rwarner's review against another edition
3.0
Lots of information about food origins. Fun to read. Lots of trivia, including the conflicting origin stories for things that will never be resolved.
amyl88's review against another edition
3.0
Little, bite-sized chunks of food history, like the story of Kool-Aid and how microwaves were discovered. I have been having trouble focusing lately, so these were just what I needed.
worldswirl's review
4.0
Really interesting although it could have been longer. I love books like this!
megankass's review
3.0
What an interesting encyclopedia of food firsts. The nerd in me hungered for more detail; the human in me just got hungry.
hilaritas's review
2.0
This book has some interesting anecdotes about the origins of various types of foods and food-related products, but it's so frothy and insubstantial that it's barely worth the time to read. It's written at the level of trivia blurbs that might pop up on the Food Network, and the author takes a cavalier attitude towards his subject, tossing off competing accounts with a shrug of the shoulders and a refusal to dip below the surface of things. His humor is groan-worthy and the prose is conversational. It's not horrible if you're looking for bathroom reading about the kitchen, but don't expect much more.
ginadapooh's review
4.0
This was a very enjoyable book. It was a lot less biased than the last kitchen based history I read ([b:Consider the Fork: How Technology Transforms the Way We Cook and Eat|13587130|Consider the Fork How Technology Transforms the Way We Cook and Eat|Bee Wilson|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1344733081s/13587130.jpg|19174482]). This was much more of a presentation of the actual history of the items. I already new some of the stories, but still enjoyed the tales. The ones I didn't know were extremely interesting, one even helped me on a recent trivia game. If you are interested in food, or history, especially the combination of both, I would recommend giving this book a try.
More...