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The Taste of Empire
- How Britain's Quest for Food Shaped the Modern World
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
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Publisher's summary
In The Taste of Empire, acclaimed historian Lizzie Collingham tells the story of how the British Empire's quest for food shaped the modern world. Told through 20 meals over the course of 450 years, from the Far East to the New World, Collingham explains how Africans taught Americans how to grow rice, how the East India Company turned opium into tea, and how Americans became the best-fed people in the world.
In The Taste of Empire, Collingham masterfully shows that only by examining the history of Great Britain's global food system, from 16th-century Newfoundland fisheries to our present-day eating habits, can we fully understand our capitalist economy and its role in making our modern diets.
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How did a simple commodity, once the prized monopoly of kings and princes, become an essential ingredient in the lives of millions, before mutating yet again into the cause of a global health epidemic? Prior to 1600, sugar was a costly luxury, the domain of the rich. But with the rise of the sugar colonies in the New World over the following century, sugar became cheap, ubiquitous, and an everyday necessity. Less than 50 years ago, few people suggested that sugar posed a global health problem.
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I should have listened to the other reviews
- By L. Bergman on 12-31-18
By: James Walvin
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Sweetness and Power
- The Place of Sugar in Modern History
- By: Sidney W. Mintz
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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In this eye-opening study, Sidney W. Mintz shows how Europeans and Americans transformed sugar from a rare foreign luxury to a commonplace necessity of modern life and how it changed the history of capitalism and industry. He discusses the production and consumption of sugar and reveals how closely interwoven sugar's origins are as a "slave" crop grown in Europe's tropical colonies, with its use first as an extravagant luxury for the aristocracy, then as a staple of the diet of the new industrial proletariat.
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Dated but still worthwhile
- By Acteon on 11-14-19
By: Sidney W. Mintz
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Barbecue
- The History of an American Institution
- By: Robert F. Moss
- Narrated by: David Holloway
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Barbecue: The History of an American Institution draws on hundreds of sources to document the evolution of barbecue from its origins among Native Americans to its present status as an icon of American culture. This is the story not just of a dish but of a social institution that helped shape the many regional cultures of the United States.
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Great for those that love BBQ.
- By Austin on 01-02-23
By: Robert F. Moss
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An Edible History of Humanity
- By: Tom Standage
- Narrated by: George K. Wilson
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Throughout history, food has acted as a catalyst of social change, political organization, geopolitical competition, industrial development, military conflict, and economic expansion. An Edible History of Humanity is a pithy, entertaining account of how a series of changes---caused, enabled, or influenced by food---has helped to shape and transform societies around the world.
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Flawed, but worthwhile
- By Ary Shalizi on 12-28-17
By: Tom Standage
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And a Bottle of Rum
- A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails
- By: Wayne Curtis
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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And a Bottle of Rum tells the raucously entertaining story of America as seen through the bottom of a drinking glass. With a chapter for each of 10 cocktails, Wayne Curtis reveals that the homely spirit once distilled from the industrial waste of the exploding sugar trade has managed to infiltrate every stratum of New World society. Curtis takes us from the taverns of the American colonies, to the plundering pirate ships off the coast of Central America, to the watering holes of pre-Castro Cuba, and to the kitsch-laden tiki bars of 1950s America.
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A nice intersection of history and rum
- By Garshom L. Arkoff on 05-10-23
By: Wayne Curtis
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Consider the Fork
- A History of How We Cook and Eat
- By: Bee Wilson
- Narrated by: Alison Larkin
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Since prehistory, humans have braved the business ends of knives, scrapers, and mashers, all in the name of creating something delicious - or at least edible. In Consider the Fork, award-winning food writer and historian Bee Wilson traces the ancient lineage of our modern culinary tools, revealing the startling history of objects we often take for granted. Charting the evolution of technologies from the knife and fork to the gas range and the sous-vide cooker, Wilson offers unprecedented insights.
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For the foodie/science geek/history buff in you
- By Nothing really matters on 08-30-14
By: Bee Wilson
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A History of the World in 6 Glasses
- By: Tom Standage
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Throughout human history, certain drinks have done much more than just quench thirst. As Tom Standage relates with authority and charm, six of them have had a surprisingly pervasive influence on the course of history, becoming the defining drink during a pivotal historical period. A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the 21st century through the lens of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola.
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Fun and Informative
- By Stoker on 09-09-11
By: Tom Standage
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Lesser Beasts
- A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig
- By: Mark Essig
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
As historian Mark Essig reveals in Lesser Beasts, swine have such a bad reputation for precisely the same reasons they are so valuable as a source of food: they are intelligent, self-sufficient, and omnivorous. What's more, he argues, we ignore our historic partnership with these astonishing animals at our peril.
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Virtuous Carnivors?
- By David on 04-14-16
By: Mark Essig
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Hippie Food
- How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat
- By: Jonathan Kauffman
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Food writer Jonathan Kauffman journeys back more than half a century - to the 1960s and 1970s - to tell the story of how a coterie of unusual men and women embraced an alternative lifestyle that would ultimately change how modern Americans eat. Impeccably researched, Hippie Food chronicles how the longhairs, revolutionaries, and back-to-the-landers rejected the square establishment of President Richard Nixon's America and turned to a more idealistic and wholesome communal way of life and food.
