Historical works on food and success of civilizations

January 1, 2018 4:11 AM

I've been reading Brillat-Savarin's Physiology of Taste. I want to read more about food and national culture and national success/decline.

I've discovered the wonderful and fascinating Physiology of Taste by Brillat-Savarin. His "aphoristic" approach to culinary issues is highly welcome but slightly startling (there's a reason the book was published in 1970, in English, as The Philosopher in the Kitchen), given the current modernist trends in food writing.

One of the book's aphorisms, following, has created for myself an annoying intellectual itch:

III. The fate of nations depends on the way they eat.

Brillat-Savarin relates anecdotes about French treaties and so on, but I'd like to read texts that go into (non-French) national diets and food culture and how they relate to temperament, politics, culture, and particularly societal, military and civilizational success. Basically, I'd like to read things and see if this assertion holds up more broadly than in the case of France over the last few hundred years.

Classical texts are fine but translated into English please. Also, I'm looking for extended treatments, not just possibly racist tropes like "All Cretans are liars."

Thanks in advance!

posted by iffthen to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

Best answer: The classic in this field is Stanley Mintz' Sweetness and Power.
posted by athirstforsalt at 4:30 AM on January 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I enjoyed Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and Their Food by John Dickie quite a bit.
posted by frumiousb at 8:21 AM on January 1, 2018

Best answer: Mark Kurlansky’s The Basque History of the World covers a lot, but goes in detail about the reliance on cod fishing by the Basques.

I can’t speak for them accurately, because I haven’t read them, but I would imagine that the same author’s Salt and Cod also address what you’re looking for.
posted by Liesl at 10:44 AM on January 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Sweetness and Power is indeed the classic. The discussions of table manners in the first volume of Norbert Elias's The Civilizing Process might also be of interest, though again certainly not modern. The second volume of Michel de Certeau's Practice of Everyday Life will give some insight into more recent French food practices and is a good post B-S read. You might also enjoy M.F.K. Fisher (who translated B-S, but not the edition you have--her translation is called The Art of Eating), especially How to Cook a Wolf.

(Food studies scholar here, so I could go on for days. These are my top recommendations, but hit me up via memail if you want more!)
posted by dizziest at 11:26 AM on January 1, 2018