The Incredible Story of Cooking

Overview

For the first time, a graphic novel tells the story of humanity through the evolution of cuisine. From the discovery of fire to organic cooking, this book is aimed at all curious people and foodies. By the authors of Wine, A Graphic History.As soon as humans mastered fire, they invented cooking. Did you know that Sapiens invented steam cooking and freezing? That the Mesopotamians created soups, bread, beer, ovens? That gastronomy and tableware have been symbols of political power?These great discoveries changed the world, but also the way we eat. From America, the conquistadors brought spices, peppers, potatoes... Portuguese missionaries brought the frying technique to distant samurai who made the first tempuras. These are the beginnings of globalization.In the 19th century with the industrial revolution, “capitalist” cuisine emerged: it was the beginning of the food industry. In the 21st century, the organic and buy local movements are shown as a reaction against the harmful effects of this culinary and gastronomic standardization.To finish in style, find twenty-two recipes for dishes mentioned throughout our story that you can make at home!

Reviews

"A unique, informative, and inherently fascinating graphic novel."—James A. Cox, Midwest Book Review

"Dense, well-cited information made palatable by fun images and quick jokes."—Jeff Provine, BlogCritics

"A simply delightful dish: an inviting comics divertissement that absolutely whets the appetite for more." —Win Wiacek, Now Read This!

"Simmat and Douay make us stop and think about the plates routinely placed before us, reminding us of the long journeys undertaken by our common ancestors, and what they had to do to take what the Earth provided and make it palatable." —Lindsay Pereira, Broken Frontier

"The book is both informative…and funny."—Meg S, The Fiction Addiction

"Through the development of food preparation, Douay and Simmat take us into the history of cooking.  While such a momentous undertaking may seem impossible, the creators give the reader a good overview of how we have come to develop our collective culinary skills."—Cord Scott, International Journal of Comic Art

"Both entertaining and informative."—Andrew Wheeler, The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

"Fascinating early history of food and cooking." —Patti Martinson, Sequential Tart

"Fascinating!" Europe 1, a major French radio station.

"Readers will find endless (often comical) 'Did you know?' tidbits to inspire conversations, some of which might not be polite dinner talk." —Terry Hong, Booklist

"The history of cooking is a fascinating topic, and the graphic novel format is well suited to such a subject." —No Flying No Tights blog

"Reading this book is like eating peanuts, in that once you start you’ll find it hard to stop." —Sarah Boslaugh, The Arts STL

Author Biography

Benoist Simmat is a journalist on economics and successful comic book writer. He is most notably the author of Wine, A Graphic History which sold over 100,000 copies in France and has been translated into many languages. Stéphane Douay has been illustrating comics for over twenty years. He has illustrated the series "Matière fantôme" (published by Dupuis), "Commandant Achab" (Casterman) and "Les Années rouge & noir" (Les Arènes).