Friends of History Lecture Series (Online) Chile Peppers: A Global History

For more than ten thousand years, humans have been fascinated by a seemingly innocuous plant with bright-colored fruits that bite back when bitten. Ancient New World cultures from Mexico to South America combined these pungent pods with every conceivable meat and vegetable, as evident from archaeological finds, Indian artifacts, botanical observations, and studies of the cooking methods of the modern descendants of the Incas, Mayas, and Aztecs. In Chile Peppers: A Global History, Dave DeWitt, a world expert on chiles, will travel from New Mexico across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia chronicling the history, mystery, and mythology of chiles around the world and their abundant uses in seventy mouth-tingling recipes.

Dave DeWitt is a food historian and one of the foremost authorities in the world for chile peppers, spices, and spicy foods. He has 55 published books to his credit winning the IACP Award for Best Culinary History along the way.  Dave is also the founding producer of the National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show, the trade/consumer show for the Fiery Foods and barbecue industries, now in its thirty-third year. As well, he is the founding producer of the Scovie Awards Competition, the international contest for the fiery foods and barbecue industries, now in its twenty-fourth year.

View lecture here.

Cover Photo courtesy of UNM Press, 2020.