Evelyne Bloch-Dano

In an era when most people buy their vegetables at a supermarket, too few of us stop to think about where they’ve come from. Bloch-Dano addresses this topic, not logistically, but historically. In just a few short paragraphs, she enlightens readers on the history of the cardoon and the artichoke, the Jerusalem artichoke, the cabbage, the parsnip, the carrot, the pea, the tomato, the bean, the pumpkin, and the chili pepper. She draws from the disciplines of history, archaeology, language, and literature to tell the story of these dietary staples. Recipes are sprinkled throughout the book, although not for every vegetable.

There are no photographs in the book, and I wished there had been a few to illustrate the rarer varieties discussed. I had to Google cardoons since I had never heard of them. (Neither has my spellchecker!) The chapters originated as lectures, and I wondered if the lectures had accompanying images that aren’t included in the book. The lectures/essays have been translated from the French, and some of the passages dealing with language (either the etymology of the vegetable name or idioms and figures of speech) don’t translate well into English.… (mehr)