Markus Mayer Book order

This book is directed to food studies scholars and aficionados of street food alike. Given the fact that the topic scarcely receives mention in food studies, the necessity of this book becomes obvious. The studies at hand address combinations of social, economic, political, ethnic, and religious aspects of street food in globalized cities. None of the topics are groundbreaking; rather, all of them represent solidified fields of research. With the addition of the spatial focus on streets in urban centers, however, we shed light on a scantily studied research question. The focus on the interrelation between global migration and the ubiquity of street food in global cities makes the articles of this volume unique. The authors share various social science backgrounds and an education in global studies and/or global history. Additionally, they lend to this project the geographic variety of their origins, which brings a more comprehensive view to the subject as a whole of many cases and contexts.

In a village high up in the northern mountains, the herbwoman Helmin Aga Rothaar has been taking care of an old hermit for months already. When he dies, peculiar strangers suddenly appear and want a funeral ceremony. Theodus is a mage, who is only living off his good reputation from many years ago. Moved by the letter from a long lost friend, he trawls his memories and old documents. In the process, he reveals a well-kept secret. The young nobleman Ankwin travels to the royal city to live with his uncle and gain insight into the city’s courtly life. Because of his imprudence and thirst for action, he gets involved in a trial of which the consequences will determine his fate.

The exchange of goods between human beings is one of the most natural things which dates back long before the beginning of recorded history. As trade became more frequent and complex, abstract representations for value were created and money was “invented”. Especially in the last decades the options available for money transfer and payments have increased. In the seventies the credit card became widespread and the growth of the Internet and E-Commerce led to a great variety of electronic payment solutions. The latest trend in the payment industry are mobile and biometric payment solutions. Especially fingerprint based payment systems have been piloted and implemented in several different set-ups in the recent past. The case study in this book evaluates biometric payment systems based on the example of digiPROOF, a fingerprint based payment system which was piloted in 2005 at EDEKA, a large German supermarket chain. Up to now, customer reactions have been very positive and EDEKA is at the moment implementing the system in several other stores and plans to roll out the system country wide in the long run. The book presents a real life example of a fingerprint based payment system and aims at giving an academically founded but practical view on biometric payment systems to enable enhanced decision making for practicioners and managers in this area.