Mustard: A Global History

Edible

by Demet Güzey

***WINNER, Gourmand World Cookbook Award, Spices***Whether grainy or smooth, spicy or sweet, Dijon, American, or English, mustard accompanies our food and flavors our life around the globe. It has been a source of pleasure, health, and myth from ancient times to the present day, its tiny seed a symbol of faith and its pungent flavor a testimony to refined taste. There are stories of mustard plasters used to treat melancholy, runners eating mustard to prevent cramps, and Christians spreading mustard seeds along pilgrimage trails.

In this delightful global history of all things Grey Poupon and gleaming yellow, Demet Güzey takes readers on a tour of the ubiquitous mustard, exploring its origins, its use in medicine and in the kitchen, its place in literature, language, and religion, and its strong symbolism of sharpness, perseverance, and strength. Packed with entertaining mustard facts and illustrations as well as a selection of historic and modern recipes, this surprising history of one of the world's most loved condiments will appeal to all food history aficionados.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, History

144 pages, Hardcover

Published December 15, 2019

Reviews

[Anissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great! An awesome way to finish off the year. I admittedly don’t like mustard but food history is a favorite niche genre of mine so when I saw this book I knew I had to read it. I think this book was really well organized which I find to be really important in a historical nonfiction. I also love that the writing was to the point and not super tangential. So nicely structured and I enjoyed learning about Mustard which I knew pretty much nothing about previously.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit too much about specific brands, especially in the sections about American and British mustards, but otherwise informative and well organized.

[cam_omile · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fun little book! i now want to try mustard ice cream (...i think...).

[Noah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely could have used another round of editing. Not enough detail in places, superfluous detail in others. Additionally, the structure of the book seemed an afterthought.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A charming romp round the mustard fields, with a vast number of mustard facts, and interesting digressions into mustard marketing in the 20th century.

[Ralphz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick read (just one day), and it was pretty much what I wanted.

It's a short history of the third most popular condiment (after salt and pepper) and how it's used around the world. Also how different areas made their own type of mustard to fit different needs.

The book ends with a number of recipes that I'll let people with those skills to comment on.