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groovybouvie's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.5
Some interesting facts and history of food. Focusses mostly on how food impacted human population growth and economy. A touch too capitalism-minded for me.
elexa's review
3.0
This book is not about food, or eating. Why did I think it was? I thought I was going to be reading a history about food and its role in history. I think if anything, this is an economic and political history of food. On occasion, the author touches on the bioengineering of food (like how corn was artificially selected to become something edible) but mostly this is about economics and politics. I really wanted to read about what Egyptians had for breakfast and how food has changed throughout human history. If that's what you're looking for, this book isn't really for you. Saying all that, it's not a completely useless book as it does explain the spice trade, the blockade of Berlin, the Great Leap Forward in China... but this is not really about food. It's about transporting food, paying for food, and using it as a weapon against people. It is not about what people ate or why.
ameyawarde's review against another edition
5.0
It's been almost a month since I finished this so I actually forget too much to write a solid review, but I did like it a lot more than I liked his "A History of the World in 6 Glasses." This book was much more thorough!
ektbean13's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This was a fascinating book. It seems to go by the timeline of human history, and it was a fascinating read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism and Colonisation
It talks about the Dutch East Indies Company (who did AWFUL things.) The chapter “Food as a Weapon” also mentions cannibalism.mbenshirreffs's review against another edition
3.0
This was fast-paced review of world history, from prehistory to now. The author uses food, technology, and food technology to tell familiar stories from a slightly different perspective. Food history buffs likely won’t find much new here, but I think many will come away saying “Huh. I hadn’t thought of it that way.”