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If you grew up eating health food you'll love it
- By Susie Wyshak on 05-09-18
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The Potlikker Papers
- A Food History of the Modern South
- By: John T. Edge
- Narrated by: John T. Edge
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Potlikker Papers tells the story of food and politics in the South over the last half century. Beginning with the pivotal role of cooks in the civil rights movement, noted authority John T. Edge narrates the South's journey from racist backwater to a hotbed of American immigration. In so doing, he traces how the food of the poorest Southerners has become the signature trend of modern American haute cuisine. This is a people's history of the modern South told through the lens of food.
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Best book of the year!
- By PD on 06-12-17
By: John T. Edge
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Flawed, but worthwhile
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Inglorious Empire
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In the 18th century, India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's. By 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had decreased six-fold. Beyond conquest and deception, the Empire blew rebels from cannons, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalized racism, and caused millions to die from starvation. British imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for the benefit of the governed, but Shashi Tharoor takes on and demolishes this position, demonstrating how every supposed imperial "gift" was designed in Britain's interests alone.
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An entertaining and provocative history
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Gandhi Before India
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Somewhat repetitive and lacking
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Great stories, but...
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Flawed, but worthwhile
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An entertaining and provocative history
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A Fascinating Life
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Mark Kurlansky's new book takes us back to the food of a younger America. Before the national highway system brought the country closer together, before chain restaurants brought uniformity, and before the Frigidaire meant that frozen food could be stored for longer, the nation's food was seasonal, regional, and traditional. It helped to form the distinct character, attitudes, and customs of those who ate it.
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Perhaps better in print.
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Quick paced coverage of a very great deal of India’s History
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Extremely Informative
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A bit bland
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One of my top 3 favorite courses!
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Spices drove the early modern world economy, and for Europeans they represented riches on an unprecedented scale. Cloves and nutmeg could reach Europe only via a complex web of trade routes, and for decades Spanish and Portuguese explorers competed to find their elusive source. But when the Portuguese finally reached the spice islands of the Moluccas in 1511, they set in motion a fierce competition for control.
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Spice or Megellan?
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Language defines us as a species, placing humans head and shoulders above even the most proficient animal communicators. But it also beguiles us with its endless mysteries, allowing us to ponder why different languages emerged, why there isn't simply a single language, how languages change over time and whether that's good or bad, and how languages die out and become extinct.
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You'll Never Look at Languages the Same Way Again
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Emperor of Rome
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In her international bestseller SPQR, Mary Beard told the thousand-year story of ancient Rome. Now she shines her spotlight on the emperors who ruled the Roman empire, from Julius Caesar (assassinated 44 BCE) to Alexander Severus (assassinated 235 CE). Emperor of Rome is not your usual chronological account of Roman rulers, one after another: the mad Caligula, the monster Nero, the philosopher Marcus Aurelius.
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Wasn't sure but won me over
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What listeners say about The Taste of Empire
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-11-22
Brilliantl
This was an excellent book. Well written and divided. A fantastic historical insight into the shaping of our modern world through economics, politics, religion, war, tradition and geography. At its heart a fascinating read that will leave you curious and hungry.
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- Ken Albala
- 04-23-21
magisterial
I have read this book when it came out, but what a delight it was to hear while walking. The information fed directly into my food history class which I'm teaching right now.
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- HSR
- 04-19-20
Wonderful history with an interesting point of view
In this book you will find fascinating details of the British empire, its colonies, it’s wars, it’s subjects, it’s conquered people and the rest of the world that the empire touched over 450 years. The sun never set on the British empire so largely everyone living has been touched by it. You will learn about fascinating developments in food storage and delivery systems including sea and land transport, salting, drying, canning and refrigeration; new technologies for farming, ranching and processing food which includes turning humans and animals into slaves whether literally or just nearly so. Also how class effected what was eaten and what nutrition was provided. One issue with the audio book was the reading. Some of this might be inherent to the material. A recipe does not easily translate to audio. History can be bland to read. It was difficult to gain traction with the book at my usual 1.5x rate and I had to slow it to normal speed and eventually settled on 1.3x. In general, I am stingy with 5 star ratings so 3 is still a book worth playing.
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- Brett Stevens
- 04-28-22
Sophomore treatment of people’s lives
Collingham had a very interesting idea. Her thesis was less compelling. Had she explored the spread of foods throughout the world in a reasonable way, it could have been a grand slam. However, she decided to reduce and narrow the experiences of people in history to the simple and reductive neo Marxist paradigm so exhaustingly prevalent in todays writing. She could have exposed some amazing human development through the interactions of dynamic groups. But instead rested and relied on tired cliches. Sad she lost so much due to her reliance on established memes that have been debunked.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-01-21
Overall really interesting and informative
I definitely enjoyed this book, the research was exhaustive and well planned out. I do agree with other reviews that some things don’t translate well to audio so I had to FF through some sections. I loved the class and social stratification of food through out the empire and the details about the trade routes. This book really hit every point. I did find that the narrator to be droning and I found myself zoning out and not comprehending much. I think I could retain more on a second listen because the tone of voice did fade into the background if I wasn’t really paying attention. It may be beneficial to listen to this book at an accelerated speed.
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2 people found this helpful