Bread, a Slice of History

Abstract

The collaboration of a triumvirate of authors from London Southbank University has resulted in a fascinating book covering the importance of bread during changing history and civilizations. John Marchant is Head of the National Bakery School and contributing the technological aspects to the story of bread along with Bryan Reuben who is Professor of Chemical Technology. Joan Alcock is an archaeologist and food historian and an Honorary Visiting Fellow, contributes the historical aspects. All three are authors in their own right and a list of their relevant publications is given. The synergistic result from the combination of such knowledgeable authors is a very good read for devotees of bread cereal science and technology, its evolution and its history. The book with its very apt title has 13 chapters – a baker’s dozen – which chronicle breadmaking from Prehistory, Classical and Biblical times through to the current day. There are three useful appendicies for gluten gluttons, units for wheat, bread and money, and bread and wheat statistics (for various periods from 1545). There is a bibliography and a comprehensive index.