"The Hungry Eye is a food-obsessed frolic through the artwork, writing, and philosophy of hundreds of years of Western history. . . . From the fruits that adorn Renaissance portraits of the Madonna and Child to the platter that carries St. John the Baptist’s head, Barkan parses the past with gusto."---Hyperallergic, Lauren Moya Ford

"A foundational text of Food Studies. . . . This book does for food in art and literature what Sidney Mintz did for food and global politics in Sweetness and Power. It should be right up there with Mintz’s book as a foundational text of Food Studies. . . . Everyone interested in Food Studies as a discipline, food in art, and anything having to do with food and culture will want to read this book—for its ideas, its gorgeousness, and for sheer pleasure."---Marion Nestle, Food Politics

"It's unusual to have a culinary history that is also highly recommended for arts holdings; but The Hungry Eye is a feast of mind and eye that holds much food for thought for scholarly audiences interested in a different approach to food and drink's importance in human affairs."

Donovan’s Literary Services

"

Leonard Barkan has written a terrific book that ranges far more widely than one might expect, is impressively learned, and yet is remarkably accessible and often entertaining. . . . One closes the book convinced of the centrality of food and drink in European culture. This is a fine addition to the literature on the history of food that adds depth to the largely narrative histories that have preceded it.

"---Rod Phillips, The World of Fine Wine

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Sumptuous, eminently absorbing, delectably erudite and cornucopian. . . . [The Hungry Eye] is a beautifully personal, resonantly learned, beguilingly written chronicle of how food, throughout the centuries, has brought the via contemplativa and the via activa together. . . . A feast for the eyes and for the mind.

"---Mika Provata-Carlone, Bookanista

"In a beautifully written and illustrated book, [Barkan] has explored how what is eaten and imbibed —literally and figuratively –portray, shape and explain how Western culture from Rome through the Renaissance. . . . The result is a delicious rich broth filled with depth and nuance that will satisfy the learned reader and urge her or him to ask for more."---Richard Zimmer, Food Anthropology