Leere Töpfe, volle Töpfe

Appetite and culinary delights as driving forces of human civilization - we read the history of human culture as a multi-course menu, from the feasts of the American indigenous peoples 12,000 years ago to the achievements of haute cuisine in Europe and Asia. Anna Dünnebier and Gert v. Paczensky present nothing less than a work that spans the globe and millennia, exploring the history of food, eating, and also human hunger: how dietary habits were transformed by the invention of fire, how rich and diverse the food of early hunter-gatherer communities was, how the cuisine of the poor has made its mark, where the medieval penchant for over-seasoning originated, and how dining etiquette varies from country to country and era to era. Whether discussing the discovery of alcohol, fast food over the millennia, aphrodisiacs and drinking rituals, food taboos and regulations, female beer, or the wars over brewing, eating on the go, or hunger as a weapon - Dünnebier and v. Paczensky know their material. As well-read and well-traveled connoisseurs, they unfold for us 12,000 years of nutritional history and 3,000 years of gastronomic criticism. In an engaging manner, well-researched and entertainingly written, we experience culinary art as narrated stories, as micro-reports through time and space, through kitchens, street food stalls, and fire pits. We learn that the supposed poverty of our nomadic ancestors is a myth, their food knowledge richer than that of the first sedentary farmers, who struggled with agriculture; moreover, the kitchens of China have more in common with the dizzying dishes of Paul Bocuse than gourmets on both continents are willing to admit. Food is a pleasure that transcends and connects cultural spaces - a fact that is told not least by the renowned and anonymous master chefs.