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Honey: A Global History
Whether drizzled into our tea or spread atop our terms of endearment, there’s one thing that is always true about honey: it is sweet. As Lucy M. Long shows in this book, while honey is definitely the natural sweetener par excellence, it has a long history in our world as much more, serving in different settings as a food, tonic, medicine, and even preservative. It features in many religions as a sacred food of the gods. In this luscious history, she traces the uses and meanings of honey in myriad cultures throughout time.
Long points to a crucial fact about honey: it can be enjoyed with very little human processing, which makes it one of the most natural foods we consume. Its nutritional qualities and flavors dramatically reflect the surroundings in which it is produced, and those who produce it—bees—are some of the most important insects in the world, the chief pollinators of wild plants and domesticated crops alike. Showing how honey has figured in politics, religion, economics, and popular culture, Long also directly explores its tastiest use—in our food and drink—offering a history of its culinary place in the world, one sweetened with an assortment of delicious recipes. Lively and engaged, her account will give even the saltiest of us an insatiable sweet tooth.
Long points to a crucial fact about honey: it can be enjoyed with very little human processing, which makes it one of the most natural foods we consume. Its nutritional qualities and flavors dramatically reflect the surroundings in which it is produced, and those who produce it—bees—are some of the most important insects in the world, the chief pollinators of wild plants and domesticated crops alike. Showing how honey has figured in politics, religion, economics, and popular culture, Long also directly explores its tastiest use—in our food and drink—offering a history of its culinary place in the world, one sweetened with an assortment of delicious recipes. Lively and engaged, her account will give even the saltiest of us an insatiable sweet tooth.
176 pages, Hardcover
Published June 15, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 17, 2022
Considering that India, Central America, Malaysia, Central Africa, Eritrea and Ethiopia, the Amazon, Russia, Egypt, New Zealand, and Nepal feature in this book, it is hardly fair to dismiss it as 'Eurocentric.'
It is a 'honey' of a book, deftly bouncing between medical, historical, cultural, linguistic, religious, mythological, military, economic, botanic, and biological aspects of honey.
Who knew that dandelions are catnip for bees? Or that honey can be a weapon? Or that bees really aren't that busy? There is lots to learn and ponder about in this short book. I guess it's a case of personal taste, but I would rather have more information about honey than recipes.
It is a 'honey' of a book, deftly bouncing between medical, historical, cultural, linguistic, religious, mythological, military, economic, botanic, and biological aspects of honey.
Who knew that dandelions are catnip for bees? Or that honey can be a weapon? Or that bees really aren't that busy? There is lots to learn and ponder about in this short book. I guess it's a case of personal taste, but I would rather have more information about honey than recipes.
July 28, 2018
I’ve read many books in this series and this one is among the best.
January 21, 2021
Meh. Repetitive. Slim. Eurocentric. An authority called "Bee Wilson." Seriously. Calls the Spanish invaders "explorers."
August 28, 2022
Eurocentric, and the chapter on medicinal uses of honey is credulous.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews