A Curious History of Food and Drink by Ian Crofton. Published by Quercus

You know a book will be interesting when the first entry is a recipe for hippopotamus soup. The soup was eaten some 8,000 years ago (thank goodness), but there are many other odd and seemingly inedible foods that were consumed and enjoyed by our ancestors (flamingo tongue, anyone?). There are also entries about the evolution of food we eat every day, from bread and noodles to Worcestershire sauce. Crofton was meticulous in his research, using old cookbooks, receipts and journals to track down the things that we humans have eaten over the millenia.  This is a must for cooks and cookbook collectors, as well as those interested in quirky human history.