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Food & Cooking » Food & History of Food

Most Recommended Books

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

“He concludes that there is food out there that tastes good, is good for us and is good for the planet.”

Tristram Stuart, Environmentalist

Read more

Browse book recommendations:

Food & Cooking

  • Baking & Desserts
  • Best Cookbooks
  • Dieting
  • Food & History of Food
  • Mediterranean
  • Wine & Drinks

Many of our foodie interviews touch on the history of food. The Penn Professor and psychologist Paul Rozin puts the history of eating food into its cultural context. “Every meal,” he argues, “is a virtuoso performance, a demonstration of how civilised we human beings have become.”

Steven Kaplan, Professor of History at Cornell University, chooses his best books on the history of food, noting that food exists at “the confluence of five, six, seven disciplines—and it’s almost impossible when you do food history not to be doing at the same time food anthropology, food economics, food sociology, et cetera”. He discusses wacky food topics from medieval attitudes to bread and the anthropology of rice production in Japan.

The architect Carolyn Steel chooses her best books on food and the city, looking at how Rome, Paris and London have been shaped by the demands  of feeding the population. Tristram Stuart, historian and campaigner, discusses the failures of global food distribution in the modern world, and the massive ecological and societal benefits of limiting food waste and over production.  Barry Estabrook discusses the same issues, while choosing his best books on food production. Both Stuart and Estabrook choose The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

Ruth Reichl, former editor of Gormet magazine, chooses her best books on American food and the diverse influences that shaped it. Louise Fresco, a food and agricultural scientist, chooses her best books on food, arguing that most of us are “quite illiterate” on the subject, and that contemporary anxieties about food can be attributed to the gulf between production and consumption that has grown in a couple of generations.

    The best books on Food Psychology, recommended by Paul Rozin

  • Read
    The best books on Food Psychology - The Hungry Soul: Eating and the Perfecting of Our Nature by Leon R Kass

    1

    The Hungry Soul: Eating and the Perfecting of Our Nature
    by Leon R Kass

  • Read
    The best books on Food Psychology - The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

    2

    The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
    by Michael Pollan

  • Read
    The best books on Food Psychology - The Food Police: A Well-Fed Manifesto About the Politics of Your Plate by Jayson Lusk

    3

    The Food Police: A Well-Fed Manifesto About the Politics of Your Plate
    by Jayson Lusk

  • Read
    The best books on Food Psychology - The Primal Cheeseburger: A Generous Helping of Food History Served On a Bun by Elizabeth Rozin

    4

    The Primal Cheeseburger: A Generous Helping of Food History Served On a Bun
    by Elizabeth Rozin

  • Read
    The best books on Food Psychology - Taste Matters: Why We Like the Foods We Do by John Prescott

    5

    Taste Matters: Why We Like the Foods We Do
    by John Prescott

The best books on Food Psychology, recommended by Paul Rozin

Food is an affirmation of who we are. Paul Rozin, food psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, deconstructs the cheeseburger and busts myths about food consumption: not only is our food budget controlling what we eat, but also the expensive organic foods we’re pressured to buy may not even be healthier—let alone better-tasting—than their alternatives.

    The best books on Food, recommended by Louise Fresco

  • Read
    The best books on Food - Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History by Rachel Laudan

    1

    Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History
    by Rachel Laudan

  • Read
    The best books on Food - The Raw and the Cooked by Claude Levi-Strauss

    2

    The Raw and the Cooked
    by Claude Levi-Strauss

  • Read
    The best books on Food - 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles Mann

    3

    1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
    by Charles Mann

  • Read
    The best books on Food - All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the Present by Stephen Mennell

    4

    All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the Present
    by Stephen Mennell

  • Read
    The best books on Food - Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History by Sidney Mintz

    5

    Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History
    by Sidney Mintz

The best books on Food, recommended by Louise Fresco

Most people are illiterate when it comes to food, their views based on a combination of personal beliefs, semi-truths and not fully substantiated scientific claims. Dutch food and agricultural scientist, and author, Louise Fresco, picks five books to help us better understand the food we eat.

