Peppers : The Domesticated Capsicums, New Edition

Rating:
Summary: Peppers? Condiments?
Review: Andrews is an agent of the dominant culture. She homogenizes chiles and attributes Christopher Columbus for discovering them. In fact, the book is dedicated to this age of exploration tyrant. What a joke! She gives a nice little backstory about why chiles are referred to as peppers and how chiles are the number one condiment in the world.
Wake up Andrews! Chile is not a condiment! It's a staple of various aboriginal cultures throughout the world: from Asia to the Americas. Andrews perpetuates the genocide of these cultures by degrading them to condiments! And this updated version of the book includes so-called new medicinal uses of chile. The aboriginal people of the world have been using chile for medicinal purposes for centuries upon centuries! So, what are we to do now? Attribute the medicinal discovery to Andrews, just as she attributed Columbus's "discovery"? Please. Orwell warned us that whoever controls the present now, controls the past. Therefore, the dominant culture can rewrite (continually) history as they see fit. Praising their alleged heroes for introducing "new" discoveries.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Book
Review: First published in 1984, Peppers is one of the most beautiful books about any food plant we've ever seen. Author Jean Andrews is not only the artist behind 34 full color plates of the world's capsicums, she is also a thorough historian of food whose work has influenced many books about capsicums that followed hers. Peppers is to the capsicum family what Redcliffe Salaman's The History and Social Influence of the Potato is to solanum tuberosum, with the bonus of color illustrations. Andrews' book explores the origins of the plant, its travels beyond South America, its biological and economic story, its multiple varieties, its most recent high tech implications, and ends with several recipes, and a photographic glossary of botanical terms. Any student of food plants will find repeated value in this book.