Much Depends on Dinner: The Extraordinary History & Mythology, Allure & Obsessions, Perils & Taboos, of an Ordinary Meal

It's hard to imagine now how revolutionary books like this were back when Much Depends on Dinner was published in 1986. It was barely conceivable then that someone would write a book, an actual book about something so ordinary as a meal of corn on the cob with butter and salt, chicken, lettuce with olive oil and lemon dressing and ice cream. History was supposed to be reserved for the manly pursuits of war and politics with occasional detours to economy and science. We are much more comfortable now with the notion that real life (and therefore real history) is about the ordinary and that the mysteries worth exploring are the ones wrapped in dailiness. Way before her time, Visser made the point that "...forms of things are a kind of language, speaking the logos of our culture...". In short, that to truly understand ourselves , we need to understand the things that are so common that we scarcely notice them at all. Her pioneering work helped open up a floodgate. We have excellent books about Cod Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World and SaltSalt: A World History, ChocolateThe True History of Chocolate, Second Edition and olive oilOlive Oil: From Tree to Table. There are so many books about the history of wine that there's no place for them in a brief review. What matters, it seems to me, is that these histories aren't just about the substances being discussed. Can Cod really be said to have a history? They are instead, about how our interaction with these things has shaped us and our world. For many readers, this represents a great advance over all that stuff about kings and presidents. Lynn Hoffman, author of New Short Course in Wine,The which owes its existence in part to Visser breaking the trail and to the thoroughly food-filled bang BANG: A Novel.

With this book Margaret Visser single-handedly launched the rash of single-subject books that have proliferated over the past two decades. And this one remains the best of them. She has a light touch, a sharp eye and a brilliant capacity for communicating the minutiae of her extensive research. She devotes a chapter to the history of each ingredient in a simple, everyday meal (sweetcorn, salt, butter, chicken, rice, lettuce, olive oil and icecream) and she takes the reader on a fantastic journey through history, mythology and contemporary culture. Everyone interested in food should have a copy.

This book is an exploration into the science and lore of common foods. In the introduction, the author notes that the topic is far too broad to be covered in any detail in a single volume, so she has restricted herself to examining 9 ingredients found in a simple dinner menu: corn with salt and butter, chicken with rice, lettuce with olive oil and lemon juice, and ice cream. Each subsequent chapter takes up one of these ingredients in turn. At the end of the book there is an extensive section of references, organized first by general references and encyclopedias, and then by specific references corresponding to each chapter. There is also an index.The material in each chapter is quite varied, ranging from history, mythology, science, and economic botany, to health concerns and environmental issues. We read about such topics as the history of corn flakes, the significance of salt-making for the Indian independence movement, and the preservation of lettuce through irradiation or sprinkling with sulphite. All in all, the book is quite fascinating, with many facts and figures for those interested in food history and culture.

Visser begins by stating that "The extent to which we take everday objects for granted is the precise extent to which they govern and inform our lives." She then discusses the shape of chairs, the shape and configuration of forks, things we just don't think about every day. Visser constructs a menu of simple, taken-for-granted foods -- corn with salt & butter, chicken with rice, lettuce with olive oil and lemon juice, and ice cream. She the devotes a chapter to each course, providing more details about corn, salt & butter than you could ever imagine -- and it's all fascinating; corn, for example, touches just about everything we eat (except fish) -- all canned foods are bathed in liquids containing corn, nearly all paper, cardboard and plastic packaging depends on corn products, soft drinks contain corn-based coloring and high fructose corn syrup, corn touches ketchup, ice cream, pickles, instant coffee, insecticides, soap -- just about everything. Visser describes how corn plants grow, the origins of corn, how corn is eaten, the development of the original health food - corn flakes (with a fascinating discussion of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his efforts at the Battle Creek Sanitorium), corn farming around the world. It's not dull or laborious or academic -- it's fun, easy reading. After corn, Visser moves on to salt, then butter -- again, in delightful detail.I'd recommend this book to anyone with a penchant for non-fiction, particularly a food lover, a history buff, or a science buff. Informative, well-researched, delightful fun.

From the history of margarine to the ubiquity of corn, there's just so much we don't know about the way we live our lives. And so much we take for granted, too: the order we eat our meal, the table manners we will use, the salt we casually sprinkle without wondering about its provenance. Visser's writing is light and cheerful as she tosses out fact after fact on these and many other subjects.This book has no real central thesis; Visser has no agenda here. Though she presents many potentially-dismaying facts (such as the extinction of several varieties of produce), she's not a doomsayer. She never goes too far in any potentially-negative direction. But in this context, I think she's made the right decision, never branching off into polemic or getting up on a soapbox, even for a second.I'm not saying those issues aren't important. They're just not central to what Visser wants to write, so although she overlooks them somewhat. Instead, she stays on topic throughout, delivering what almost every author promises but many can't deliver: a thoroughly enjoyable read.