The preparation, serving and eating of food are common features of all human societies, and have been the focus of study for numerous anthropologists - from Sir James Frazer onwards - from a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives. It is in the context of this previous anthropological work that Jack Goody sets his own observations on cooking in West Africa. He criticises those approaches which overlook the comparative historical dimension of culinary, and other, cultural differences that emerge in class societies, both of which elements he particularly emphasises in this book. The central question that Professor Goody addresses here is why a differentiated 'haute cuisine' has not emerged in Africa, as it has in other parts of the world. His account of cooking in West Africa is followed by a survey of the culinary practices of the major Eurasian societies throughout history - ranging from Ancient Egypt, Imperial Rome and medieval China to early modern Europe - in which he relates the differences in food preparation and consumption emerging in these societies to differences in their socio-economic structures, specifically in modes of production and communication. He concludes with an examination of the world-wide rise of 'industrial food' and its impact on Third World societies, showing that the ability of the latter to resist cultural domination in food, as in other things, is related to the nature of their pre-existing socio-economic structures. The arguments presented here will interest all social scientists and historians concerned with cultural history and social theory.

杰克•古迪（Jack Goody），英国社会人类学家、历史学家，剑桥大学社会人类学系荣誉教授，圣约翰学院成员，因其对人类学的贡献被英国女王封为爵士。1976年入选英国社会科学院，1980年当选美国艺术与科学院外籍荣誉成员，2004年当选美国国家科学院院士。半个多世纪以来，杰克•古迪在人类学、历史学、社会学和文化研究等多个领域里笔耕不辍，这也让他的著作成为当今最广为阅读、最具争议的学术专著。他的著作有《死亡、财产与祖先》、《野蛮心智的驯服》、《烹饪、菜肴与阶级》、《欧洲家庭与婚姻的发展》、《东方世界、古代世界与原始世界》、《花之文化》、《西方中的东方》、《饮食与爱情》和《偷窃历史》等。