Swindled
The Dark History of Food Fraud, from Poisoned Candy to Counterfeit Coffee
Seiten
2008
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-13820-6 (ISBN)
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-13820-6 (ISBN)
- Keine Verlagsinformationen verfügbar
- Artikel merken
Through a mixture of cultural and scientific history, food politics, and culinary detective work, this book covers the ways swindlers have cheapened, falsified, and poisoned our food throughout history. It gives a view of this history, from the leaded wine of the ancient Romans to today's food frauds - such as fake organics.
Bad food has a history. "Swindled" tells it. Through a fascinating mixture of cultural and scientific history, food politics, and culinary detective work, Bee Wilson uncovers the many ways swindlers have cheapened, falsified, and even poisoned our food throughout history. In the hands of people and corporations who have prized profits above the health of consumers, food and drink have been tampered with in often horrifying ways - padded, diluted, contaminated, substituted, mislabeled, misnamed, or otherwise faked. "Swindled" gives a panoramic view of this history, from the leaded wine of the ancient Romans to today's food frauds - such as fake organics and the scandal of Chinese babies being fed bogus milk powder.Wilson pays special attention to nineteenth- and twentieth-century America and England and their roles in developing both industrial-scale food adulteration and the scientific ability to combat it. As "Swindled" reveals, modern science has both helped and hindered food fraudsters - increasing the sophistication of scams but also the means to detect them.
The big breakthrough came in Victorian England when a scientist first put food under the microscope and found that much of what was sold as 'genuine coffee' was anything but - and that you couldn't buy pure mustard in all of London. Arguing that industrialization, laissez-faire politics, and globalization have all hurt the quality of food, but also that food swindlers have always been helped by consumer ignorance, "Swindled" ultimately calls for both governments and individuals to be more vigilant. In fact, Wilson suggests, one of our best protections is simply to reeducate ourselves about the joys of food and cooking.
Bad food has a history. "Swindled" tells it. Through a fascinating mixture of cultural and scientific history, food politics, and culinary detective work, Bee Wilson uncovers the many ways swindlers have cheapened, falsified, and even poisoned our food throughout history. In the hands of people and corporations who have prized profits above the health of consumers, food and drink have been tampered with in often horrifying ways - padded, diluted, contaminated, substituted, mislabeled, misnamed, or otherwise faked. "Swindled" gives a panoramic view of this history, from the leaded wine of the ancient Romans to today's food frauds - such as fake organics and the scandal of Chinese babies being fed bogus milk powder.Wilson pays special attention to nineteenth- and twentieth-century America and England and their roles in developing both industrial-scale food adulteration and the scientific ability to combat it. As "Swindled" reveals, modern science has both helped and hindered food fraudsters - increasing the sophistication of scams but also the means to detect them.
The big breakthrough came in Victorian England when a scientist first put food under the microscope and found that much of what was sold as 'genuine coffee' was anything but - and that you couldn't buy pure mustard in all of London. Arguing that industrialization, laissez-faire politics, and globalization have all hurt the quality of food, but also that food swindlers have always been helped by consumer ignorance, "Swindled" ultimately calls for both governments and individuals to be more vigilant. In fact, Wilson suggests, one of our best protections is simply to reeducate ourselves about the joys of food and cooking.
Bee Wilson is the author of "The Hive: The Story of the Honeybee and Us". She writes a weekly food column for London's "Sunday Telegraph" and is a former food critic for the "New Statesman". She has been named Food Journalist of the Year by the Guild of Food Writers and Food Writer of the Year by BBC Radio 4.
Preface xi Chapter 1: German Ham and English Pickles 1 Chapter 2: A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread 46 Chapter 3: Government Mustard 94 Chapter 4: Pink Margarine and Pure Ketchup 152 Chapter 5: Mock Goslings and Pear-nanas 213 Chapter 6: Basmati Rice and Baby Milk 272 Epilogue: Adulteration in the Twenty-fi rst Century 322 Notes 329 Bibliography 351 Acknowledgments 363 Picture Credits 365 Index 367
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 28.9.2008 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 53 halftones. |
| Verlagsort | New Jersey |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 235 mm |
| Gewicht | 680 g |
| Themenwelt | Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte |
| Sozialwissenschaften | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-691-13820-6 / 0691138206 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-691-13820-6 / 9780691138206 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
aus dem Bereich
Die Revolution des Gemeinen Mannes
Buch | Softcover (2024)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
CHF 16,80
Eine Geschichte des Geschmacks
Buch | Hardcover (2025)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
CHF 49,95
