Travel Through Time in This New Kids’ Book

Kristina Sepetys reviews Who Ate What? A Historical Guessing Game for Food Lovers

 

Have you ever wondered what cave people, ninjas, or medieval monarchs ate? Author Rachel Levin’s Who Ate What? A Historical Guessing Game for Food Lovers gives some good ideas as it takes young readers on a fun-filled journey through culinary history. The colorful large-format book contains ten different rollicking historical scenes showcasing some of the familiar and unusual things eaten by people from Qing emperors to pirates.

As the title suggests, the interactive book is organized as a guessing game to engage and entertain. Each of the ten sections opens with a vibrant panorama, brimming with people in colorful dress, gathering ingredients and preparing meals. Readers are challenged to spot three items in each scene that would not have been eaten in that time or place. For instance, two cave people carrying bottles of milk appear to fit right in with the scene and might seem normal. But readers turn the page and discover that milk wouldn’t have been part of cave peoples’ diets because early humans couldn’t digest animal milk—it would have made them sick!

Illustrator Natalia Rojas Castro’s art features lively, busy scenes and food-related activities that should appeal to young viewers, encouraging them to explore all the quirky and unexpected elements in the images, like a cave person holding a pizza or chocolate coins in a pirate chest. For those inspired to try eating like some of the characters pictured, the book includes four simple recipes using easily available ingredients that kids can make at home, like Tiger Nut Honey Cake.

Rachel Levin, a San Francisco-based writer, has written four books on food and many articles on the outdoors, travel, and more. Who Ate What? is a delightful read-aloud book that will provoke curiosity, surprise, and reflection in young readers (and their parents) about food and how our environments shape our diets.

 

Who Ate What? A Historical Guessing Game for Food Lovers
Rachel Levin, illustrated by Natalia Rojas Castro (Phaidon, 2024)

 

Eat like an ANCIENT EGYPTIAN

Tiger Nut Honey Cake

Adapted from WHO ATE WHAT: A Historical Guessing Game for Food Lovers
By Rachel Levin, illustrated by Natalia Rojas Castro
(Phaidon, US $19.95, 2023)

The Ancient Egyptians left behind mummified foods, which helped food historians figure out what they ate—and to come up with this recipe for a sweet cakey treat.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups tiger nut flour (see editor’s note below)
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons melted butter, plus more for frying
• 1/2 cup honey

DIRECTIONS

Combine ingredients, then knead into a dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle, 0.5 inch thick. Cut into four squares, then cut the squares diagonally to create small triangles. Melt about 2 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Place as many triangles of dough as you can fit into the pan and fry on one side for 2 minutes. Then flip them, drizzle honey into the pan, and fry on the other side for 2 minutes. Repeat with the rest and serve warm. 

Extracted from WHO ATE WHAT: A Historical Guessing Game for Food Lovers © 2023 by Rachel Levin. Illustrations  © 2023 by Natalia Rojas Castro. Reproduced by permission of Phaidon. All rights reserved.

 

*Editor’s Note: Tiger nut flour, available online and at some health food stores, is a starchy, high-fiber powder made from root vegetables rather than nuts, as the name might suggest. Like almond flour, which is a good substitute for tiger nut flour, it can be enjoyed by people with nut allergies or those following low-carb or gluten-free diets.