Scholarly in its range of reference, witty and accessible in style. aeo Covers all the regions of Europe. This book is about the history of food in Europe and the part it has played in the evolution of European cultures over two millennia. Food is the prerequisite both of survival and of culture. It has been a driving force in national and imperial ambition, the manner of its production and consumption a means by which the identity and status of regions, classes and individuals have been and still are expressed. The European relationship to food has rarely been straightforward. In this wide-ranging exploration of its history the author weaves deftly between the social groups, geographical areas and nations of Europe, between the habits of late antiquity and the problems of modernity. He examines the interlinked evolutions of consumption, production and taste, to show both what these reveal of the varied cultures and peoples of Europe in the past and what they suggest about the present. This book is about the history of food in Europe and the part it has played in the evolution of the European cultures over two millennia. It has been a driving force in national and imperial ambition, the manner of its production and consumption a means by which the identity and status of regions, classes and individuals have been and still are expressed. In this wide-ranging exploration of its history the author weaves deftly between the classes, regions and nations of Europe, between the habits of late antiquity and the problems of modernity. He examines the interlinked evolutions of consumption, production and taste, to show both what these reveal of the varied cultures and peoples of Europe in the past and what they suggest about the present.