Since Eve Ate Apples Much Depends on Dinner

The Extraordinary History and Mythology, Allure and Obsessions, Perils and Taboos of an Ordinary Mea

A “funny and fascinating” cultural history about one of our favorite pastimes: eating (The Village Voice).

This is a delightful and intelligent look at the food we eat, with a cornucopia of incredible details about the ways we do it.

Presented like a meal, each chapter of Since Eve Ate Apples Much Depends on Dinner represents a different course or garnish, which Margaret Visser handpicks from the most ordinary American dinner: among them corn on the cob with butter and salt, roast chicken with rice, salad dressed in lemon juice and olive oil, and ice cream. Visser tells the story behind each of these foods and in the course of her inquiries reveals some unexpected treats: the history of Corn Flakes; the secret behind the more dissatisfactory California olives (they’re picked green, chemically blackened, and sterilized); and the fact that, in Africa, citrus fruits are eaten whole, rind and all.

For food lovers of all kinds, unexpectedly entertaining book is a treasure of information from the author of the New York Times Notable Book The Rituals of Dinner.

“Rich in surprising facts, unexpected connections, and a well-documented outrage at what modern technology and agribusiness have done to purity and quality . . . A remarkable amount of information [presented] seamlessly and entertainingly.” —Library Journal