He explains the diversity of the world's gastronomic customs, demonstrating that what appear at first glance to be irrational food tastes turn out really to have been shaped by practical, or economic, or political necessity. In addition, his smart and spirited treatment sheds wisdom on such topics as why there has been an explosion in fast food, why history indicates that it's "bad" to eat people but "good" to kill them, and why children universally reject spinach. Good to Eat is more than an intellectual adventure in food for thought. It is a highly readable, scientifically accurate, and fascinating work that demystifies the causes of myriad human cultural differences.

    This edition introduces new editors and contributors, who are recognized experts in their fields. All chapters reflect recent scientific advances and, where appropriate, have expanded and evolved their focus to provide readers with the current state-of-the-science of chemistry for the food industry. The fourth edition presents an entirely new chapter, Impact of Biotechnology on Food Supply and Quality, which examines the latest research in biotechnology and molecular interactions. Two former chapters receive extensive attention in the new edition including Physical and Chemical Interactions of Components in Food Systems (formerly "Summary: Integrative Concepts") and Bioactive Substances: Nutraceuticals and Toxicants (formerly "Toxic Substances"), which highlights bioactive agents and their role in human health and represents the feverish study of the connection between food and health undertaken over the last decade. It discusses bioactive substances from both a regulatory and health standpoint. Retaining the straightforward organization and detailed, accessible style of the original, this edition begins with an examination of major food components such as water, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and enzymes. The second section looks at minor food components including vitamins and minerals, colorants, flavor, and additives. The final section considers food systems by reviewing basic considerations as well as specific information on the characteristics of milk and the postmortem physiology of edible muscle and postharvest physiology of plant tissues. Useful appendices provide keys to the international system of units, conversion factors, log P values calculation, and the Greek alphabet.

    The recipes date from the fourteenth century and are the earliest such examples in English. Interestingly, it appears that many of these recipes, found only on the menus of the upper classes, remained virtually unchanged until the sixteenth century.The menus include the all-important order of serving, that strict etiquette that ruled medieval mealtimes, and which meant that most members of a household were only entitled to the first course and that the more delicate dishes were served only to the higher ranks. This too seems to have remained unchanged for hundreds of years.Here we can also see how it was thought natural to take the most substantial foods first, leaving the richer and sweeter courses for later, much as we do today. We do not, however, include small game birds as part of dessert' as these menus do.Presented here in early English, this invaluable collection gives great insight into the medieval kitchen and household, and is the perfect guide to modern recreations of medieval meals and feasts.

    A study of the historical genesis and present-day persistence of antisexualism in American healthcare and social/legal policy.

    Dr Salaman is concerned first with the history of the potato as a member of the botanical genus Solanum, its adaptation by man as a cultivated plant, and the record of its spread throughout the world; secondly he considers the influence the potato has exerted upon the social structure and economy of different peoples at different times. The archaeological and anthropological evidence for the early significance of the potato among the peoples of Latin America is discussed in detail with numerous illustrations, but the central portion of the book is concerned with the European, and particularly the Irish evidence. Naturally the Great Hunger is the most dramatic single episode in the entire work, and Dr Salaman does full justice to his tragic theme, concluding with the observation that in Ireland 'the potato ended in wrecking both exploited and exploiter'. Elegantly written, with numerous vivid anecdotes, Salaman's History has long enjoyed the status of a classic. This revised impression, with a new introduction and emendations by Professor J. G. Hawkes, enables another generation of readers to sample what Eric Hobsbawm has referred to as 'that magnificent monument of scholarship and humanity'.