What to Read Now

How did tonic water become a drink mixer and a pleasurable beverage in its own right? And, how does practical experimentation have the potential to aid research into its history?In my childhood, I always opted for plain tonic water over sweet, bubbly drinks. Now, the gin and tonic is one of my favorite cocktails. I write this as I sip a blush pink tonic water on its own, a small glass bottle announcing its herbaceous infusion. As a consumer, I’ve long found refreshment and delight in tonic water’s astringent bite. As a scholar who has worked on the history and culture of plant-based stimulants, I also suspected there was more to learn about the story of tonic water and how it secured its spot in the marketplace.In this interview for What to Read Now, I speak with the authors of Just the Tonic: A Natural History of Tonic Water. Kim Walker and Mark Nesbitt both work with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London. Mark is a senior researcher at Kew, where he curates the Economic Botany Collection. Kim, an herbalist and foraging teacher, is completing her PhD in historical geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. In what follows, they shed light on quinine—the bark-based alkaloidal extraction from the cinchona plant—by connecting the pleasures of cocktails to the history of medicine. They also share how practices of tasting and curation became important parts of their research process in the archives.This interview was adapted from a podcast episode that aired through the Meant to Be Eaten X Gastronomica collaboration on the Heritage Radio Network (episode 110, May 16, 2021).1To listen to the full episode of What to Read Now and other episodes from this special podcast series, find Meant to be Eaten on your favorite podcast app or visit: https://heritageradionetwork.org/series/meant-be-eatenReaders can find Just the Tonic: A Natural History of Tonic Water through Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Publishing (2019) and through the University of Chicago Press (2020), its North American distributor

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