Global Food

How a simple ball of rice topped with a piece of raw fish has conquered the planet in just thirty years. On the banks of the Grand Canal in Venice, in Sao Paulo's Japantown or in the chic and not-so-chic districts of Los Angeles, London and Paris, people make light work of this first fast-food.

French fries - that marvel of human culinary genius! Why the Incas didn't invent French fries? How they can be made to sing? Why the Belgians have dedicated a museum to them? Why they have been served at the White House for the last 200 years?

The Earl of Sandwich's 18th-century invention is the greatest thing since sliced bread! Since then, variations on the sandwich theme have piled up all over the world. Tramezzini in Italy, Hot Dogs in New York, le jambon-beurre in Parisian bars, the worldwide hamburger and the Ham Bao Bao in Beijing.

Everything you've always wanted to know about pasta and would never have imagined. From prehistoric spaghetti fossils to the first Japanese instant noodles, from the artisans in Gragnano to the ultra-wealthy heirs of Barilla, to Tokyo's 3,000 Italian restaurants.

We all know about ice cream and its links with Italy. Because gelati conjure up as much a picture of Italy as do pizzas and pasta. But how did ice cream come to be? Where are the best ice creams in the world made today?

The pizza is the antithesis of culture clash, a symbol of positive globalization and a link between past and present, East and West. It's simple food, eaten straight from the serving plate, and is the base for any sauce at all. And yet, the pizza has become humanity's most universal dish.