The Secret History of Food: Strange but True Stories About the Origins of Everything We Eat

An irreverent, surprising, and entirely entertaining look at the little-known history surrounding the foods we know and love.

Is Italian olive oil really Italian, or are we dipping our bread in lamp oil? Why are we masochistically drawn to foods that can hurt us, like hot peppers? Far from being a classic American dish, is apple pie actually . . . English?

"As a species, we're hardwired to obsess over food," Matt Siegel explains as he sets out "to uncover the hidden side of everything we put ...