‘Near a Thousand Tables’ (my fancy was so strong)

(This is part 3 of 3 posts.)
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Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.
Here’s my favorite bit of the book – it comes from the chapter titled ‘The Edible Earth’ and the subject is wheat, which the author has nick-named ‘The World Conquerer’:
No relief of the Triumph of Progress, of the kind which often decorates the tympana [...]

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‘Near a Thousand Tables’ Dances (Does not Plod)

(This is part 2 of 3 posts.)
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Plod, plod, plod.
Plodding is a fact of life.
Everyone does it. There are those who embrace plodding as the most virtuous and acceptable way to live. Within this form of thinking, the idea of stepping out of the circle of plodding to do a little jig or a mad pirouette [...]

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On My Table: ‘Near a Thousand Tables’ by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

(This is part 1 of 3 posts.)
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‘Near a Thousand Tables’ is a very different book within the genre of food history than I’ve ever seen or read before. There may be books equal to (or similar to) it – my reading on food history is only a small part of the other sorts of reading [...]

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Food History, Politics, and Hunger: Doin’ the Hokey Pokey

You put your left foot in
You put your right foot out
You put your left foot in
And you shake it all about
You grab yourself a partner and you turn yourself about
That’s what it’s all about!
Anybody remember the hokey-pokey dance? Always fun, even the confusing parts that should not have been but were, in the silly way [...]

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