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Why X Matters Series
Why Food Matters
From the author of Ten Restaurants That Changed America , an exploration of food’s cultural importance and its crucial role throughout human history
“A rich and fascinating narrative that reaches deep into the historical and cultural larder of societal experience, powerfully illustrating the myriad ways that food matters as an essential condiment for humanity.”—Danny Meyer, founder of Union Square Hospitality Group and Shake Shack
Why does food matter? Historically, food has not always been considered a serious subject on par with, for instance, a performance art like opera or a humanities discipline like philosophy. Necessity, ubiquity, and repetition contribute to the apparent banality of food, but these attributes don’t capture food’s emotional and cultural range, from the quotidian to the exquisite.
In this short, passionate book, Paul Freedman makes the case for food’s vital importance, stressing its crucial role in the evolution of human identity and human civilizations. Freedman presents a highly readable and illuminating account of food’s unique role in our lives. It is a way to express community and celebration, but it can also be divisive. This wide-ranging book is a must-read for food lovers and all those interested in how cultures and identities are formed and maintained.
“A rich and fascinating narrative that reaches deep into the historical and cultural larder of societal experience, powerfully illustrating the myriad ways that food matters as an essential condiment for humanity.”—Danny Meyer, founder of Union Square Hospitality Group and Shake Shack
Why does food matter? Historically, food has not always been considered a serious subject on par with, for instance, a performance art like opera or a humanities discipline like philosophy. Necessity, ubiquity, and repetition contribute to the apparent banality of food, but these attributes don’t capture food’s emotional and cultural range, from the quotidian to the exquisite.
In this short, passionate book, Paul Freedman makes the case for food’s vital importance, stressing its crucial role in the evolution of human identity and human civilizations. Freedman presents a highly readable and illuminating account of food’s unique role in our lives. It is a way to express community and celebration, but it can also be divisive. This wide-ranging book is a must-read for food lovers and all those interested in how cultures and identities are formed and maintained.
216 pages, Hardcover
Published September 28, 2021
12 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
About the author
Paul Freedman
37 books114 followersPaul H. Freedman is the Chester D. Tripp Professor of History at Yale University. He specializes in medieval social history, the history of Spain, the study of medieval peasantry, and medieval cuisine.
His 1999 book Images of the Medieval Peasant won the Medieval Academy's prestigious Haskins Medal.
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Professor Freedman specializes in medieval social history, the history of Spain, comparative studies of the peasantry, trade in luxury products, and history of cuisine.
Freedman earned his BA at the University of California at Santa Cruz and an MLS from the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. He earned a Ph.D. in History at the same institution in 1978. His doctoral work focused on medieval Catalonia and how the bishop and canons interacted with the powerful and weak elements of lay society in Vic, north of Barcelona. This resulted in the publication of The Diocese of Vic: Tradition and Regeneration in Medieval Catalonia (1983).
Freedman taught for eighteen years at Vanderbilt University before joining the Yale faculty in 1997. At Vanderbilt, he focused on the history of Catalan peasantry, papal correspondence with Catalonia and a comparative history of European seigneurial regimes. He was awarded Vanderbilt’s Nordhaus Teaching Prize in 1989 and was the Robert Penn Warren Humanities Center Fellow there in 1991-1992. During that time he published his second book, Origins of Peasant Servitude in Medieval Catalonia (1991).
Since coming to Yale, Professor Freedman has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies in History, Director of the Medieval Studies Program and Chair of the History Department. He has offered graduate seminars on the social history of the Middle Ages, church, society and politics, and agrarian studies (as part of a team-taught course).
Freedman was a visiting fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut für Geschichte in Göttingen in 2000 and was directeur d’Études Associé at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris in 1995. He also published his third book, Images of the Medieval Peasant (1999) and two collections of essays: Church, Law and Society in Catalonia, 900-1500 and Assaigs d’historia de la pagesia catalana (writings on the history of the Catalan peasantry translated into Catalan).
More recently Freedman edited Food: The History of Taste, an illustrated collection of essays about food from prehistoric to contemporary times published by Thames & Hudson (London) and in the US by the University of California Press (2007). His book on the demand for spices in medieval Europe was published in 2008 by Yale University Press. It is entitled Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination. Freedman also edited two other collections with Caroline Walker Bynum, Last Things: Death and the Apocalypse in the Middle Ages (1999) and with Monique Bourin, Forms of Servitude in Northern and Central Europe (2005).
A Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, Freedman is also a corresponding fellow of the Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona and of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His honors include a 2008 cookbook award (reference and technical) from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (for Food: The History of Taste) and three awards for Images of the Medieval Peasant: the Haskins Medal of the Medieval Academy (2002), the 2001 Otto Gründler prize given by the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, and the Eugene Kayden Award in the Humanities given by the University of Colorado. He won the American Historical Association’s Premio del Rey Prize in 1992 (for The Origins of Peasant Servitude in Medieval Catalonia) and shared the Medieval Academy’s Van Courtlandt Elliott prize for the best first article on a medieval topic in 1981.
His 1999 book Images of the Medieval Peasant won the Medieval Academy's prestigious Haskins Medal.
~~
Professor Freedman specializes in medieval social history, the history of Spain, comparative studies of the peasantry, trade in luxury products, and history of cuisine.
Freedman earned his BA at the University of California at Santa Cruz and an MLS from the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. He earned a Ph.D. in History at the same institution in 1978. His doctoral work focused on medieval Catalonia and how the bishop and canons interacted with the powerful and weak elements of lay society in Vic, north of Barcelona. This resulted in the publication of The Diocese of Vic: Tradition and Regeneration in Medieval Catalonia (1983).
Freedman taught for eighteen years at Vanderbilt University before joining the Yale faculty in 1997. At Vanderbilt, he focused on the history of Catalan peasantry, papal correspondence with Catalonia and a comparative history of European seigneurial regimes. He was awarded Vanderbilt’s Nordhaus Teaching Prize in 1989 and was the Robert Penn Warren Humanities Center Fellow there in 1991-1992. During that time he published his second book, Origins of Peasant Servitude in Medieval Catalonia (1991).
Since coming to Yale, Professor Freedman has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies in History, Director of the Medieval Studies Program and Chair of the History Department. He has offered graduate seminars on the social history of the Middle Ages, church, society and politics, and agrarian studies (as part of a team-taught course).
Freedman was a visiting fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut für Geschichte in Göttingen in 2000 and was directeur d’Études Associé at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris in 1995. He also published his third book, Images of the Medieval Peasant (1999) and two collections of essays: Church, Law and Society in Catalonia, 900-1500 and Assaigs d’historia de la pagesia catalana (writings on the history of the Catalan peasantry translated into Catalan).
More recently Freedman edited Food: The History of Taste, an illustrated collection of essays about food from prehistoric to contemporary times published by Thames & Hudson (London) and in the US by the University of California Press (2007). His book on the demand for spices in medieval Europe was published in 2008 by Yale University Press. It is entitled Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination. Freedman also edited two other collections with Caroline Walker Bynum, Last Things: Death and the Apocalypse in the Middle Ages (1999) and with Monique Bourin, Forms of Servitude in Northern and Central Europe (2005).
A Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, Freedman is also a corresponding fellow of the Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona and of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His honors include a 2008 cookbook award (reference and technical) from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (for Food: The History of Taste) and three awards for Images of the Medieval Peasant: the Haskins Medal of the Medieval Academy (2002), the 2001 Otto Gründler prize given by the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, and the Eugene Kayden Award in the Humanities given by the University of Colorado. He won the American Historical Association’s Premio del Rey Prize in 1992 (for The Origins of Peasant Servitude in Medieval Catalonia) and shared the Medieval Academy’s Van Courtlandt Elliott prize for the best first article on a medieval topic in 1981.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 5, 2021
It’s rare that a blurb summarizes a book as well as is the case for Freedman’s 'Why Food Matters.'
The book is a well-written, quick read that manages to span a wide array of topics, eras, and ideas surrounding the whys, whats, wheres, and whos of food. It’s sort of a cross-cultural history of food and food-related identities, bundled together with a contemporary critique of the modern food system.
Due to its short format, the book misses out on exploring worthwhile complexities and depth. However, I don’t think it detracts too much from the purpose of the book or my experience of it.
Indeed, at times his brevity enhances the reading experience, and maybe even the messaging. For example, while this is not a health or nutrition book, Freedman hits a home-run with this nutritional advice statement: “Confusions over what constitutes a healthful diet is caused less by conflicting nutritional advice, and more by our reluctance to accept it. There is, in fact, no conflict over recommendations that we eat less, exercise more, and avoid snacks, convenience food, fast food. But these instructions are annoying.”
I laughed out loud!
Finally, 'Why Food Matters' ends on an activist-ish note. Having illustrated the importance of striving for a sustainable food system, Freedman wraps it up with Amory Lovin’s words,
“[b]e neither an optimist nor a pessimist. Both are different forms of fatalism. Instead, practice what I call applied hope: believe our world and the causes you care about can get better, and work to make them so.”
