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Food in the Ancient World from A to Z by Andrew Dalby
Sensual, yet pre-eminently functional, food is of intrinsic interest to us all, and was a necessity and pleasure in ancient times as well. In this informative and entertaining work of reference, Andrew Dalby explores an encyclopaedic range of foods and drinks known to us from the Greek and Roman worlds. Food in the Ancient World from A to Z will be an invaluable companion for classicists and gastronomes alike.
Mass Market Paperback
First published May 8, 2003
101 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Dalby
45 books20 followersAndrew Dalby (born Liverpool, 1947) is an English linguist, translator and historian who most often writes about food history.
Dalby studied at the Bristol Grammar School, where he learned some Latin, French and Greek; then at the University of Cambridge. There he studied Latin and Greek at first, afterwards Romance languages and linguistics. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1970. Dalby then worked for fifteen years at Cambridge University Library, eventually specializing in Southern Asia. He gained familiarity with some other languages because of his work there, where he had to work with foreign serials and afterwards with South and Southeast Asian materials. In 1982 and 1983 he collaborated with Sao Saimong in cataloguing the Scott Collection of manuscripts and documents from Burma (especially the Shan States) and Indochina; He was later to publish a short biography of the colonial civil servant and explorer J. G. Scott, who formed the collection.[1] To help him with this task, he took classes in Cambridge again in Sanskrit, Hindi and Pali and in London in Burmese and Thai.
Dalby studied at the Bristol Grammar School, where he learned some Latin, French and Greek; then at the University of Cambridge. There he studied Latin and Greek at first, afterwards Romance languages and linguistics. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1970. Dalby then worked for fifteen years at Cambridge University Library, eventually specializing in Southern Asia. He gained familiarity with some other languages because of his work there, where he had to work with foreign serials and afterwards with South and Southeast Asian materials. In 1982 and 1983 he collaborated with Sao Saimong in cataloguing the Scott Collection of manuscripts and documents from Burma (especially the Shan States) and Indochina; He was later to publish a short biography of the colonial civil servant and explorer J. G. Scott, who formed the collection.[1] To help him with this task, he took classes in Cambridge again in Sanskrit, Hindi and Pali and in London in Burmese and Thai.
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October 9, 2023
Haven't read the whole thing cover to cover, but have thoroughly browsed it and used it for reference. It's mostly great for my purposes, i.e. searching for quick inspiration or for a high-level view of a topic, like 'Egg' or 'Aromatics.' However, I have absolutely no idea what system the author was using to determine if something was worthy of its own category or not? I was searching for 'Dessert' and found nothing, not even a cross reference (ultimately found what I was looking for by finding 'Sweets' and being redirected to 'Cakes'), but 'Cannibalism' has an entry? As do 'Architecture,' 'Economics,' and 'Children'??? I mean, I understand how these are at least tangentially related to food, but you'd think if you were trying to increase your text's utility as a reference material, you might reprioritize a bit. Really no complaints beyond the petty, though, and the wish that there were more illustrations implemented more judiciously.
Displaying 1 of 1 review