Every ingredient has a backstory. Knowing these histories may not translate into better pies, soufflés, or roasts, but it certainly makes for a more interesting and enlightened cooking experience. Once you are aware of an ingredient’s origins, the next time you cook with it, your mind naturally wanders back to that story and connects you to the culinary and cultural past in a way that nothing else can.
Did you know, for instance, that carrots used to be purple? Domesticated in Afghanistan in 900 A.D., the purple carrot was the dominant variety until Dutch gardeners bred the orange upstart in the 17th century.
Have you heard that the Mafia once cornered the artichoke market? Can you identify the herb that some have said smells like squashed bedbugs? Who’s the real-life figure behind the Chef Boyardee brand that popularized canned tomato products? Food historian Joel Denker knows, and he's spilling all the juicy (and tasty) gossip.
The Washington-based Denker is the author of the recent The Carrot Purple and Other Curious Stories of the Food We Eat and other books.
