
Mr. Allen gives you just enough interesting tidbits about his food topics to keep you interested but not overwhelmed. His best work is done in the sections where he writes about how religions have impacted our diets. And he spares no religions, he shows them all to be hypocritical when it comes to what their adherents are supposed to eat or not eat.
Some parts of this book were hard to stomach, har-dee-har-har, especially the ones about the cultures where dog is eaten and some of the more bizarre foods that are eaten in the world. All in all however, I loved this book to death. I highly recommend it.

What I really liked about this novel is that it is a thinly veiled attack on big corporations. The once vibrant postal system in Ankh Morpork is now moribund so con man Moist Von Lipwig is chosen to bring it back to life so that it can compete with the big corporate message service in the city. The corporate pigs complain about the government competition and they do their best to shut it down and the plot revolves around the battle between the private message company and the public post office.
It's a fun read and you don't have to have read any or all of the previous Discworld books by Pratchett to enjoy it. I recommend this one as well, especially if you like golems.
I began it about two weeks before we left for the beach and I got through about a third of it before I took it back to the library. The parts I read covered the early years of drinking in the Greek and Roman empires, the rise of drinking in Europe, Asia, the pacific, and the Americas. I got to the part where rum had just been invented before I stopped reading it. One day I'll finish it and I'll be damn glad I did.
I recommend this one as well, even though the physical size of the book can be a bit daunting.
5 comments:
Hey there. Great post. I hope you've been having a wonderful weekend. Take care. Cheers!
You have some interesting tastes in reading their, Dr. Monkey!
I am currently slogging through Hyperion. A friend said I would love it, and while it is well-written, it is really not my favorite. But, I shall finish it. Eventually.
That drinks book sounds interesting. I like to keep books like that around, reading bits here and there, rather than all in one go. I'll look for it.
Just bought a drink recipe book from the Hemingway bar at the Paris Ritz.
New Top Chef thread over at my foodblog. Go talk to me, Monk.
Love, love, love food history. Try the books on cod and potatoes. I learned a lot about Irish history with the book on potatoes. Fascinating.
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