Written with an intelligent and dry wit and loads of information, Matt Siegel’s The Secret History of Foods is a treat for food and history buffs alike.

Divided into ten unique chapters, Siegel explores the history behind some of our favorite and most consumed food choices, From quintessential American Apple Pie to fast food, the author interlaces interesting facts and stories with dry, sarcastic humor that had me laughing out loud and then sharing passages with family and friends.

Truly a delight to read and recommended for those who enjoy books similar to those written by Mary Roach.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader ebook in exchange for an honest review..

“The Secret History of Food: Strange but True Stories About the Origins of Everything We Eat” by Matt Siegel is a fun romp through some of the weird and wacky histories of foods that make it to our tables. In ten chapters, Mr. Siegel focuses on some of the bizarre behaviors that have defined our relationship with the foods we eat.

We start with a general overview of food and tasting, and how we’re affected by the choices our parents make even before we are born. I never really connected the idea of cooking as a means to reduce the amount of energy we expand to chew and digest food, but I guess it makes sense.

Then we move on to a selection of specific foods and their histories: the role of pie in medieval times and especially in the British US colonies, cold breakfast cereal as a means to prevent overstimulation, our dependence on corn (and vice versa), the complexity of honey, why vanilla is anything but boring, the history of feasts and the special foods we serve, the industrialization of food nowadays, how we are the only species that eats food that burns (spicy peppers) on purpose, and finally a look at the bureaucracy that governs what we eat today.

This is not a comprehensive history of food, rather an interesting and humorous look at specific areas and instances of how and what we eat. I am sure that Mr. Siegel has many more tales to tell and I for one will be there to read them.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Ecco via NetGalley. Thank you!

Organized into chapters focusing on different subsets of food, Siegel weaves through history to uncover some wacky eating habits from pre-historic times, to the modern obsession with eating visually.

He starts off with an American classic - the apple pie, and dives into the history of these homey pastries. Way before snack baggies or even lunch boxes, Brits cooked their pies with inedible crusts to aid in transportation and shelf life. It wasn’t until Americans were strapped for dough, and had to stretch every crust to its last, that edible crusts were developed. Stories like these litter the book, offering eye-opening stories and logic behind what we eat and why.

Outside of pie, my other favorite chapters were on chilis and honey. Siegel dives into human’s fascination with these spicy berries, and uncovers the dark side of doctored honey. He discusses how the FDA and UDSA are essentially a bueaucratic quagmire with more red tape than protection. But with each criticism, he brings a levity that had me chuckling each chapter.

I loved Siegel’s deep dive into Dark Ages and Renaissance feasts to uncover the unconventional centerpieces crafted by royal chefs (the chicken’s head sewn onto a pigs body gives you an idea of some of the creations). Far from just speaking to the recipe and then moving onto the next dish, Siegel recreates each era explaining why and how these meals were made.

With humor and insight, this is an easy book to bite into.

*This book was received as an Advanced Reviewer's Copy from NetGalley.

Anything about food and history will be a draw for me. I like learning the origin of dishes, the trends of the past, and well, it's way better than the history courses in school because I get to pick the subject. This book covers a few areas of food (with a sardonic tone throughout), taking a hard look at some of the past foibles and current watch-outs for food.

Ranging from breakfast cereals (hello Kellogg and Graham and your uh, interesting, ways and beliefs). Olive oil (what is it really), tomatoes (definitely not good to eat), vanilla (the most favorite ice cream flavor ever), and others make their histories known in this book. While a lot of times it focuses on odd beliefs and the potential or real adulteration of foods, it also offers some look at just how the food entered the human diet and how popular it is today.

Overall, the book is kind of melancholy. It really gets to the not so nice history of these foods in most cases and while interesting, can be a bit like living in a shadow while you're reading the book. And I'm a bit scared of my olive oil now, but not enough to stop using it. I did enjoy the book though and learned a few new facts, and I appreciated the author's grim sense of humor or interjections of issues that only vaguely related to the food at hand, but were still poignant.

Review by M. Reynard 2021

Written in a lush conversational style, this is not a concise reference guide, and that's just fine with me. I like the "I'm telling you secrets" tone of the book. It feels like I'm relaxing with a brandy after dinner and listening to that one distant cousin, you know, the odd one, tell shocking stories just out of earshot of the more genteel relatives.

