large BOOK -- by Maguelonne Toussaint Samat - Hardback, clot - Lot 962

large BOOK -- by Maguelonne Toussaint Samat - Hardback, cloth bound - 590 pages - Bordas 1994. NATURAL & MORAL HISTORY OF FOOD. A historian's work by an author who studies the lifestyles and everyday objects of our ancestors, a work that records the dietary practices of peoples over several millennia. Hunger was at the origin; honey, roots and game were the first foods. Cooking was born from the domestication of fire, and civilization from livestock rearing and the cultivation of cereals. This book is a natural history that tells the story of all European and exotic fruits, from Louis XI's passion for pears to Louis XIV's love of strawberries... But this book is also a moral history; it studies the mores, behaviors and fashions that food brings to life... and finally, it's a history of the world: chocolate, the drink of the Aztec gods, Arabian coffee, which became the wealth of the West Indies and South America when Europe became infatuated with it... Wars, trafficking of all kinds, of products and people - only slavery made coffee and sugarcane cultivation profitable - the circulation of products... This book, written by a member of the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Gastronomique, is not only a gastronomy book, but also a history book. It ends with the prospect of better management of food production and habits, and gives us hope that humanity will one day succeed in putting an end to hunger.