´Viestad comes across as a genial companion, both confident and unassuming . . . avoids the florid excesses of much food writing and offers instead the simpler pleasures of a well-crafted book with satisfying body and depth.´ - Financial Times
´Viestad . . . has had the strikingly good idea of writing a foodie history of the world by examining a single meal eaten there . . . [a] riveting volume.´ - The Spectator
‘There is more history in a bowl of pasta than in the Colosseum,’ writes Andreas Viestad in Dinner in Rome. From the table of a classic Roman restaurant, Viestad takes us on a fascinating culinary exploration of the Eternal City, and global civilization. Food, he argues, is history’s secret driving force. From the starter of bread, Viestad traces the origins of wheat and its role in Rome’s rise and downfall; from his sorbet dessert he recounts how the hunger for sugar fuelled the slave trade. Viestad’s dinner may be local, but his story is universal. His ‘culinary archaeology’ is an entertaining, flavourful journey across the dinner table and time. You’ll never look at spaghetti carbonara the same way again.