And I have to confess, the 'short' list of aphrodisiacs had me laughing until I cried. I found the chapter on corn to be astounding in its scope and detail. I learned shocking things about honey. And much, much more. I'll need to re-read this book a few more times, there's just so much to be learned.

If you are squeamish when it comes to candid talk about human body functions and secretions, notably those of the sexual variety, consider yourself warned. There's also creepy stories. But, history is often gross and creepy, and that's no fault of the author. I enjoy learning about attitudes, superstitions, medical practices and more from humanity's past.

File "The Secret History of Food" next to "Ripley's Believe it or Not" on your reference shelf. Your cookbooks might be intimidated by it.

My thanks to author Matt Siegel, NetGalley, and Ecco publishing for allowing me to read a digital advance review copy of this book. This review is my honest and unbiased opinion.

What a fun and interesting read about something we all indulge in, food. I particularly liked hearing the backstories of things that we consume, sometimes often and other times not.
This book is written for all to enjoy whether you are a foodie or not.

A riveting and humorous look inside the history of some of our most basic foods, like apple pie, cold cereals, and chilies. The book seems well researched, and will easily become one of those sources of “random trivia knowledge” about food and its background. I can’t wait for the day a dystopian novel about a society post-corn-extinction comes to fruition.

The setup of this book would lend itself nicely to a sequel, a “volume two” or similar, expanding to discuss more foods. I would definitely read it if the author chooses to write another! I enjoyed the book, missed out on many of the informative and interesting footnotes due to the tedious task of clicking on footnote links in netgalley’s ebooks app (side note: bought a new kindle halfway through the book and what a difference!), but overall had a great reading experience with it.

Trigger warning note: there was one very short paragraph toward the end of chapter 9 in which the author quotes Paul Bloom, and I found it to be quite triggering and insensitive (re: self-harm), but that’s my only gripe.

What an interesting look at the food we all eat. Everything from corn and honey to McDonalds and of course the wild and crazy history of breakfast cereal.
Entertaining and informational.

Thought provoking, entertaining and at times unexpected, The Secret History of Food is a delight to read. Not an exhaustive or authoritative exploration of all types of foods, the information is humorous and geared for enjoyment, not compiled like an index. Although some of the information is shocking and gasp-worthy, as a whole, this book is pure fun.

So entertaining, while being so informative! I had to share snippets of what I read with friends and family! It was a pleasure to read (and very hard to put down when I had to...) Not a good idea to read over a meal, however. Gross out factor, for me , anyway, was too high. Still I pushed on and thoroughly enjoyed every page! So many eye openers! I'd recommend this book to foodies everywhere. Kudos Matt Siegal! You certainly did your homework here!

Matt Siegel’s "The Secret History of Food" proved to be a delightful feast for the mind. Every single individual chapter was rich in facts that ran the gamut from fascinating, to eye-opening, and often to flat-out startling. Even for the topics that I thought myself quite familiar with (for example, the peculiar origins of breakfast cereals in America), Siegal was able to provide a surprising wealth of new detail alongside his own witty and thoughtful commentary. It was the kind of entertainingly educational read that despite all of the information that it packed, I was able to devour it in what felt like no time, almost to my dismay.

Here is to hoping that the author provides second helpings with another book in the near future.

Well, I want pie. But I want American-Style pie, not the pie of old Europe. I am also now somewhat uncomforable eating bread in public - because now I know….

The Secret History of Food is just plain fun! In this brief history of food, the author takes us on a worldwide journey of eating! Some of it (seriously…I want pie) will thrill you. Some of it (can we say Vagina Bread?) will startle you. And some things (I’m looking at you, Fidel Castro!) will amuse you. But all of it is fascinating!

The author’s style is so readable – I felt like I was reading food gossip. Not only did I enjoy every bit of it, I kept stopping to share tidbits with others.

A wonderfully entertaining book!

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

Enjoyed every page of this wonderful book about food.Entertaining informative every foodie every cook everyone who loves to eat will devour this book.I will be recommending and giving this book as a gift to friends.#netgalley#ecco

I absolutely loved this. It was such a fun journey through foods, I cannot wait to buy my husband a copy! Thank you to Netgalley for the arc ebook!

The Secret History of Food by Matt Siegel
5 Stars for this amazing story of food. I loved his stories, from corn to vanilla, even apple pie. If you like food and/or cooking, you have to read this book. True and entertaining, this is a great book for all.