"This tale of one of the world's favourite foods draws upon botany, archaeology, socio-economics and culinary history to present a complete history of chocolate. The story begins some 3000 years ago in the jungles of Mexico and Central America with the tree "Theobroma cacao" and the complex processes necessary to transform its bitter seeds into chocolate. This was centuries before chocolate was consumed, traded and used as currency by th ..."
"After long weeks of boring, perhaps spoiled sea rations, one of the first things Spaniards sought in the New World undoubtedly was fresh food. Probably they found the local cuisine strange at first, but soon they were sending American plants and animals around the world, eventually enriching the cuisine of many cultures. Drawing on original accounts by Europeans and native Americans, this pioneering work offers the first detailed descri ..."