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An Edible History Of Humanity (2009)

by Tom Standage(Favorite Author)

3.58 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0802715885 (ISBN13: 9780802715883)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Walker & Company

review 1: Cursory look at the entire history of humanity through the lens of food in no more than 250 some pages! Which means huge influences and tragedies are overlooked while cherry-picking low hanging fruit. I found the book lacks focus and could use some editing. (Ironic, since he was a business editor for the The Economist. and yet this lacks much if any economic focus.) Transitions are very bumpy at times and leaps are made to add in things (such as creation myths) without tying them back to the main text these example both indicate an overall lack analysis and point to a stringing together of facts and stories. Reading the section about food production in communist countries is a throw back to the cold war. I found the author's biases about colonization, capitalism, pro-bi... moreotech/industrial agriculture and food engineering come out. Starts with sift from hunt/gather to agriculture. Basically no one knows why so he provides current suggestions. Moves on to power and growth of agricultural societies. This includes a section about spices and trade leading to the 'discovery' of the north American continent. Another section is about war and using food as a weapon - from the logistics of food supply for troops to the strategies of slash and burn and such. It ends up with a section on modern agriculture with the failures of both USSR and China along with the green revolution and the surge of production in food stuffs due to chemicals. Not sure who I'd recommend this too. ? Best for people who aren't familiar with food anthropology? Not really. It was written after some notoriety of this other book A History of the World in 6 Glasses. Not sure if I'll read that one now.
review 2: "More than simply sustenance, food historically has been a kind of technology, changing the course of human progress by helping to build empires, promote industrialization, and decide the outcomes of wars. Tom Standage draws on archaeology, anthropology, and economics to reveal how food has helped shape and transform societies around the world, from the emergence of farming in China by 7500 b.c. to the use of sugar cane and corn to make ethanol today."An Edible History of Humanity started off slowly and densely, but as it progressed it got better and more interesting. Each chapter was better than the last. I certainly learned a lot from the book; it also discussed concepts I was somewhat familiar with already. An Edible History of Humanity is less than 300 pages, so obviously Standage skips a lot, but overall I felt that the history was fairly comprehensive, beginning with prehistory and then recounting how we gradually shifted from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agrarian lifestyle, and outlining some theories as to why this happened. Standage writes about societies from all over the world to back up his arguments and his facts.I was actually quite impressed by this book in general, although in some of the later sections I didn't necessarily agree with his arguments about the fate of the modern world. However, throughout the book he cleverly builds a case for his final point: that our world is not as doomed as one might think. He points out that many predicted the downfall of society in the 19th century when population exploded, forecasting that agricultural output would not be able to sustain humanity. However, with the development of new techniques and fertilizers we far surpassed the output of centuries past. It's always true that it's in part because of these very developments that our planet is now in jeopardy and our populations are expanding more than ever. So I wasn't entirely convinced; also Standage's point of view doesn't exactly square with what I see around me. Nevertheless, this facet of the book was quite provocative.I also enjoyed the historical aspect of the book; Standage very convincingly reveals the way that food has affected many parts of human development and civilization. After all, food is what literally powers us, and the development of various food technologies (farming, cooking, etc.) has had huge ramifications for us in the present. If the ancestor of corn hadn't developed a mutation making it more palatable, who knows how the world would be different? The industrial world as we know it wouldn't even exist. Similarly, the shift from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to domestication was very important. And a little further on, food has helped us develop lots of new technologies, and food has driven the creation of new technologies. Food has also been the symbol of various issues; after all, all human beings need to eat.There are many instances of human cruelty and folly in this book, but you've got expect that. We've done a lot of terrible things, but some good ones too. An Edible History of Humanity was an excellent and concise history of these follies and successes. less

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