Ken Albala - Nuts: A Global History

A Global History

Ken Albala

REAKTION BOOKS

Published by Reaktion Books Ltd

33 Great Sutton Street

London EC1V 0DX, UK

www.reaktionbooks.co.uk

First published 2014

Copyright Ken Albala 2014

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
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permission of the publishers

Page references in the Photo Acknowledgements and
Index match the printed edition of this book.

Printed and bound in China
by Toppan Printing Co. Ltd

A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library

eISBN: 9781780233222

I realize that writing this book will forever label me a nutty professor. So be it. I love nuts, even though they are really rather odd. It is not the flavour that makes them so in my mind this is the perfect combination of sweetness and aromatic oils, preferably roasted, with a hint of salt. Nor is it the texture, which is half the pleasure that satisfying primal crunch which echoes through your skull cavity as you chomp down on nuts. I mean that the nuts themselves are strange. Many are certainly familiar, while others are almost completely unknown, but they all have their quirks. Moreover, we take nuts for granted without thinking much about them. My purpose in writing this is simply to get you to consider nuts more carefully: how they grow, where their names come from and what they mean to the people who use them. I want you to eat more nuts. I want to inspire you with their stories, which have been drawn from around the world and from different periods in history. Despite their peculiarities, they are all delicious in their own ways, and usually pretty good for you too.

Most people throughout history have valued nuts, which is unusual because the majority of foods have had their detractors at some point in time. Normally the meaning of an individual ingredient or recipe will change over time. What israre and exotic in one period seems humdrum in another; what is expensive and a mark of distinction in one place is considered unpalatable elsewhere. What is used to promote health at one time is later taboo. Nuts defy these radical shifts in meaning over time and place. In fact, I think they may be one of the few foods whose social and cultural meanings have remained pretty much stable over time and in many different cultures.

There are few other foods that have remained in favour everywhere. The fashion for bread may rise and fall; the virtues of meat may be extolled by one generation and vilified in the next; wine has always had its champions and critics at each others throats; forgotten fruits like pomegranates have enjoyed brief spots in the limelight. But nuts, everywhere you look, have been eaten happily and have usually been considered good for promoting health. This is especially the case today, but in the past few people advised against eating nuts altogether. They were never stigmatized as disgusting, never neglected or disdained by any culture. In fact, they have generally been considered quite elegant and sophisticated, if resolutely natural. Nuts do contain a lot of fat, but were told its good fat. Since theyre usually minimally processed, they seem wholesome, unspoiled by the hands of humans and protected by their hard shells. It is true that more people are allergic to nuts nowadays than to most other foods, but this, so some say, is the result of all the processed food, antibiotics and pollution we ingest and it does seem to be a modern phenomenon.

Nuts of course are not a staple. They did not change the course of world history, as did domesticated grains and the spice trade. However, it is their very humility that lends them grace and beauty. We dont need to eat nuts and they almost never form the centre of a meal. Theyre usually used as a snack, a garnish or something buried in a sweet bar, almost as an afterthought. They are most likely to show up before a mealin a little bowl, with cocktails. Nonetheless, it is hard not to love nuts. They are eminently charming, sophisticated and at the same time down to earth. They are also wonderfully varied in form and flavour. One could never mistake the seductive smoothness of a pine nut for the brazen sassiness of a Brazil nut. Pecans speak unmistakably of their origin. The tantalizing aroma of toasted almonds is like nothing else on Earth. I do hope that by the end of this little book you will have come to love nuts as much as I do. Lets get cracking!

Wizened chestnut trees painted by Camille Pissarro at Louveciennes in 1872.