Download or read book Sweet Invention written by Michael Krondl and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A social, cultural, and--above all--culinary history of dessert, Sweet Invention explores the world's great dessert traditions, from ancient India to 21st-century Indiana. Each chapter begins with author Michael Krondl tasting and analyzing an icon of dessert, such as baklava from the Middle East or macarons from France, and then combines extensive scholarship with a lively writing style to spin an ancient tale of some of the world's favorite treats and their creators. From the sweet makers of Persia who gave us the first donuts to the sugar sculptors of Renaissance Italy whose creativity gave rise to the modern-day wedding cake, this authoritative read clears up numerous misconceptions about the origins of various desserts, while elucidating their social, political, religious--and even sexual--uses through the ages.