"Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome" by Apicius is the oldest known cookbook in existence. There are recipes for cooking fish and seafood, game, chicken, pork, veal, and other domesticated animals and birds, for vegetable dishes, grains, beverages, and sauces; virtually the full range of cookery is covered. There are also methods for preserving food and revitalizing them in ways that are surprisingly still relevant.

"Tell me what thou eatest," Alexis Soyer declared in a familiar refrain, "and I will tell thee who thou art." In his book Pantropheon, originally published in 1853, the flamboyant Frenchman (and world's first celebrity chef) ventures to answer that question as he presents a wealth of entertaining and enlightening information on what food the people of ancient civilizations ate and how they prepared it. Describing the culinary achievements of the Greeks, Romans, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Jews, Soyer covers such topics as the mythological origin of specific foods (pomegranates and eels, for example); agricultural, milling, and marketing practices; descriptions of seasonings, pastries, and exotic dishes; the treatment of dinner guests; as well as suggestions for serving pigeon, peacock, wild boar, camel, elephant, flamingo, and other wildlife. Enhanced by 38 illustrations depicting food-related objects and antiquity's gastronomic wonders, this witty and literal study of epicurean delights will charm history buffs and food enthusiasts alike.

When did we first serve meals at regular hours? Why did we begin using individual plates and utensils to eat? When did "cuisine" become a concept and how did we come to judge food by its method of preparation, manner of consumption, and gastronomic merit? Food: A Culinary History explores culinary evolution and eating habits from prehistoric times to the present, offering surprising insights into our social and agricultural practices, religious beliefs, and most unreflected habits. The volume dispels myths such as the tale that Marco Polo brought pasta to Europe from China, that the original recipe for chocolate contained chili instead of sugar, and more. As it builds its history, the text also reveals the dietary rules of the ancient Hebrews, the contributions of Arabic cookery to European cuisine, the table etiquette of the Middle Ages, and the evolution of beverage styles in early America. It concludes with a discussion on the McDonaldization of food and growing popularity of foreign foods today.

2018 James Beard Foundation Book of the Year | 2018 James Beard Foundation Book Award Winner inWriting | Nominee for the 2018 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Nonfiction | #75 on The Root100 2018 A renowned culinary historian offers a fresh perspective on our most divisive cultural issue, race, in this illuminating memoir of Southern cuisine and food culture that traces his ancestry—both black and white—through food, from Africa to America and slavery to freedom. Southern food is integral to the American culinary tradition, yet the question of who "owns" it is one of the most provocative touch points in our ongoing struggles over race. In this unique memoir, culinary historian Michael W. Twitty takes readers to the white-hot center of this fight, tracing the roots of his own family and the charged politics surrounding the origins of soul food, barbecue, and all Southern cuisine. From the tobacco and rice farms of colonial times to plantation kitchens and backbreaking cotton fields, Twitty tells his family story through the foods that enabled his ancestors’ survival across three centuries. He sifts through stories, recipes, genetic tests, and historical documents, and travels from Civil War battlefields in Virginia to synagogues in Alabama to Black-owned organic farms in Georgia. As he takes us through his ancestral culinary history, Twitty suggests that healing may come from embracing the discomfort of the Southern past. Along the way, he reveals a truth that is more than skin deep—the power that food has to bring the kin of the enslaved and their former slaveholders to the table, where they can discover the real America together. Illustrations by Stephen Crotts

"Eugenia Ricotti has compiled 56 delicious preparabe recipes gleaned from the ancient sources and updated with ingredients available to the contemporary cook. The author has drawn from such works as Athenaeus's 'The deipnosophists,' as well as the comedies, to bring to life the delights, not just of the food and wine, but also of the conviviality that was an important part of the meal in ancient Greece." --

This cookbook on the main ancient peoples studied today-the Romans, Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Greeks—is a stupendous resource for middle and high school students and other interested cooks learning history. Besides the Romans and the Greeks, the ancients left behind few recipes, and so the author has meticulously researched what food knowledge is available from written sources, such as Petronius's The Satyricon, and archaeology to approximate the everyday and special cuisine of the ancients. This detective work and reconstruction result in a wealth of successful recipes that will bring cooks as close as possible to the foods that likely would have been eaten and prepared. This cookbook on the main ancient peoples studied today-the Romans, Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Greeks—is a stupendous resource for middle and high school students and other interested cooks. Besides the Romans and the Greeks, the ancients left behind few recipes, and so the author has meticulously researched what food knowledge is available from written sources, such as Petronius's The Satyricon, and archaeology to approximate the everyday and special cuisine of the ancients. This detective work and reconstruction result in a wealth of successful recipes that will bring cooks as close as possible to the foods that likely would have been eaten and prepared. Each group is covered in a chapter that begins with a narrative overview of the environment and resources, cuisine and social class, and a note on sources. Bulleted lists on major foodstuffs, cuisine and preparation, and dining habits follow to quickly familiarize readers with the basics. The recipes are then organized by type of food. A multitude of period food trivia as well as sample menus for different meals, social classes, and occasions complement the 207 recipes.

Never has there been so little need to cook. Yet Michael Symons maintains that to be truly human we need to become better cooks: practical and generous sharers of food.Fueled by James Boswell's definition of humans as cooking animals (for "no beast can cook"), Symons sets out to explore the civilizing role of cooks in history. His wanderings take us to the clay ovens of the prehistoric eastern Mediterranean and the bronze cauldrons of ancient China, to fabulous banquets in the temples and courts of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Persia, to medieval English cookshops and southeast Asian street markets, to palace kitchens, diners, and to modern fast-food eateries.Symons samples conceptions and perceptions of cooks and cooking, from Plato and Descartes to Marx and Virginia Woolf, asking why cooks, despite their vital and central role in sustaining life, have remained in the shadows, unheralded, unregarded, and underappreciated. "People think of meals as occasions where you share food," he notes. "They rarely think of cooks as sharers of food."Considering such notions as the physical and political consequences of sauce, connections between food and love, and cooking as a regulator of clock and calendar, Symons provides a spirited and diverting defense of a cook-centered view of the world.Michael Symons is the author of One Continuous Picnic: A History of Eating in Australia and The Shared Table.