Swindled

From Poison Sweets to Counterfeit Coffee - The Dark History of the Food Cheats

By: Bee Wilson

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Paperback | 8 January 2009 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
384 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
2.4 x 12.9 x 19.7

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Salmonella . . . toxins . . . additives . . . food scares . . . Have you ever wondered how our food has become so untrustworthy? Have we ever been able to trust what we eat?

Via a fascinating mix of food politics, history and culinary detective work, Bee Wilson uncovers the many methods by which swindlers have tampered with our food throughout history.

From the leaded wine of ancient Rome to the food piracy of the twenty-first century we see the extraordinary ways food has been padded, poisoned, spiked, coloured, substituted, faked and mislabelled everywhere it has been sold.

Bee Wilson reveals the strong historical currents which enable the fraudsters to flourish; the battle of the science of deception against the science of detection; the struggle to establish reliable standards. She also suggests some small ways in which we can all protect ourselves from swindles and learn to trust what we eat again.

Industry Reviews

Meticulously researched and fascinating to read, Swindled is guaranteed to give you food for thought - Daily Express

A wonderully written, thrilling rollercoaster of a book . . . A must-read: loaded with flavour, it is a satisfying rich stew of savoury details and meaty chunks of information - nourishment for the mind - Sunday Telegraph

Riveting . . . If ever a book could convince you that the only food worth eating is that which you have scrupulously shopped for in reputable local shops and cooked yourself from scratch, it is this one - Daily Mail

Bee Wilson is not only an able historian but a food writer with a passion rooted very much in the present. She wants to shake us awake, to make us look afresh at the food we eat. She does so triumphantly . . . erudite and entertaining . . . Wilson is a fervent lover of food but Swindled is not blind polemic . . . It is her considered and often humorous approach that makes this book so successful - Sunday Times

[Bee Wilson's] intellectual rigour and disciplined research skills prove a great match with her seamless and engaging writing - she manages to bring history alive, and leaves you wanting more - Time Out

Gripping reading - don't miss it - Sainsbury's Magazine

Lively and well-argued - Sunday Express

Engrossing - Financial Times

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Cooking, Food & Drink Biographies & True Stories True Stories True Crime History Specific Events & Topics in History Social & Cultural History Family & Health Literature, Poetry & Plays Non-Fiction Prose Engineering & Technology

Industrial Chemistry & Manufacturing Technologies Industrial Chemistry Food & Beverage Technology Miscellaneous Items

German ham and English pickles	p. 1
A jug of wine, a loaf of bread	p. 46
Government mustard	p. 91
Pink margarine and pure ketchup	p. 153
Mock goslings and pearnanas	p. 212
Basmati rice and baby milk	p. 276
Epilogue: adulteration in the twenty-first century	p. 229
Notes	p. 328
Bibliography	p. 339
Acknowledgements	p. 149
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Swindled

From Poison Sweets to Counterfeit Coffee - The Dark History of the Food Cheats

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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