Breadfruit

Three Global Journeys of a Bountiful Tree
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-0-231-21907-5
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 304 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History

Breadfruit trees are staples of the tropics, bearing cantaloupe-sized green-skinned fruits whose taste and texture resemble potatoes. More than three thousand years ago, breadfruit fueled the Pacific voyages of discovery that settled islands throughout Oceania. In the late eighteenth century, the British expedition that ended with the mutiny on the Bounty aimed, but failed, to introduce breadfruit to the West Indies as food for enslaved African laborers on sugar plantations. A later voyage resulted in the fruit’s widespread distribution and complicated role within modern Caribbean food cultures. In recent years, breadfruit has been touted as a tool for sustainable development and as a “superfood” with both health benefits and culinary versatility.

Russell Fielding tells these stories and many others, exploring breadfruit’s fascinating global history and varied present-day uses. Bringing together extensive research and vivid travelogues, including learning directly from local agriculturists, chefs, scientists, and holders of traditional knowledge, he provides an immersive narrative of breadfruit’s contributions. Fielding argues that breadfruit’s history comprises two journeys: first, from its origins in Southeast Asia across the Pacific; and second, its transplantation to the Caribbean. Today, a third journey is taking place, one that is spreading breadfruit throughout the world.

Engagingly written and compellingly argued, this book draws timely lessons from breadfruit’s past to forecast its future potential.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fielding, Russell

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Botanik
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Sachkultur, Materielle Kultur
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Kulturwissenschaften: Ernährung & Gesellschaft
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Ökotrophologie (Ernährungs- und Haushaltswissenschaften)
• Sozialwissenschaften Sport | Tourismus | Freizeit Kochen, Essen, Trinken
• Geowissenschaften Geographie | Raumplanung Humangeographie

Über Autor(innen)

Russell Fielding is an associate professor in the HTC Honors College at Coastal Carolina University. He is a geographer who studies sustainable food systems in the world’s coastal and island settings. Fielding is the author of The Wake of the Whale: Hunter Societies in the Caribbean and North Atlantic (2018).