(Part 2) Top products from r/AskFoodHistorians

Thanks!

• Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. Cronon, William.
  
  
• Selling 'Em by the Sack: White Castle and the Creation of American Food. Hogan, David Gerard.
  
  
• Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet. Levenstein, Harvey.
  
  
• The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Pollan, Michael.
  
  
• Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed. Shiva, Vandana et al.
  
  
• The Jungle. Sinclair, Upton.
  
  
• Banana Cultures: Agriculture, Consumption, and Environmental Change in Honduras & the United States. Soluri, John.
  
  
• The Fruits of Natural Advantage: Making the Industrial Countryside in California. Stoll, Steven.
  
  
• Corn and Capitalism: How a Botanical Bastard Grew to Global Dominance. Warman, Arturo.
  
  Very cool to see the actual course listing information. I'd forgotten what it was like to flip through an actual paper course catalog with that kind of stuff in it. Thank god for the internet.
  
  Also, you helped me figure out what book I was trying to remember in this comment! It was The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. IIRC, it was an awesome concept and 75% of it was an absolutely fantastic read, but one of the sections (maybe the third one?) was bit uninspired. Still overall worth the read, for sure, just be prepared to slog through one section. (And don't skip it, because what it discusses is still relevant to the final section, even if it's not as entertaining as the rest of the book.) It's worth it in particular for anybody living in an industrialized "modern" nation; it provides some of the come-to-Jesus moments that we all need to hear periodically. It's not on the level of Fast Food Nation in that regard (which is required reading for every American and Canadian, as far as I'm concerned), but still.
  
  EDIT: And that helped me remember another book I've heard recommended, also by Michael Pollan: In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.
  
  You're on a roll, friend.

Potato does a great job of exploring the socioeconomic effects of the potato on various populations in the world.

Cannibals and Kings is more on the anthropology side, but there is a least one really good chapter that discusses reasons why certain cultures developed religious dietary restrictions.

A History of White Castle is an interesting read about the conditions that brought about the rise of the fast food industry in the US.

India specific answer. Based on Indian Food - A Historical Companion by K.T. Achaya, Indian food seems to have retained similar flavor profiles and overall techniques and meal composition.

Spices used were similar, except long pepper and black pepper were used more heavily for spicing rather than New World spices such as chili peppers. Native ingredients such as gourds, sqashes, tubers, starchy roots, shallots, were similarly used a lot more than New World vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes, onions etc.

When it comes to meats, a lot more wild game and sea food was used in cooking, as well as a lot of domesticated animals like horse and cow. They were mostly roasted on open fires.

Rice based dishes such as rice and lentils and clarified butter are also largely the same.

From what i have read, it seems like the old Indian dishes would be quite palatable today as well.

The British took a long time to warm up to Indian foods.

Many of the anglo-indian dishes came about as a result of the fact that English wives couldn't train Indian chefs.

This is a really interesting document from the time.

And the influence was definitely two way.

Indians now use cauliflowers, for example, which I believe the Brits introduced.

Bear in mind that the general Imperial British worldview was that the British were the pinnacle of civilisation and success, that "foreign" things were uncivilised and vulgar.

As the occupation continued though, there was increasing cross pollination including dishes like mulligatawny soup, kedgeree, chutney etc...

I'm currently reading Salt: A World History, and it seems to be along the lines of what you're looking for.