It’s a pretty nice finishing touch on a short but interesting read. No socks will be knocked off, but this little book is well worth your attention for a few hours. Recommended!
The book is a well-written, quick read that manages to span a wide array of topics, eras, and ideas surrounding the whys, whats, wheres, and whos of food. It’s sort of a cross-cultural history of food and food-related identities, bundled together with a contemporary critique of the modern food system.
Due to its short format, the book misses out on exploring worthwhile complexities and depth. However, I don’t think it detracts too much from the purpose of the book or my experience of it.
Indeed, at times his brevity enhances the reading experience, and maybe even the messaging. For example, while this is not a health or nutrition book, Freedman hits a home-run with this nutritional advice statement: “Confusions over what constitutes a healthful diet is caused less by conflicting nutritional advice, and more by our reluctance to accept it. There is, in fact, no conflict over recommendations that we eat less, exercise more, and avoid snacks, convenience food, fast food. But these instructions are annoying.”
I laughed out loud!
Finally, 'Why Food Matters' ends on an activist-ish note. Having illustrated the importance of striving for a sustainable food system, Freedman wraps it up with Amory Lovin’s words,
“[b]e neither an optimist nor a pessimist. Both are different forms of fatalism. Instead, practice what I call applied hope: believe our world and the causes you care about can get better, and work to make them so.”
It’s a pretty nice finishing touch on a short but interesting read. No socks will be knocked off, but this little book is well worth your attention for a few hours. Recommended!
September 1, 2023
Superb history and exploration but way too many covid references
October 25, 2021
A perfectly brief and effective coverage of modern food history explaining the impacts and nuances of food, food culture, and food impacts. There was a lot here I didn’t know and was impressed at the balance in coverage. The author covers many different topics without being dense or overwritten. Each chapter could likely take up its own book or dissertation, but we get the important bits.
I have no regrets reading this and would recommend it to anyone interested in the intersection of food and life beyond its role to provide fuel. Because the author makes a clear case that even if you only see food as fuel, it has fundamental societal, cultural, economic, and climate impacts.
I have no regrets reading this and would recommend it to anyone interested in the intersection of food and life beyond its role to provide fuel. Because the author makes a clear case that even if you only see food as fuel, it has fundamental societal, cultural, economic, and climate impacts.
February 26, 2024
Grabbed this in the MOMA Houston gift shop during the annual winter nights showcase & loved the global exploration it provided. This was part of my one week fascination with Anthony Bourdain and the Food Network, and I have to say I suddenly have a very strong urge to hop on a plane and explore all the food and culture the world has to offer! Who knows maybe I'll go to Yale just to discuss this book with Professor Freedman, I mean I'm sure he would have quite a few interesting insights after researching and collecting such a vast demographic of stories and historical monuments for such an short.
May 16, 2022
A 5hr audiobook. I did enjoy this book but I think the title is misleading, the title 'A very short history of world food' or 'Brief short stories of human eating habits' would be more accurate. The current title makes me think there would have been a topics of nutrition, health problems related to food, and you are what you eat thinking, but no. The only "Meat and Potatoes" of this book in my opinion is the final chapter, but even then, this book is only skimming highlights. Let me say again though, I did enjoy this book.
November 13, 2021
Extremely pretentious book. Sounded like it was someone’s dissertation, given the try-hard vocabulary. I suppose I find it ironic that a book that focuses largely on the inequity of food would use words that would alienate 80% of the population.
That said, I did learn quite a bit from this book, so I’m not totally tanking the star rating.
That said, I did learn quite a bit from this book, so I’m not totally tanking the star rating.
January 2, 2022
Read this after Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential and some Michael Pollan food books-
Concise and dense coverage of the chefs and food culture- I learned more about how widespread food sexism and trade slavery was
Concise and dense coverage of the chefs and food culture- I learned more about how widespread food sexism and trade slavery was
January 25, 2023
It was fine. The questions the author poses towards the end of the book all have answers that point to colonialism, racism, and anti-capitalism - all things I agree with. I wish he was brave enough to just come out and say that though, instead of asking questions.
January 22, 2022
A very interesting look at food and how it brings us together and separates us. Freedman explains why food is much more than just something we need to stay alive.
October 4, 2021
An interesting historical review of the cultural, social, and geographical basis for how we perceive the importance of food. This isn’t a health or nutrition book, but rather a look at how societies and cultures have viewed the importance of food consumption, preparation and impact.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews