Potatoes are the world's fourth most important food crop, yet they were unknown to most of humanity before 1500. Feeding the People traces the global journey of this popular foodstuff from the Andes to everywhere. The potato's global history reveals the ways in which our ideas about eating are entangled with the emergence of capitalism and its celebration of the free market. It also reminds us that ordinary people make history in ways that continue to shape our lives. Feeding the People tells the story of how eating became part of statecraft, and provides a new account of the global spread of one of the world's most successful foods.
Remarkably Well Researched. This is a history likely unlike any you've ever read - a look at the changing philosophies of government as they relate to the rise and fall of the potato. This is certainly one of the more novel histories I've read, and perhaps because of the author being aware of such novelty and the criticism it can often engender, is also the singular most well documented book I've ever read - literally 42% of the edition I read was bibliography and index. (More normal in my experience is closer to 25-30% even on the more complete side.) Certainly a very interesting approach, filled with various bits of history I had not known and/ or considered in such detail. Very much recommended.
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15 April, 2020:
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15 April, 2020:
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