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Food: A Cultural Culinary History

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Food: A Cultural Culinary History

By: Ken Albala, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Ken Albala
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About this listen

Eating is an indispensable human activity. As a result, whether we realize it or not, the drive to obtain food has been a major catalyst across all of history, from prehistoric times to the present. Epicure Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said it best: "Gastronomy governs the whole life of man."

In fact, civilization itself began in the quest for food. Humanity's transition to agriculture was not only the greatest social revolution in history, but it directly produced the structures and institutions we call "civilization."

In 36 fascinating lectures, award-winning Professor Albala puts this extraordinary subject on the table, taking you on an enthralling journey into the human relationship to food. With this innovative course, you'll travel the world discovering fascinating food lore and culture of all regions and eras - as an eye-opening lesson in history as well as a unique window on what we eat today.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2013 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2013 The Great Courses Food & Wine Gastronomy World Culinary Adventures Thought-Provoking

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Editor reviews

Food has never been more interesting than in Food: A Cultural Culinary History by The Great Courses as part of their Better Living series. Narrator and award-winning Professor Ken Albala takes listeners of this historical audiobook on a delectable journey into the history of agriculture, cooking, food culture and beliefs. Listeners will gain fascinating insights into food practices throughout history. From the first hunter-gatherer humans of the past to the coveted Michelin stars in the present. Listeners will gain a detailed understanding of just how important food is to the human identity. Available now from Audible.
All stars
Most relevant
I really enjoyed the delivery and enthusiasm.

Well worth listening to and highly recommended as a source of both education and entertainment

Very informative

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Ken Alba, the lecturer, clearly loves the subject. Every now and then he chuckles at what he's saying and, annoying as that may sound, it's actually quite infectious and you wind up chuckling with him. Recommended.

Enjoyable and informative

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Food is probably the most down to Earth unbiased way to fully understand human history- And honestly there is nothing more soothing then washing the dishes while listening to how my portuguese ancestors caused Eurpean dishes to be bland in comparison to the rest of the world just because they had great pepper mercantile routes.

Sorry about that btw

This audio book is great and I fully recommend it for food and history geeks alike.

Great!

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This is not a bad book perse but perhaps drawn out too much. The lecturer is very passionate about the subject which is good. Sadly forgotten most of what he said since I started listening about 3 months ago.

I struggled finishing this

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The best thing I listened to in a long while. I’ll definitely listen to this again and recommend it to friends further.

Loved, loved, loved it!

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