Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao - Brossura

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0813033829 ISBN 13: 9780813033822

Casa editrice: Univ Pr of Florida, 2009

Riassunto

Winner of the Society for Economic Botany's Mary W. Klinger Book Award

"A triumph of four-field anthropology. Botany, archaeology, linguistics, ethnography, and a small bit of physical anthropology are seamlessly united. . . . Without integration of the fields, few or none of the interesting conclusions in this work could have been reached."--American Anthropologist

"Contains a watershed of interesting and exciting information. . . . For those with a serious interest in food history and foodways, it is an invaluable source of up-to-date information on one of the most beloved and revered foodstuffs in the Americas."--Austin Chronicle

"A unique, extremely useful collection on chocolate use in Mesoamerica that sets a standard to follow in the expanding field of cultural food studies."--Choice

"McNeil has here assembled an impressive stable of scholars to examine all aspects of cacao development and use in Mesoamerica from its discovery to its use by the modern Maya."--American Archaeology

"In this collection of 21 papers, the authors discuss the linguistic, chemical, agricultural, medicinal, economic and social aspects of the cacao plant, often in exhaustive detail."--Cambridge Archaeological Journal

"I highly recommend the book for specialists as well as for the general public interested in knowing more about cacao; the reading is not complicated and is presented from an anthropological perspective."--Journal of Ethnopharmacology

A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane and Arlen Chase.

Su questo libro

L'autore:

Cameron McNeil, adjunct assistant professor of anthropology at Queens College, CUNY, is coeditor of The Ch'orti' Area: Past and Present.

Product Description:

New models of research and analysis, as well as breakthroughs in deciphering Mesoamerican writing, have recently produced a watershed of information on the regional use and importance of cacao, or chocolate as it is commonly called today. McNeil brings together scholars in the fields of archaeology, history, art history, linguistics, epigraphy, botany, chemistry, and cultural anthropology to explore the domestication, preparation, representation, and significance of cacao in ancient and modern communities of the Americas, with a concentration on its use in Mesoamerica. Cacao was used by many cultures in the pre-Columbian Americas as an important part of rituals associated with birth, coming of age, marriage, and death, and was strongly linked with concepts of power and rulership. While Europeans have for hundreds of years claimed that they introduced "chocolate" as a sauce for foods, evidence from ancient royal tombs indicates cacao was used in a range of foods as well as beverages in ancient times. In addition, the volume's authors present information that supports a greater importance for cacao in pre-Columbian South America, where ancient vessels depicting cacao pods have recently been identified. From the botanical structure and chemical makeup of "Theobroma cacao" and methods of identifying it in the archaeological record, to the importance of cacao during the Classic period in Mesoamerica, to the impact of European arrival on the production and use of cacao, to contemporary uses in the Americas, this volume provides a richly informed account of the history and cultural significance of chocolate.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Univ Pr of Florida
• Data di pubblicazione: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0813033829
• ISBN 13: 9780813033822
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 542
• Redattore: McNeil Cameron L.