Food: A Cultural Culinary History - Ken Albala

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⭐10/10

My two favorite things: food and history! This is again not actually a book, but a university course consisting of 36 half-hour lectures. I had a good feeling about this course going in, but this became an all-timer for me very quickly. I think this course is one of the best ways to learn a general human history, a way to learn about food, and a way to learn about the development of culture and advancement. It's a specific course, but it covers a ton and is a very interesting lense to view history through. Everything has always revolved around food!

The lecturer is also awesome. He's a great speaker, but also incredibly passionate and entertaining. You can tell he loves this material and is great at dividing and organizing it into bite-sized (get it??) lectures. I will always have a heart for early human history, which is the first few chapters, but some favorites I wasn't expecting were the chapters on Islamic influence on cuisine, the chapters on globalization, and the chapters discussing the birth of restaurants. 

This book makes going to eat out or going to the grocery store a completely magical experience. You have a better understanding of where all these crazy things come from, and the work to get it there. You understand, say, the history of cornmeal or cooking oil or coffee, or how cooking trends have started and ended for hundreds of years, and understand that techniques and flavors that are popular now will come and go like they always have. 

One of my favorite memories from this summer was listening to this course while walking to my favorite Middle-eastern restaurant, ordering a solo feast with all sorts of unique foods with unique histories, and then walking back while listening. It's a weird book to get addicted to, but for a while there was nothing else I wanted in my ears. 

So that's about it. An entertaining, academically rigorous look at the greatest driver of history. Honestly an essential read for both lovers of food and history, and one I'd recommend to pretty much anyone. 

Comments

  1. Kyle Bartsch18 September 2025 at 14:10

    I love this and will definitely be checking it out! Not sure why but reading this review of yours makes me think of this book I read a while ago called Unreasonable Hospitality. It essentially is the true story of how this guy made 11 Madison Park the number 1 restaurant in the world (in 2017) by being completely unreasonable in hospitality toward his guests. Everything from buying a hot dog at a NY hot dog stand mid service because he over heard a guest say they wanted one, to closing the dining room for an hour before service and bringing in sand and kiddie pools in for a couple who said their kids wouldn't be able to go to the New Jersey beach on their family road trip. Crazy stuff, but was a really cool read. Anyway, will give this a look.

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