An Edible History of Humanity

'A fascinating history of the role of food in causing, enabling and influencing successive transformations of human society... This is an extraordinary and well-told story, a much neglected dimension to history.' Financial Times The bestselling author of A History of the World in 6 Glasses brilliantly shows how foods have transformed human culture through the ages. This book is a must-read for readers of books by Simon Winchester and Felipe Fernandez-Armesto.

Throughout history, food has done more than simply provide sustenance. It has acted as a tool of social transformation, political organization, industrial development, military conflict and economic expansion. This book gives an account of ways in which food has, indirectly, helped to shape and transform societies around the world.Throughout history, food has done more than simply provide sustenance. It has acted as a tool of social transformation, political organization, geopolitical competition, industrial development, military conflict and economic expansion. In AnEdible History of Humanity Tom Standage serves up a hugely satisfying account of ways in which food has, indirectly, helped to shape and transform societies around the world. It is a dazzling account of gastronomic revolutions from pre-history to the present.