Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- INTRODUCTION: FROM FORAGING TO FARMING
- Ch. 1 LAST HUNTERS, FIRST FARMERS
- Ch. 2 BUILDING THE BARNYARD
- Ch. 3 PROMISCUOUS PLANTS OF THE NORTHERN FERTILE CRESCENT
- Ch. 4 PERIPATETIC PLANTS OF EASTERN ASIA
- Ch. 5 FECUND FRINGES OF THE NORTHERN FERTILE CRESCENT
- Ch. 6 CONSEQUENCES OF THE NEOLITHIC
- Ch. 7 ENTERPRISE AND EMPIRES
- Ch. 8 FAITH AND FOODSTUFFS
- Ch. 9 EMPIRES IN THE RUBBLE OF ROME
- Ch. 10 MEDIEVAL PROGRESS AND POVERTY
- Ch. 11 SPAIN'S NEW WORLD, THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
- Ch. 12 NEW WORLD, NEW FOODS
- Ch. 13 NEW FOODS IN THE SOUTHERN NEW WORLD
- Ch. 14 THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE AND THE OLD WORLDS
- Ch. 15 THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE AND NEW WORLDS
- Ch. 16 SUGAR AND NEW BEVERAGES
- Ch. 17 KITCHEN HISPANIZATION
- Ch. 18 PRODUCING PLENTY IN PARADISE
- Ch. 19 THE FRONTIERS OF FOREIGN FOODS
- Ch. 20 CAPITALISM, COLONIALISM, AND CUISINE
- Ch. 21 HOMEMADE FOOD HOMOGENEITY
- Ch. 22 NOTIONS OF NUTRIENTS AND NUTRIMENTS
- Ch. 23 THE PERILS OF PLENTY
- Ch. 24 THE GLOBALIZATION OF PLENTY
- Ch. 25 FAST FOOD, A HYMN TO CELLULITE
- Ch. 26 PARLOUS PLENTY INTO THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
- Ch. 27 PEOPLE AND PLENTY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
- Notes
- Index
Ch. 9 - EMPIRES IN THE RUBBLE OF ROME
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- INTRODUCTION: FROM FORAGING TO FARMING
- Ch. 1 LAST HUNTERS, FIRST FARMERS
- Ch. 2 BUILDING THE BARNYARD
- Ch. 3 PROMISCUOUS PLANTS OF THE NORTHERN FERTILE CRESCENT
- Ch. 4 PERIPATETIC PLANTS OF EASTERN ASIA
- Ch. 5 FECUND FRINGES OF THE NORTHERN FERTILE CRESCENT
- Ch. 6 CONSEQUENCES OF THE NEOLITHIC
- Ch. 7 ENTERPRISE AND EMPIRES
- Ch. 8 FAITH AND FOODSTUFFS
- Ch. 9 EMPIRES IN THE RUBBLE OF ROME
- Ch. 10 MEDIEVAL PROGRESS AND POVERTY
- Ch. 11 SPAIN'S NEW WORLD, THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
- Ch. 12 NEW WORLD, NEW FOODS
- Ch. 13 NEW FOODS IN THE SOUTHERN NEW WORLD
- Ch. 14 THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE AND THE OLD WORLDS
- Ch. 15 THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE AND NEW WORLDS
- Ch. 16 SUGAR AND NEW BEVERAGES
- Ch. 17 KITCHEN HISPANIZATION
- Ch. 18 PRODUCING PLENTY IN PARADISE
- Ch. 19 THE FRONTIERS OF FOREIGN FOODS
- Ch. 20 CAPITALISM, COLONIALISM, AND CUISINE
- Ch. 21 HOMEMADE FOOD HOMOGENEITY
- Ch. 22 NOTIONS OF NUTRIENTS AND NUTRIMENTS
- Ch. 23 THE PERILS OF PLENTY
- Ch. 24 THE GLOBALIZATION OF PLENTY
- Ch. 25 FAST FOOD, A HYMN TO CELLULITE
- Ch. 26 PARLOUS PLENTY INTO THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
- Ch. 27 PEOPLE AND PLENTY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
- Notes
- Index
Summary
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what has been planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up.
Ecclesiastes, III. 1–4THE EURASIAN STEPPE is a plain that lies north of the deserts and mountains of Central Asia, curving from Manchuria to the Black Sea. It was home to successive waves of nomadic predators, among them the Huns. They migrated across Asia to reach Eastern Europe in the late fourth century and settled down just beyond the borders of the Roman Empire. Under Attila they so terrorized the Visigoths (western Goths) that they were driven to seek refuge within Roman frontiers. Not especially grateful, the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410 and then occupied the western portion of its Empire, the Iberian Peninsula.
Meanwhile, Attila continued to conduct bloody campaigns in the Balkans until he was finally defeated by an army of Romans and Goth allies. Undiscouraged, he attacked Italy (but spared Rome at the behest of Pope Leo I). However Attila's death in 453 (the story has it that he drank too much honey wine – supposed to enhance fertility – following his wedding to Ildico) signaled the disintegration of the Hun empire, which in turn opened the door to another group of invaders, the Ostrogoths (eastern Goths), who added Italy to their kingdom in 489.
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- A Movable FeastTen Millennia of Food Globalization, pp. 91 - 96Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007