Nice summary of historical & regional cuisine

I was hoping this course would go into how dishes and food culture developed differently around the world and be a kind of evolutionary history of food (how different dishes arise, spread and change). Largely speaking, this is what it did. I liked the lecturer, and really enjoyed the course. My biggest criticism is that it was sightly (but not fully) geared towards Eurocentrism and to more recent centuries, but this was probably due to limitations in what is known, and some attempts were made to make it broader. Some interesting speculation about the future in the final lecture.

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I struggled finishing this

This is not a bad book perse but perhaps drawn out too much. The lecturer is very passionate about the subject which is good. Sadly forgotten most of what he said since I started listening about 3 months ago.

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An excellent history of food and cooking

it has been a treat to listen to a person with such knowledge and passion talk about a subject which is fundamental to us all. Lots of entertaining little surprises in this history as well as connections to broad waves of history that are also surprising and illuminating. I like that he includes value judgments about the present. It's great to learn from history, as he suggests.

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Thoroughly enjoyable and informative

The enthusiasm of the lecturer is catching and the subject could not be more relevant.

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Fascinating & Engaging - A Must Listen!

Wow, what a fascinating lecture series. Who knew that food is such an excellent narrative for history in general, which makes sense given that we always have, and always will, need to eat! I really wish I had learnt this kind of thing in school. This lecture series is packed full of interesting facts, like the origins of individual food ingredients, the spice trade, the evolution of recipes and diets, the role that religion & migration has played in what we eat and all the way up to fast food, foodie movements etc.

It's also very interesting - and relevant - to understand how the industrialisation of the food industry has been a significant vehicle in boosting capitalism & political agendas, often at the expense of environmental & health concerns.

I think everyone needs to understand this subject matter in order to make better sense of the world today, and also simply to appreciate what we eat even more. I highly recommend listening to this series.

Ken Albala is also possibly the most engaging lecturer I've come across and has set the bar high now for the next Great Courses I have downloaded!

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Enchanting

This was lovely and informative. I highly recommend it to any foodie and avid seeker of informations about how and why we came to eat what we are eating today.

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Made me appreciate the food more

these lectures are written and presented with obvious zest and joy. the only change I would love to see - have an actual audience listening to it so we get human reaction to the lecture, not canned applause.

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Entertaining

It was nice to learn about the history of our developments in the culinary world.

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The history of food.

A good set of lectures, for which I'm great-full as previous ones were less than engaging, which were brought alive by professor Ken Albala. All round enjoyable and reread-able.

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2 people found this helpful

Enjoyable and informative

Ken Alba, the lecturer, clearly loves the subject. Every now and then he chuckles at what he's saying and, annoying as that may sound, it's actually quite infectious and you wind up chuckling with him. Recommended.

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1 person found this helpful