History of Food

Children's Literature

This book in the "Major Inventions Throughout History" series acquaints readers with revolutionary inventions in the food arena. If Pilgrims arriving on the Mayflower did not have microwaveable pizza or breaded, precooked fish sticks, what did they eat? Students will certainly appreciate living today when they consider the rotten and miserable food on which many of their ancestors subsisted. They will undoubtedly thank food pioneers such as Nicolas Appert and Louis Pasteur for discovering food preservation techniques that make foods safer and longer lasting. Sections on refrigeration, genetically modified food, and the rise of the supermarket are packed with captivating tidbits of information. For example, when grocer Sylvan Goldman realized people would buy more if they could carry more items in a shopping basket, he invented the shopping cart on wheels. At first no one would use the strange-looking contraptions, so Goldman hired people to shop with them, and soon everyone wanted to use one. Inset boxes with additional information fill the edges of the book's pages, and a time line runs along the bottom of the pages. The book utilizes both drawings and photographs to make information clearer. Back matter includes a glossary, a selected bibliography, an index, and options for further reading and web research. This book would make a fascinating read for any student and could also be put to good use in history or food science lessons. 2006, Twenty-First Century Books, Ages 9 to 12.
—Ramirose Attebury Wendt

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-Well-written books that do an excellent job of introducing these topics. Transportation covers the wheel, sail, steam engine, internal combustion engine, and airplane. Food discusses canning, pasteurization, refrigeration, supermarkets, and genetically modified foods. Everyday Life explores fireplaces and central heating, indoor plumbing, the washing machine, food and clothing production, and microwave ovens. Each title presents information about daily living from ancient times to the present, explaining the need for improvements and how a given invention changed the quality of life for the better. The text, printed on a sea-foam green background, is breezy but informative; unfamiliar terms are defined. Illustrations are a mixture of period black-and-white and color photos. An illustrated time line runs along the bottom of the pages. Each volume concludes with an epilogue and another time line. Though these are far from definitive works, students will find them interesting. Teachers will find that the books correlate well with social-studies units.-Eldon Younce, Harper Elementary School, KS Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.