front cover of Offal
Offal
A Global History
Nina Edwards
Reaktion Books, 2013
“Offal” has the same pronunciation as “awful”—an appropriate homophone, given that offal comprises the whole spectrum of an animal’s glands, essential organs, skin, muscle, guts, and every unmentionable in between. Yet as Nina Edwards shows in this intriguing history, offal has been consumed and enjoyed across ages and continents, often hidden by the rich variety of terms—like fois gras and sweetbread—that have evolved to veil their origins.
 
Edwards dissects the complicated relationship we have with offal and the extreme reactions it inspires, asking if we can enjoy a pig’s heart, a cow’s eyes, or a sheep’s brain when it reminds us so viscerally of our own flesh and blood. She explores the offal dishes that are specific to regional cuisines and holidays, such as Scottish haggis, Jewish chopped liver, and Southern states’ chitterlings. As she reveals, offal is a food of contradictions—it is high in nutrients but also dangerously high in cholesterol, and it can range from expensive haute cuisine to a cheap alternative for the impoverished. From tongue in Sichuan and gizzard stew in Rio de Janeiro to spicy cartilage in Calcutta, Offal sheds new light on the sometimes stomach-churning foods we consume.
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Olive
A Global History
Fabrizia Lanza
Reaktion Books, 2011
Olives are at once a mythical food—bringing to mind scenes from ancient Rome and the Bible—and an everyday food, given the ubiquity of olive oil in contemporary diets. In this succinct and engaging history, Fabrizia Lanza traces the olive’s roots from antiquity, when olive oil was exalted for ritual purposes and used to anoint kings and athletes, to the sixteenth century, when Europeans brought the olive to the New World, to the present day, when, thanks to waves of immigration and the popularity of the healthy Mediterranean diet, the fruit has successfully conquered our palate.
 
Lanza describes the role that olive trees, olives, and their oil have played in myths, legends, and literature, as well as in the everyday lives of people living throughout the Mediterranean. Also included is a global selection of recipes featuring olives and olive oil that showcase the fruit’s culinary diversity. A concise appendix of popular olive varieties, organized by country, rounds out this informative account.
 
Featuring a wealth of historical detail, useful descriptions, and delicious recipes, this book will change how you think about that bottle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil you reach for out of habit and swirl into the pan.
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Onions and Garlic
A Global History
Martha Jay
Reaktion Books, 2016
Look at any recipe for a savory dish and chances are it will start with this step: fry onions in a pan over medium heat. Onions—and their allium family relatives, shallots, garlic, chives, and leeks—are one of the most heavily used ingredients in cuisines all over the world. You’ll rarely find them in the spotlight, though—except for when they are fried into rings or used to repel vampires. In this book, Martha Jay gives alliums their due, offering an illuminating history of these cherished plants that follows the trail of their aromas to every corner of the globe and from ancient times up to today.
           
Going back to the earliest recipes from ancient Mesopotamia, Jay traces the spread of alliums along trade routes through Central Asia and into ancient Greece and Rome. Likewise she follows their spread in East Asia, where they have become indispensable, and of course into Europe and the Americas, where the onion—and its odor—gave rise to the name “Chicago” and the leek became the national symbol of Wales. Celebrated, denigrated, prescribed, and proscribed, onions, garlic, and their relatives can be found—as Jay lavishly demonstrates—in the histories of peasants and kings, in cuisine and art, in tales of colonization and those of resistance, and in medicinal cures and magical potions alike. Her book is a welcome celebration of some of the most important ingredients in the world. 
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Oranges
A Global History
Clarissa Hyman
Reaktion Books, 2013
The tangy, juicy sweetness of oranges has made them a mainstay on our breakfast tables, as snacks, and even as healthy desserts. Indeed, oranges and orange juices are so ubiquitous nowadays that we take them for granted—but their journey to our supermarket shelves is a long and tantalizing story, as Clarissa Hyman reveals in Oranges. Following the orange from its origins in the Mediterranean world to the grocery produce section, Hyman illuminates the wide-ranging cultural resonance and culinary presence of the popular fruit.
 
Charting the arrival of bitter and sweet oranges in the Mediterranean, where they were seen as a gift from the gods, Hyman chronicles their dramatic voyage to the Americas and the impact they had on agriculture, garden design, and architecture along the way. She surveys the many varieties of oranges that now exist and analyzes their status as symbols of great wealth in art, an inspiration for poets and painters, and a source of natural health. Dealing with the practical complexities of orange cultivation, she details the challenges facing modern producers and consumers across the globe. Packed with delicious recipes and luscious photos, Oranges is a refreshing look at the king of citrus.
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Oyster
A Global History
Carolyn Tillie
Reaktion Books, 2017
Naturally high in essential vitamins and minerals, oysters are one of the oldest known foods consumed by humans. Varying in size from as small as a grape to as large as a dinner plate, the humble oyster has played an outsized role in the building of empires and the discovery of new lands. Consumed by both rich and poor, the oyster has inspired writers, poets, painters, and even lovers—Casanova was said to have started each day with a breakfast of fifty oysters.

In Oysters: A Global History Carolyn Tillie delves into the culinary, artistic, sexual, historical, and scientific history of the humble bivalve. She shows how the oyster encouraged immigration and industry in the newly established United States, how it perpetuated slavery among those working in the oyster beds, and how Japan unexpectedly became the savior of the world’s oyster industry. Packed with colorful anecdotes, recipes, and more than fifty illustrations, this little book is a delightful introduction to the lore of the oyster.
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