A taste of history

Now this was a find from the local library!
It tells the story of a few of our favourite ingredients, and even though at first I wasn't sure it was going to be overly interesting; it actually was. It was such an entertaining read. It tells us the history of how we all began to eat and drink chocolate, sugar, pepper, potatoes, flour, tomatoes, coffee, olive oil, onions and garlic. I have learnt so much.
For example; the families that first introduced and experimented with chocolate in the Western world in the 1700s were the Cadburys, the Lindts, the Hersheys and the Nestles. Isn't it amazing all those are still massive chocolate companies in the world?
Also learnt a lot about the horrific history of sugar with slavery and so on. And that lots of people believed tomatoes were poisonous, for a very long time. Potatoes has a very interesting history too.
And the word "companion" comes for "com" and "pan" which meant "with bread" because a friend (or companion) is someone you share bread with.  Also bread had a huge importance in the French Revolution.
Very much recommend this read. It is wonderful.