Food & Humanity

One can't help but be mesmerized by the effusive Tom Standage, who has been doing the rounds of the NPR shows to sell his new book An Edible History of Humanity. Sounding like an excited prep school boy at a Science Fair, his stories and connections (for example, on Columbus's desperate search for spices in Cuba, which he thought was Japan), Standage makes it impossible not to listen, and smile. The Times and the FT weigh in, and the Gourmet Q&A is here.