Author(s): Andrew Dalby

Food

If you ever wondered how cheese was invented - and where, and when, and even why - then "Cheese" is the book for you. If you ever guessed that Roquefort, Cheshire and Gorgonzola might not be quite as ancient as their publicists claim, this book will confirm your guess. Until now there has been no global history of cheese: here it is at last, succinct, authoritative with the fallacies removed. Cheese is one of the most ancient of civilized foods and one of the most nourishing: it could even be the product with which trade began. In bite-sized chapters well-known food historian Andrew Dalby tells the true and savory story of cheese, from its prehistoric invention to the moment of its modern rebirth. Here you will find the most ancient cheese appellations; the first written description of the cheese-making process; the luxury cheeses of classical Rome; the medieval rule-of-thumb for identifying good cheese; and how Samuel Pepys saved his parmesan from the Fire of London; you will also discover which cheese was prescribed to patients at New York's once-celebrated Pilsener Sanatorium. Packed with entertaining cheese facts, anecdotes and images, "Cheese" also features a selection of authentic recipes, from a two-thousand-year-old junket to an eighteenth-century Welsh rarebit.