"Eats History: Cooking with Fire to Printing Up Pizza" showcases places where the public can find out about the history and social influence of the foods they eat. A long over-looked subject presented for the first time here. Every food plant and animal, beverage, farm, ranch, fishery, grove, packer, processor, market, kitchen and recipe has a history. This book promotes the identification and preservation of food historic sites, and advocates for more food-related museums. "Eats History" and its companion volume, "Food Heritage Matters," will help readers, especially Americans, think about their food, and strive for a more sustainable food system. For the author it all started in 1975 when he created with his students The Potato Museum, which caught the attention of two thoughtful people. "The Potato Museum is of the new modern type, which cuts across academic frontiers; it's an enthusiast's museum and our hard, cold, cynical world desperately needs enthusiasm."--Kenneth Hudson, author of "Museums of Influence""The most important issue confronting the human race is how we are going to preserve the quality of the environment and still feed the rapidly growing population into the next millennium. The Potato Museum provides a vehicle to get the message across."--Dr. John Niederhauser, 1990 World Food Prize LaureateThe author has used the collections and concept of The Potato Museum and later The Food Museum project to tell important stories about our world, first to his students, and later, to groups around the world.The koshary vendor, on the cover, well represents important themes of "Eats History." Koshary's ingredients (all cooked separately) represent the inter-continental exchange of foods. Lentils from India, rice from east Asia, chickpeas, one of the oldest cultivated legumes, and wheat, an ancient grain, both originated in southwest Asia. The tomatoes and chile peppers that make up the sauce called 'shatta' are from the Americas. Although piri-piri sauce from peppers grown in southern Africa for centuries is sometimes used. And those caramelized onions on top? Probably native to central Asia and revered by the ancient Egyptians who viewed the onion's spherical shape and concentric rings as symbols of eternal life. The fact that Koshary was originally a recipe from India that was first introduced to Egypt by the British is an example of the spread of cuisines around the world through trade and empire. Not withstanding Koshary's origins, it is most importantly a unifying dish for all Egyptians. The ubiquitous Koshary vendors provide an affordable, hearty, tasty, meal for customers of all ages including, as depicted in the model, Cairo's kids.
Tom Hughes and his wife, Meredith Sayles Hughes, are the couple behind the Food Heritage Center, the world's first Potato Museum and The Food Museum Online. The museums research, collect, preserve, exhibit and explain the history and social significance of the world's foods, and bring artifacts and programs to audiences of all ages. The Hugheses are pioneers in exhibiting food history, as curators of major exhibitions at the Smithsonian, the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, DC and Canada's National Museum of Science and Industry. They also are innovators in pop-up exhibits, including a series of three-foot square kiosk displays in supermarkets on 15 different food topics. Tom and Meredith are the authors of many books, including "Gastronomie: Food Museums and Heritage Sites of France." This was the first book to define and explain the concept of food historic sites. Author of several articles on food history, Meredith created the award-winning 10 book series, "Plants We Eat," and "Plants vs. Meats: the Health, History, and Ethics of What We Eat" all published by Lerner Publishing, Minneapolis. She has been a workshop presenter at the International Association of Culinary Professionals Annual Conference. Tom, a teacher, did two nationwide educational tours, speaking to civic groups and as a guest on radio and tv talk shows, both national and local, including "Late Night with David Letterman, "NBC Nightly News" and "Charlie Rose." Tom's most recent book is "Hot Potato Capital of the World: DC Nickname Campaign" and "Food Heritage Matters."
