Dessert History

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 sacred fudge served to India’s gods to the ephemeral baklava of Istanbul’s harems, the towering sugar creations of Renaissance Italy, and the exotically scented macarons of twenty-first century Paris, the world’s confectionary arts have not only mirrored social, technological, and political revolutions, they have also, in many ways, been in their vanguard.