Showing results for "History" in Baking & Desserts

Chocolate is one of the most popular food items around the world. While most of us today consume it in the form of candy, desserts, and sugary drinks, chocolate has taken many forms as it traveled from its ancient Mesoamerican roots to the 21st century. In the eight lectures of The History of Chocolate, you’ll join author and food historian Sam Bilton to trace the long and winding journey of a food that is so much more than just a sweet treat.

Sourdough bread fueled the labor that built the Egyptian pyramids. The Roman Empire distributed free sourdough loaves to its citizens to maintain political stability. More recently, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, sourdough bread baking became a global phenomenon as people contended with being confined to their homes and sought distractions from their fear, uncertainty, and grief. In Sourdough Culture, environmental science professor Eric Pallant shows how throughout history, sourdough bread baking has always been about survival.

How did white bread, once an icon of American progress, become "white trash"? In this lively history of bakers, dietary crusaders, and social reformers, Aaron Bobrow-Strain shows us that what we think about the humble, puffy loaf says a lot about who we are and what we want our society to look like. White Bread teaches us that when Americans debate what one should eat, they are also wrestling with larger questions of race, class, immigration, and gender.

This charming book recounts the remarkable journey of the bagel from the tables of 17th-century Poland to the freezers of middle America today. The story is one of surprising connections between an unassuming ring-shaped roll and centuries of Polish, Jewish, and American history.