Overview

Ketchup seems iconically American, but the word comes from a Southeast Asian anchovy sauce, and today it is made largely from Chinese tomato paste. Japan's beloved ramen arose from the meeting of Chinese noodles and American wheat flour before attaining worldwide popularity in both gourmet and convenience-food forms. The baguette is mythologized as a product of the French Revolution, but in fact it emerged during late-nineteenth-century urbanization. Colonialism brought baguettes to Vietnam, where street vendors devised a new dish: banh mi, which refugees took with them around the world. What We Eat explores world history through the lens of the global journeys of nearly ninety food products. Leading historians trace the origins and popularization of items commonly found in supermarkets, showing how each food illuminates wider histories. They consider the tension between the role of cuisine in shaping particular cultural identities and the standardization associated with globalization, and they demonstrate how foods have transformed as different societies have borrowed them. Chapters reveal the surprising sagas of coffee, cornflakes, gin, guacamole, hot dogs, hummus, naan, pet food, pizza, sparkling water, sushi, and more. At once an intimate and a global history, What We Eat shows listeners the everyday items on grocery store shelves in a new light.

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Pierre Singaravélou is British Academy Global Professor at King's College London and professor of history at Panthéon-Sorbonne University. He has published numerous works on the history of empires, colonialism, and globalization, including A Past of Possibilities (with Quentin Deluermoz) and France in the World (editor, with Patrick Boucheron, et al). Pierre Singaravélou is British Academy Global Professor at King's College London and professor of history at Panthéon-Sorbonne University. He has published numerous works on the history of empires, colonialism, and globalization, including A Past of Possibilities (with Quentin Deluermoz) and France in the World (editor, with Patrick Boucheron, et al). Sylvain Venayre is a French historian and professor of contemporary history at the Université Grenoble Alpes. His research focuses on the history of representations of time and space, as well as the cultural history of travel. He also works on the comics form known as the bande dessinée and has been involved in the writing of several such books. Sylvain Venayre is a French historian and professor of contemporary history at the Université Grenoble Alpes. His research focuses on the history of representations of time and space, as well as the cultural history of travel. He also works on the comics form known as the bande dessinée and has been involved in the writing of several such books. Stephen W. Sawyer teaches history and political thought at the American University of Paris. He previously coedited two volumes on French political thought of the late twentieth century and has published two monographs on the history of democracy and state-building in the nineteenth century. Tanya Eby is an Audie-nominated and AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator. AudioFile magazine says, ""Listening to Tanya Eby is like listening to a full-cast recording."" Tanya has a BA in English language and literature and an MFA in creative writing. Besides narrating, Tanya blogs and works on her own novels. She has published four novels and is at work on her fifth.

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