A Political History of Food

How was human (in)equality built across the table? Why were the first great
banquets at the origin of the communal goods of humanity? Who, after forcing
men from eating bread, wanted to forbid them chestnuts and popularized the
potato? The Egyptian food table invented the notion of "symbols for food." The
Greek food table invented the notion of sharing. The Roman food table invented
the concept of pleasure. How was the person, caught eating and drinking alone,
punished? Why did people die less of hunger in ancient times than in Africa in
the 21st century? Why in China do people eat round things to show their love?
How and why do we choose to eat this way? Why do societies choose to express
their unity through their conception of the food table? Did the division in
prehistoric societies first occur at the dinner table? Did the first great
civilizations make the food table a major political tool with the rationing
and banqueting systems in Mesopotamia and Egypt? Were the Gallic food tables
swept away by the political alliance between the Catholic Church and the new
masters coming from the great invasions? Did the feudal politico-religious
system durably structure our food table? Did absolute monarchy have to invent
its own conception of the food table with music, dance and architecture? What
were the great French revolutionary conceptions of the food table? Did the
philosophy of the Enlightenment change our conception of the food table? Did
the French Revolution impose a new way of eating with the adoption of the
three-fold table service and the banning of cuisine made with mixtures and
knots? Does the grammar of our food correspond to a social project? Was
Robespierre afraid of the great popular banquets? Did the Republic enforce the
eating of potatoes instead of the "breadfruit tree" (the chestnut tree)? How
was the myth of Parmentier imposed on schools? What were the great food
utopias in the history of the world? Paul Ariès invites you on a gourmet
journey from prehistory to the present day. You will know (almost) everything
about what our ancestors ate and drank. The prehistoric food table, the
ancient food table, the Gallic food table... Paul Ariès shows how the tables
of the world remain largely dependent on the tables of the past. This
political history of food is the result of thirty years of teaching and
research. Better known as a political scientist specializing in ecology than
as a specialist of the food table, Paul Ariès has been teaching since 1988 in
the most prestigious international hotel schools. He is the author of La fin
des mangeurs (DDB), Les Fils de McDo (L'Harmattan), and Manger sans peur
(Golias). This audiobook is read by a synthesized voice.