Food: A Cultural Culinary History

I found this course to be delightfully tasty and expertly presented by Ken Albala. The breadth of his knowledge of culinary history and the relevant cultural contexts is truly astonishing. As a professor of anthropology, I found nothing to be inaccurate nor was anything inadequately contextualized. He provides just the right level of detail--although of course, I would have loved to have a course twice as long. He begins with our hunter-gatherer ancestors and moves across the globe (you'll see what I mean about breadth of knowledge) and up through the ages, detailing shifting food trends in multiple countries and regions. I particularly enjoyed his critical approach in Episode 30, "Food Imperialism Around the World," as the impact of colonialism and later, economic dominance, are critical to understanding where we are today, not just in terms of how food is produced and consumed, but also in terms of economic globalization and geopolitics. He's very good on the causes of modern famines, for example. He doesn't pussyfoot around about our current era of corporate monopolies and he tackles the thorny issue of GMOs, which I found very instructive. Food is everything, if you think about it--the central chess piece in human history--and Dr. Albala has an astonishing command of the big picture.Now, I'd love to know how these videos are made--how does he manage to virtually never utter an "um," or an uh"? Smooth delivery throughout and a very engaging style. I would so like to see another course from him, perhaps one focusing on a particular region and/or historical era in which he specializes. I'd gobble it up, regardless of focus.

I'm quite happy to have found this series by Dr. Albala (and thanks to Max Miller for mentioning it on YouTube). I feel I've gained a more clear picture of what were the culinary trends in history, and on my own I can connect them to other aspects of society in the different periods. Great work!

In his Classical Greek lecture "Wine, Olive Oil, and Trade," Prof. Albala began talking about the Dionysus cult that existed before Christianity. They'd tear apart a bull and eat the flesh and drink the blood, and he said, "Here's a quote, 'He who will not eat of my body and drink of my blood will not be made one with me, or I with him, and he shall not know salvation.' This verse probably sounds family to many Christians..." At first I was excited and began to research the "ancient" roots of this quote for a deeper understanding -- what time period; did this have a connection with the Old Testament; etc. Unlike other quotes, he did not give a source. Well, it turns out the quote had nothing to do with the cult of Dionysus. It was a Mithras quote. That was a rival cult to Christianity. Cannot trust anything this so-called "historian" has to say. Maybe a student did his research. Turns out Prof. Albala was a guest on an atheist podcast, so he has an agenda against Christianity. Why does religion have to seep in? Wish he would have just stuck to his topic of Greek food. Lousy lecturer despite the interesting topic of the series. Very disappointed.

This is one of my favorite (so far) among a number of Great Courses. This series not only explores the history of food, it also offers a completely new way of looking at history. This was a nice surprise. Ken Albala explores a variety of cultures across a wide range of different places and time periods. That really kept me engaged from start to finish.I was surprised again when he reached the 20th century. I thought this would be the least interesting because I expected I'd know all about it already. But I was wrong. The end was the best part. He shows how events in recent times have dramatically affected our food choices and he identifies trends and directions we take for granted. It was truly an eye-opening experience and I'd recommend this series to anyone. It's particularly great for foodies and those interested in cultural history, but it's also good for anyone interested in history because it's guaranteed to give you a new perspective on the past.

Absolutely fascinating. I have told a family member about it and they want to watch it. I might buy it because I want to watch again. The presenter cutely attempts a few recipes such as rolling sushi and one can see the imperfections. I like this video series much better than another one in the Great Courses series where I wanted to learn about the origins of (was it spices?) but was presented by a chef with focus of cooking verses this history of the subject. This focuses on the history and migrations of food. Wonderful, comprehensive and global about the history and origins of food.

Really good stuff sometimes mind blowing when he connects the dots to developments of industry and revolutions. Vegetarians and vegans have a surprise in store for them as well. Also, would "take with a grain of salt" those sections where he explains early Christian beliefs; seems odd that a food historian misses out on the very specific and very telling ways of how those people prayed before and after meals (see Tertullian's writings for a start).

I have been enjoying this series. It is one of my areas of ongoing interest. As far as I can tell, the culinary history is well researched and many of his guesses about things are obviously well educated.The problem I have is his more general history and I would recommend taking that with 'a pinch of salt.' He doesn't always know when his history sources are more myth than fact and some of his theories are based on misunderstandings of either cultures or languages and sometimes he goes off on tangents that have no bearing on the food... If one can ignore such errors and a certain amount obvious preferences for certain cultures or ages, this is an interesting and well designed series.