The Carrot Purple and Other Curious Stories of the Food We Eat
By (author) Joel S. Denker
Publication date:
01 October 2015Length of book:
328 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781442248854
How many otherwise well-educated readers know that the familiar orange carrot was once a novelty? It is a little more than 400 years old. Domesticated in Afghanistan in 900 AD, the purple carrot, in fact, was the dominant variety until Dutch gardeners bred the young upstart in the seventeenth century. After surveying paintings from this era in the Louvre and other museums, Dutch agronomist Otto Banga discovered this stunning transformation.
The story of the carrot is just one of the hidden tales this book recounts. Through portraits of a wide range of foods we eat and love, from artichokes to strawberries, The Carrot Purple traces the path of foods from obscurity to familiarity. Joel Denker explores how these edible plants were, in diverse settings, invested with new meaning. They acquired not only culinary significance but also ceremonial, medicinal, and economic importance. Foods were variously savored, revered, and reviled.
This entertaining history will enhance the reader’s appreciation of a wide array of foods we take for granted. From the carrot to the cabbage, from cinnamon to coffee, from the peanut to the pistachio, the plants, beans, nuts, and spices we eat have little-known stories that are unearthed and served here with relish.
The story of the carrot is just one of the hidden tales this book recounts. Through portraits of a wide range of foods we eat and love, from artichokes to strawberries, The Carrot Purple traces the path of foods from obscurity to familiarity. Joel Denker explores how these edible plants were, in diverse settings, invested with new meaning. They acquired not only culinary significance but also ceremonial, medicinal, and economic importance. Foods were variously savored, revered, and reviled.
This entertaining history will enhance the reader’s appreciation of a wide array of foods we take for granted. From the carrot to the cabbage, from cinnamon to coffee, from the peanut to the pistachio, the plants, beans, nuts, and spices we eat have little-known stories that are unearthed and served here with relish.
Food historian Denker has compiled a fascinating collection of short essays on the history of many common fruits, vegetables, and spices in an effort to get readers to appreciate the fullness of these histories. He delves into each item’s historical importance, which cultures adopted it first, how it traveled, and what it was used for—including medicinal and ritualistic uses, in addition to food. For example, he discusses how the tomato was cultivated and sold in the U.S. by such entrepreneurs as Giuseppe Uddo, an Italian immigrant from New Orleans who founded Progresso Foods, and Hector Boiardi, who emigrated to Ohio from Italy and found a way in the 1920s to can and sell prepared pasta and sauce, which became popular under the Chef Boyardee brand. Denker urges readers to appreciate the history of food, and he brings enthusiasm and interest to the topic. The anecdotes are accessible and enjoyable, and he debunks popular misconceptions of how foods have achieved their present form.