About this item

Almost universally, "dinner" is a key meal in most countries around the world, whether it be a simple dish of rice and beans, a slice of pizza on the go, or a multi-course formal meal. What do the specifics of how a meal is eaten by hand instead of with utensils, for example say about a specific culture? This fascinating one-volume reference guide examines all aspects of dinner in international settings, enabling insightful cross-cultural comparisons and an understanding of the effects of modernization and globalization on food habits. Some 50 countries are covered in chapters focusing on present-day meal habits in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and North and South America. The commentary covers everything about the meal, such as the time, the cooking and preparation, shopping for ingredients, the clean-up process, gender-based participation roles, conversation or other social interactions, and etiquette just about everything that happens at the table.



About the Author

Ken Albala

Ken Albala is Professor of History at the University of the Pacific. He is the author or editor of 25 books on food including Eating Right in the Renaissance, Food in Early Modern Europe, Cooking in Europe 1250-1650, The Banquet: Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe, Beans: A History (winner of the 2008 IACP Jane Grigson Award) , and Pancake. He has also co-edited The Business of Food, Human Cuisine, Food and Faith and edited A Cultural History of Food: The Renaissance and The Routledge International Handbook to Food Studies. Albala was also editor of the Food Cultures Around the World series with 30 volumes in print, the 4-volume Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia and is now series editor of Rowman Littlefield Studies in Food and Gastronomy for which he has written a textbook entitled Three World Cuisines: Italian, Chinese, Mexican (Winner of the Gourmand Best Foreign Food Book in the World 2012) . Albala was also co-editor of the journal Food Culture and Society and edited a 3 volume encyclopedia on Food Issues for Sage. He has also co-authored cookbooks: The Lost Art of Real Cooking and The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home. His recent works are a translation of the 16th century Livre fort excellent de cuysine, A Food History Reader and Nuts: A Global History. Most recently there is At the Table: Food and Family around the World. Noodle Soup: Recipes, Techniques, Obsession is his latest book.



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