Jacob, Matthew & Mark Jacob. What the Great Ate

Jacob, Matthew & Mark Jacob. What the Great Ate
Three Rivers Press see Random House 2010 310p 14.00
978-0-307-46195-7 ms/hs VG-BN

A fascinating smorgasbord of culinary oddities of famous and not so famous people throughout history. The book proves that food is often much more than an edible creation.
The authors have concocted a wide variety of enticing anecdotes about the likes, dislikes, and peculiarities of various notable people in history from different walks of life.

In “What Edvard Munched” you learned that Renoir always had his wife hire cooks whose face retained light so that he could use them as models. We also learned why Andy Warhol chose to paint Campbell’s soup cans and the trouble Georgia O’Keefe had over painting or not painting pineapples.

In “Hail to the Beef”, we find out that Thomas Jefferson was probably the original foodie because he introduced eggplant, ice cream, planting and eating tomatoes, and lastly established new standards for the presidential dinners. We also learned that G.W. Bush stated that since he was the president of the United States he didn’t have to eat broccoli anymore. And his aides stated that “junk food is his lifestyle”.
In “Experiments for dining”, Galileo got into an egg fight with a Church scholar over whether a projectile would heat up or cool off in flight.
In “Business Lunch”’ we learn that “Steve Jobs is a vegetarian who named his company after his favorite fruit.”
The authors have done a wonderful job of researching and compiling interesting facts and oddities to satisfy the palettes of discerning readers. I would advise to nibble some of your favorite tidbits as you devour the book.
This is a very well written book that will relate well to many young readers. It is recommended as a basic book for any upper elementary/middle school library. It would make an excellent selection for a basic books list for school libraries. McNeil, Linda