Onions and Garlic: A Global History

Edible

by Martha Jay

Look at any recipe for a savory dish and chances are it will start with this fry onions in a pan over medium heat . Onions—and their allium family relatives, shallots, garlic, chives, and leeks—are one of the most heavily used ingredients in cuisines all over the world. You’ll rarely find them in the spotlight, though—except for when they are fried into rings or used to repel vampires. In this book, Martha Jay gives alliums their due, offering an illuminating history of these cherished plants that follows the trail of their aromas to every corner of the globe and from ancient times up to today.
           
Going back to the earliest recipes from ancient Mesopotamia, Jay traces the spread of alliums along trade routes through Central Asia and into ancient Greece and Rome. Likewise she follows their spread in East Asia, where they have become indispensable, and of course into Europe and the Americas, where the onion—and its odor—gave rise to the name “Chicago” and the leek became the national symbol of Wales. Celebrated, denigrated, prescribed, and proscribed, onions, garlic, and their relatives can be found—as Jay lavishly demonstrates—in the histories of peasants and kings, in cuisine and art, in tales of colonization and those of resistance, and in medicinal cures and magical potions alike. Her book is a welcome celebration of some of the most important ingredients in the world. 

Genres: Food, History, Nonfiction, Food History, Cookbooks, Food and Drink

144 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2016

Reviews

[Randolph Breschini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I worked in the onion and garlic dehydration industry for Basic American Foods for 4 years as my first company after graduate school. Mr Hume and Mr Heffernan awarded me a full scholarship to Santa Clara University in the Food and Agribusiness Institute where I earned a MBA. Upon graduating, Basic American Foods made me the best offer, so I moved to work at their corporate headquarters in Vacaville California working with Jerry Hume among others. I started in Strategic Planning where I worked on computerizing the budgets and studying the building of a new dehydration plant in the California desert using geothermal energy.

I moved to Supply Chain after one year working for one of my mentors in my business life, Arch Horst, retired after a career with Eastman Kodak in Supply Chain. I eventually worked closely with George Hume who was Executive Vice President in the potato dehydration business. More later about this when I read about the potato industry.

BASIC was started by Mr Hume to supply the troops in the war where dehydrated foods were the best way to feed soldiers overseas. The USA government paid cost plus 10%. Eventually BASIC settled on only producing dehydrated onions and garlic.

BASIC was a leader in improving solids in onions, which is better for dehydration and introducing virus-free garlic from France, which improved yields significantly since garlic grown in California had about a 33% mortality due to virus!

Unfortunately, many years after I left, BASIC closed its Vacaville operation, consolidating everything in King City. And in the end, the Hume family decided to sell Basic Vegetable to Gilroy Foods a division of McCormick, which eventually sold to Conagra which eventually sold to OLAM based in Singapore.

15 years later while working with Del Monte, we reviewed shipping fresh garlic from China, where I met with garlic suppliers. China eventually upended much of the USA garlic dehydration industry.

30 years later while working on potential investments for Dole Asia in India, I linked up with Jain Farm Fresh Foods, which has a sizable onion dehydration business based in Jalgaon India. Interestingly, all my experience and memories came back. Even the industry players were the same

I loved Basic American Foods…super strong financially, high caliber people with integrity, and producing good, basic foods with a strong agricultural footprint 🙏🏼

[Book Grocer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purchase Onions and Garlic: A Global History here for just $10!

It's hard to imagine a (cooking) life without alliums! A fascinating and informative blend of the social and cultural history of onions and garlic, with beautiful illustrations and some tasty recipes to try out. The Edible Series of books is great. And check out Oyster : A Global History, another great book in The Edible Series.

Paul - The Book Grocer

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall disappointing. There were some shareable morsels sprinkled through, but the connecting language was uninspired. The pictures, a big part of the book, seemed haphazard in style, quality, and placement. But if one is interested in the topic there aren’t many books devoted to alliums, and this is not a big investment of time.

[Brad Ardley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whoever wrote this must have been high. It's like they took a bunch of paragraphs and cut them up on a piece of paper, threw them into the air, and however they landed was the final structure of the book.

Has some few good stories about the vegetables but overall is a pretty poorly put together book.

[Billie Cotterman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got to page 18 when that author refers to Herodotus as a Roman historian. Such a basic research error begs the question of how well the rest of the research was done. I stopped at that point, and just looked at the glossy photos.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best written and most informative volumes of this series. Chock full of interesting tidbits without pandering or sounding like a high school freshman’s first term paper - which, after other volumes of this series, cannot be appreciated enough.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Feels less organized than the average Edible book.

[Matt Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I'd been hoping for more of a narrative. An amusing book for a short flight, though.