Alex Drace-Francis is Associate Professor of Modern European Literary and Cultural History at the University of Amsterdam. He has published widely on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Romanian and Balkan social, cultural and literary history; on travel writing and circulation of ideas and images; and on European identity as a whole.

• List of Maps, Graphs, Tables, Introduction: The Land is Waiting Chapter 1. From the Caribbean to the Carpathians: The Coming of Cucuruz, c.1492-1700 Chapter 2. Conquerors, Cultivators, and Collaborators: Maize at Empire's Edge, 1700-1774 Chapter 3. Conflict, Contagion and Commerce: The Triumph of Maize, 1774-1812 Chapter 4. Maize, Raki or Death: The Revolt of 1821 Reconsidered Chapter 5. mămăligă 2.0: Maize on the World Market, 1821-1856 Chapter 6. Independence, Capitalism, Disease and Revolt; Or, Why the mămăligă Exploded, 1856-1907 Chapter 7. Manna valachorum: Recipes at the Interface Chapter 8. 'The sparrow dreams of cornmeal, and the idle man of a day of rest': mămăligă as Metaphor Conclusion: The Land is Waiting Appendix: Words and Things Glossary, Illustration, Credits, Acknowledgements, Index.

"This is not only a masterfully written account of Romanian modernity seen from a 'mămăligocentric perspective,' but also a thorough analysis of the interrelations between gastronomy, politics, economics, national identities, and social perceptions."https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/jrns.2023.6