Food Fights and Culture Wars: A Secret History of Taste

Food is a central aspect of our lives, but history textbooks don’t write about it. Much of what happened in kitchens was never recorded, and the evidence has been eaten and forgotten. Meanwhile, history has always been inseparably tied to food: clove wars and confectionery conflicts flared up, new continents were discovered in the pursuit of spices, empires were born and destroyed because of battles over food. Tom Nilon studied hundreds of antique cookbooks and filled the gap in our historical knowledge.

It’s better to have a text version of the book on hand (in front of your eyes), thanks to the abundance of interesting illustrations.