Penguin Books Australia

Did you know that the Cornish pasty was developed to protect tin miners from arsenic poisoning, or that the word 'salary' comes from Roman soldiers being paid their wages in salt?  Why do we eat goose (or turkey) at Christmas? Is the Scotch egg actually from Scotland and what did some retired crusaders have to do with French toast? What dish was invented by Greek bandits on the run? Why were hot cross buns seen as magical and what's so rebellious about a haggis or medicinal about a gin and tonic? Did you know what the romantic history is behind the Bakewell Pudding?

We have become so obsessed with checking ingredients and calorie counting that we've lost sight of the bizarre stories behind our favourite dishes and where they come from (not to mention their eccentric creators0.

What Caesar Did For My Salad is crammed with fascinating insights, characters and events that show our history is surprisingly full of food-related incidents, from Alfred burning the cakes to the Boston Tea Party.  This hilarious book has enough stories to entertain a hundred dinner parties.