The taste of empire.

• Author: Mangu-Ward, Katherine
• Position: BOOK - The Taste of Empire: How Britain's Quest for Food Shaped the Modern World - Brief article - Book review

For the last decade or two, books claiming that a certain improbable foodstuff, idea, or country "made the modern world" have been much in vogue. I'm a sucker for the genre, and judging by the steady drip of such books from both mainstream and academic publishing houses, I must not be alone.

Lizzie Collingham's The Taste of Empire: How Britain's Quest for Food Shaped the Modern World (Basic Books) is an above-average entrant in this crowded field. The book leans into its own whimsy, with such chapter titles as "In which diamond miners cook up an...