Why Food Matters

An award-winning historian makes the case for food's cultural importance, stressing its crucial role throughout human history.
An award-winning historian makes the case for food&;s cultural importance, stressing its crucial role throughout human history
From the author of Ten Restaurants That Changed America, an exploration of food&;s cultural importance and its crucial role throughout human history&;A rich and fascinating narrative that reaches deep into the historical and cultural larder of societal experience, powerfully illustrating the myriad ways that food matters as an essential condiment for humanity.&;&;Danny Meyer, founder of Union Square Hospitality Group and Shake Shack Why does food matter? Historically, food has not always been considered a serious subject on par with, for instance, a performance art like opera or a humanities discipline like philosophy. Necessity, ubiquity, and repetition contribute to the apparent banality of food, but these attributes don&;t capture food&;s emotional and cultural range, from the quotidian to the exquisite. In this short, passionate book, Paul Freedman makes the case for food&;s vital importance, stressing its crucial role in the evolution of human identity and human civilizations. Freedman presents a highly readable and illuminating account of food&;s unique role in our lives, a way of expressing community and celebration, but also divisive with regard to race, cultural difference, gender, and geography. This wide-ranging book is a must-read for food lovers and all those interested in how cultures and identities are formed and maintained.