Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert

I bought it because it was the only book around about history of dessert, and the people gave it the five stars reviews, and now I am so disappointed, I wish I could have my money back, (even though it's Kindle I shall certainly try to send it back).I hoped for a serious book about how dessert as a course came about (and that was what he monochrome cover suggested), but what I got was a detailed account of author's travels, how he sat in his grandmother's lap, and everything else that came to his mind.Besides the chatty style, my biggest objection is that, reading the book, I've got the feeling that it never crossed the author's mind that dessert might be a different thing from "food with something sweet in it".Desserts? Oh, they came about because people liked them. No. In fact they were always there. But he traveled everywhere. And once there, he talked about sweets a lot. And oh, all those posh chefs whom he met, and who made all those lovely desserts he ate were great. And his grandmother was great too.So, in my opinion, this is not the book on the history of dessert, although the author (quite often) does mention both.Let me quote just a few lines from the book:"Religion may also explain, at least in part, the Austrian tradition of the Jause, or snack." (without further explanation)"The Torte or cake is as much part of the Austrian national DNA as baklava is to the Turkish genetic code.""And is a birthday cake in the shape of a Barbie not laden with symbolism? In this respect we still have a lot in common with the Romans."And the following (again in my opinion) quite important point, he apparently didn't even consider as a point. It was just a sentence in his text:"Sugar, though known, was apparently not used as a cooking ingredient."Oh, I wish somebody academic would write a book about desserts some day. Somebody like Montanari or Albala.Some day soon.

I believe this is the first time I have ever had the opportunity to express an opinion on any book at any time in any country or language. English is my second language and I apologize in advance if I do not use it well while writing this review. Nevertheless, I want to convey the following:This book was EXACTLY what I was looking for at the time I bought it. It is so wonderful, so sweetly organized, so explanatory and so endearing for those of us who want to know more about the sweetness of our own worlds, the origins of our local or regional sweets and our cultures' culinary assets.I would like to remind Michael though, through these lines, that he should expand his book and give more information in what regards South American sweets and its use of sugar. And also that he should add more recipes, especially of those deriving from Spain, Portugal and the Middle East and to include, if I may say so being Peruvian, a chapter on those recipes imported to Peru from Spain utilizing local fruits and staples. Spanish Latin America was and is the great repository of Spaniard and Arabic cultures in what relates to recipes that date more than 1,000 years... We are talking about the cooking and baking that Spain inherited from the Moors' invasion of the Iberian peninsula in the year 711 and which lasted to 1492 when Spain, through her Queen, Isabel de Castilla y Aragon, expelled both the Moors and the Jewish people from her territories and the year when her spirit discovered America.We also inherited those inspiring and emotionally charged, in my opinion, sweet recipes of the Sephardites, thoroughly documented, in Spanish, in Mrs. Ana Bensadon's extremely meaningful book: "DULCE LO VIVAS," loosely translated by me as " MAY YOU LIVE IT SWEET," which has a profound, to me again, meaning, and consisting of a collection of recipes dating to before 1492 and held warm and close and fast and cuddly; smelling of apple blossoms, and apricots and cinnamon and cassia and almonds to the bosoms of all of those who endured then and could keep their recipes almost intact to what they were in 1492 to current use. I consider these two books, "DULCE LO VIVAS" and "SWEET INVENTION" as the two most outstanding books in the genre that have ever crossed my way, for they conveyed all the love, interest, knowledge, and meaning for myself as a human being in a field of my interest and which I found soft, comforting, and just plain memorable! I just wish that Ana Bensadon had had a more ample chance to reveal herself more openly through an enlightened introduction and later translate her work of art and love into English... "So and so... Born in Algiers, lived in Caracas..." " So and so... Born in Morocco, died in Madrid..." I feel for her and will never forget her. For Michael and his book and Ana and her book remind me that all of us, Spanish Latin Americans or whatever, are just that, just one people; specks in a continuity and that we all like sweetness and order and opportunity to produce that which we need and have a passion to produce and thus be able to continue the struggle and survive...Michael Krondle's writing is perfect and delightful reading; more than flawless English; agile, fresh, funny in the few ironies adorning his excellently documented history of that "sweet invention" that we humans created to delight us and "murder" ourselves at the same time! But what a way to go...! I love you Michael Krondle !!! And I love you Ana Bensadon !!!

I purchased this book after I had to do a report on the history of chocolate and gave it as a gift to my baking, pastry and confections instructor and she loves it. I also purchased one for myself and I have found it to be a useful reference.

I had been looking forward to Krondl's new book, having enjoyed his previous one - The Taste of Conquest, and I was not disappointed. The author combines his professional culinary knowledge with understanding of history and geography; the book is a delight to read and full of savoring tidbits. The chapters are by country and region; I enjoyed India and Vienna the most, but each journey was a delicious one.

very limited in its scope. Not a history at all

Bought it for a gift. The recipient loves it. He loves both history and cooking so hte is enjoying reading about desserts of old.

This book tells the history of dessert from many different areas of the world. The author has a delightful writing style that engages the reader.

I am only halfway through this book. I am reading it nice and slow to savor it. When I finish it I am going to read it again.