Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece

4.29 of 5 stars 4.29 · rating details · 7 ratings · 1 review

Cheese, wine, honey and olive oil - four of Greece's best known contributions to culinary culture - were already well known four thousand years ago. Remains of honeycombs and of cheeses have been found under the volcanic ash of the Santorini eruption of 1627 BC. Over the millennia, Greek food diversified and absorbed neighbouring traditions, yet retained its own distinctiv...more

Hardcover, 336 pages

Published December 26th 1997 by Routledge (London/NY) (first published 1995)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Pickled, Potted, and Canned by Sue Shephard

History through Food and Cooking

5th out of 38 books — 14 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 34)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jan 29, 2011 Erik Graff rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: classicists, gastronomicists

Recommended to Erik by: Ares Press

Shelves: history

A labor of love, this history of "food and gastronomy" spans the entire record from prehistory to the present, focusing on the period from 650 B.C. to A.D. 300. "Greece" is also broadly treated, taken to include not only the European peninsula but also all areas occupied by Greeks or Greek-speakers: Asia Minor, the Aegean Islands, Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, Cyrene and Italy--as well as those areas with whom they traded foodstuffs and culinary discoveries. This is not a cookbook, but a history of one...more A labor of love, this history of "food and gastronomy" spans the entire record from prehistory to the present, focusing on the period from 650 B.C. to A.D. 300. "Greece" is also broadly treated, taken to include not only the European peninsula but also all areas occupied by Greeks or Greek-speakers: Asia Minor, the Aegean Islands, Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, Cyrene and Italy--as well as those areas with whom they traded foodstuffs and culinary discoveries. This is not a cookbook, but a history of one culture's foods, their employments and enjoyments.

The treatment of prehistoric (pre-650) food consumption is cursory, occupying only twenty-two pages of text. Archaic and Classical Greece (650-250) is thoroughly treated in eighty pages while post-Classical antiquity (300 B.C.-A.D. 300) receives fifty-four. Byzantine, Ottoman and contemporary developments are quickly reviewed in twenty-five pages. Throughout, the concentration is on ordinary, domestic practice, not on the extraordinary or the cultic.
There is little perceptible system to this book beyond such rough chronological ordering. It is not nested, nor does it attempt to substantiate, any anthropological, sociological or economic theory. Thus, while the author demonstrates that the discipline of gastronomy originated circa 400 B.C., he adduces neither weighty reasons for this development nor momentous consequences. The aesthetics of eating appear to require no justification. This is a travelogue, not a scientific geography of Greek cookery.

Like a good travel book, Siren Feasts contains tidbits to satisfy all tastes, excursuses into the arcana of the once commonplace. For instance, I found Dalby's discussions of seafood fascinating. So various were the species available in the Mediterranean world that language fails him--literally. Modern English simply lacks the nouns. French, a richer language here, is resorted to. One wonders if contemporary supermarket cornucopias are actually more abundant than some ancient marketplaces. Again and again, I was struck by the poverty of my own culinary vocabulary, at my ignorance as regards the such an important facet of human life.

Classicists and historians already well-versed in the sociology, politics and literature of the period may, similarly, be surprised at how little they know about this fundamental topic. They will find in this humble history both a useful introduction to an academically neglected aspect of culture as well as an entre into the daily concerns of generations of ordinary Greeks.(less)

like · see review

May 09, 2013 Alphabetfiend rated it 5 of 5 stars

Apr 11, 2013 LauraJane marked it as to-read

Apr 03, 2013 Foxglove Zayuri marked it as to-read

Mar 24, 2013 Yannis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Mar 13, 2013 Graham Noblit marked it as to-read

Feb 26, 2013 Mary marked it as to-read

Jan 13, 2013 Peter marked it as to-read

Dec 10, 2012 Diana marked it as to-read

Dec 05, 2012 William Bausman marked it as to-read

Nov 17, 2012 Rei marked it as to-read

Nov 15, 2012 Kathryn added it

Shelves: research

Nov 05, 2012 Lori marked it as to-read

Oct 16, 2012 Sara marked it as food-to-read

Sep 15, 2012 Ashleigh marked it as to-read

Shelves: food, history

Sep 12, 2012 Marco Balaz marked it as to-read

Aug 27, 2012 Amanda marked it as to-read

Jul 21, 2012 Amelia marked it as to-read

Jul 11, 2012 Nickir719 marked it as to-read

Apr 14, 2012 Odette marked it as to-read

Shelves: classical-world, history, food

Feb 17, 2012 Jannon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: food, history, toast, wine, greek, plays, greece, ancient

Sep 11, 2011 Alessandra Kelley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: food, greece, history

Aug 02, 2011 Caroline added it

Dec 12, 2011 Janin marked it as to-read

Mar 13, 2011 Rob Westfall added it

Oct 17, 2010 Amanda marked it as to-read

Shelves: classics, history, food

Jul 17, 2009 Shelly added it

Jan 21, 2009 Mehreen marked it as to-read

Dec 30, 2008 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jun 01, 2008 Nick marked it as to-read

« previous 1 2 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (1)

Genres

History

6 users

Food And Drink > Food

4 users

Cultural > Greece

2 users

See top shelves...

About Andrew Dalby

Andrew Dalby (born Liverpool, 1947) is an English linguist, translator and historian who most often writes about food history.

Dalby studied at the Bristol Grammar School, where he learned some Latin, French and Greek; then at the University of Cambridge. There he studied Latin and Greek at first, afterwards Romance languages and linguistics. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1970. Dalby then worked...more

More about Andrew Dalby...

Books by Andrew Dalby

Rediscovering Homer: Inside the Origins of the Epic

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Siren Feasts: A H...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece
avg rating	preview: Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece Goodreads rating: 4.29 (7 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/308027.Siren_Feasts?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348555884l/308027.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/308027.Siren_Feasts?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece by Andrew Dalby[/url]