num_pages: 288
description: An entertaining look at the little-known history surrounding the foods we know and love. Is Italian olive oil really Italian or are we dipping our bread in lamp oil? Why are we masochistically drawn to foods that can hurt us like hot peppers? Far from being a classic American dish is apple pie actually . . . English?As a species were hardwired to obsess over food Matt Siegel explains as he sets out to uncover the hidden side of everything we put in our mouths. Siegel also probes subjects ranging from the mythsand realitiesof food as aphrodisiac to how one of the rarest and most exotic spices in all the world (vanilla) became a synonym for uninspired sexual proclivities to the role of food in fairy- and morality tales.
language: English
title: The Secret History of Food: Strange but True Stories About the Origins of Everything We Eat
publisher: Ecco