    The best books on American Food, recommended by Ruth Reichl

  • Read
    The best books on American Food - The Art of Eating by MFK Fisher

    1

    The Art of Eating
    by MFK Fisher

  • Read
    The best books on American Food - Between Meals by AJ Liebling

    2

    Between Meals
    by AJ Liebling

  • Read
    The best books on American Food - Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé

    3

    Diet for a Small Planet
    by Frances Moore Lappé

  • Read
    The best books on American Food - The Alice B Toklas Cookbook by Alice B Toklas

    4

    The Alice B Toklas Cookbook
    by Alice B Toklas

  • Read
    The best books on American Food - An Unprejudiced Palate by Angelo Pellegrini

    5

    An Unprejudiced Palate
    by Angelo Pellegrini

The best books on American Food, recommended by Ruth Reichl

The Puritans got modern American cuisine off to a bad start. But the food writer and critic says subsequent immigrants have helped create a culture where food is appreciated.

    The best books on Food Production, recommended by Barry Estabrook

  • Read
    The best books on Food Production - The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

    1

    The Omnivore’s Dilemma
    by Michael Pollan

  • Read
    The best books on Food Production - Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

    2

    Fast Food Nation
    by Eric Schlosser

  • Read
    The best books on Food Production - Stuffed and Starved by Raj Patel

    3

    Stuffed and Starved
    by Raj Patel

  • Read
    The best books on Food Production - Four Fish by Paul Greenberg

    4

    Four Fish
    by Paul Greenberg

  • Read
    The best books on Food Production - Oranges by John McPhee

    5

    Oranges
    by John McPhee

The best books on Food Production, recommended by Barry Estabrook

Do you know what’s in the food you eat, and how it gets from field to plate? The author of an acclaimed exposé of American agribusiness tells us where to look if we want to become better-informed consumers

    The best books on The History of Food, recommended by Steven Kaplan

  • Read
    The best books on The History of Food - Capitalism and Material Life, 1400-1800 by Fernand Braudel

    1

    Capitalism and Material Life, 1400-1800
    by Fernand Braudel

  • Read
    The best books on The History of Food - Holy Feast and Holy Fast by Caroline Walker Bynum

    2

    Holy Feast and Holy Fast
    by Caroline Walker Bynum

  • Read
    The best books on The History of Food - Rice as Self by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney

    3

    Rice as Self
    by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney

  • Read
    The best books on The History of Food - America Eats by Nelson Algren

    4

    America Eats
    by Nelson Algren

  • Read
    The best books on The History of Food - Bread of Dreams by Pietro Camporesi

    5

    Bread of Dreams
    by Pietro Camporesi

The best books on The History of Food, recommended by Steven Kaplan

From body and blood of Christ or an act of seduction to a means of social control and even a weapon of war – Professor Steven Kaplan picks the best books on the history and power of food.

    The best books on Food and the City, recommended by Carolyn Steel

  • Read
    The best books on Food and the City - The Culture of Food by Massimo Montanari

    1

    The Culture of Food
    by Massimo Montanari

  • Read
    The best books on Food and the City - Man and the Natural World by Keith Thomas

    2

    Man and the Natural World
    by Keith Thomas

  • Read
    The best books on Food and the City - The Food of London by George Dodd

    3

    The Food of London
    by George Dodd

  • Read
    The best books on Food and the City - Provisioning Paris by Steven Kaplan

    4

    Provisioning Paris
    by Steven Kaplan

  • Read
    The best books on Food and the City - Paradox of Plenty by Harvey Levenstein

    5

    Paradox of Plenty
    by Harvey Levenstein

The best books on Food and the City, recommended by Carolyn Steel

The architect, writer, lecturer, and director of Kilburn Nightingale Architects says architecture should not be just about buildings, but about everything else in our environment

    The best books on The Global Food Scandal, recommended by Tristram Stuart

  • Read
    The best books on The Global Food Scandal - An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Malthus

    1

    An Essay on the Principle of Population
    by Thomas Malthus

  • Read
    The best books on The Global Food Scandal - Melincourt by Thomas Love Peacock

    2

    Melincourt
    by Thomas Love Peacock

  • Read
    The best books on The Global Food Scandal - Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches by Marvin Harris

    3

    Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches
    by Marvin Harris

  • Read
    The best books on The Global Food Scandal - Collapse by Jared Diamond

    4

    Collapse
    by Jared Diamond

  • Read
    The best books on The Global Food Scandal - The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

    5

    The Omnivore’s Dilemma
    by Michael Pollan

The best books on The Global Food Scandal, recommended by Tristram Stuart

The campaigner and historian says that Western countries waste more food than they consume. Believe him: he survives off food scavenged exclusively from supermarket bins

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We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand interviews, or five thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

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