Australian researcher Karen Mutton brings us her latest research on the origins of various popular foods, discussing the mysterious origins of food from around the world in chapters dedicated to the various cultures. Mutton examines Neolithic bronze and iron age agriculture in China and discusses the wonders of fermentation, presenting the world's oldest brewery, found in Egypt. She discusses ancient irrigation in Mesopotamia, Persia and Peru, and reveals her findings on Roman food technologies. Mutton examines food being used as medicine in China, Greece and Rome, and discusses bread as the staff of life. Mutton shares the oldest recipes in the world from Mesopotamia, and tips from ancient cookbooks from Rome and Arabia. The ancient spice trade comes to life, as do the ancient agricultural gods and goddesses.

Chapters include: The Neolithic Revolution; Natufian Culture; Vinca Culture; Crops, Animals and Food Production; Fermentation; Pottery; Mesopotamia; Sumerians & Akkadians; Babylonians; Assyrians; Neo-Babylonians; Persian Empire; Hittites; Phoenicians; Israel/Palestine; Arab Islamic Empire; Egypt; West/Southern Africa; Ethiopia; Central & Subsaharan Africa; Ancient Britons & The Celts; Scandinavia; Ancient Greece; Crete; Mycenaeans; Classical Greeks; Pottery; Greek Agricultural Mythology; Hellenistic; Empires; The Etruscans; Republican Rome; Indus Valley; Vedic India; Gupta India; Sri Lanka; Indonesia; Spice Island Trade; Thailand; Vietnam; Cambodia; Chinese Crops & Cuisine; Korea; Japan; Papua New Guinea; Lapita Culture; Hawaii; Australia; Olmecs & Mayans; The Aztecs; South America- Andean Highlands; Coastal Regions Of Peru; Amazonia; North America; more.