Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table


Book Description

Like Nigel Slater’s multi-award-winning food memoir ‘Toast’, this is a celebration of the glory, humour, eccentricities and embarrassments that are the British at Table.




Food In England


Book Description

FOOD IN ENGLAND became an instant classic when it was first published in 1954, and its eclectic mix of recipes, anecdotes, household hints, spells and history has had a deep influence on countless English cooks and food writers since. With wit and wisdom, Dorothy Hartley explores the infinite variety of English cooking, as well as many aspects of English life and culture. From the rules of conduct for a medieval banquet to the way to make perfect mashed potatoes, from how to dress a crab to the ultimate recipe for strawberries and cream, FOOD IN ENGLAND will delight all admirers - and consumers - of modern British cookery. An irresistible tour through centuries of culinary history, illuminated with Hartley's own lively illustrations, FOOD IN ENGLAND is a unique glimpse into England's past.




All Manners of Food


Book Description

So close geographically, how could France and England be so enormously far apart gastronomically? Not just in different recipes and ways of cooking, but in their underlying attitudes toward the enjoyment of eating and its place in social life. In a new afterword that draws the United States and other European countries into the food fight, Stephen Mennell also addresses the rise of Asian influence and "multicultural" cuisine. Debunking myths along the way, All Manners of Food is a sweeping look at how social and political development has helped to shape different culinary cultures. Food and almost everything to do with food, fasting and gluttony, cookbooks, women's magazines, chefs and cooks, types of foods, the influential difference between "court" and "country" food are comprehensively explored and tastefully presented in a dish that will linger in the memory long after the plates have been cleared.




The Culture of Food in England, 1200-1500


Book Description

In this revelatory work of social history, C. M. Woolgar shows that food in late-medieval England was far more complex, varied, and more culturally significant than we imagine today. Drawing on a vast range of sources, he charts how emerging technologies as well as an influx of new flavors and trends from abroad had an impact on eating habits across the social spectrum. From the pauper's bowl to elite tables, from early fad diets to the perceived moral superiority of certain foods, and from regional folk remedies to luxuries such as lampreys, Woolgar illuminates desire, necessity, daily rituals, and pleasure across four centuries.




England Eats Out


Book Description

Why do so many people now eat out in England? Food and the culture surrounding how we consume it are high on everyone’s agenda. England Eats Out is the ultimate book for a nation obsessed with food. Today eating out is more than just getting fed; it is an expression of lifestyle. In the past it has been crucial to survival for the impoverished but a primary form of entertainment for the few. In the past, to eat outside the home for pleasure was mainly restricted to the wealthier classes when travelling or on holiday- there were clubs and pubs for men, but women did not normally eat in public places. Eating out came to all classes, to men, women and young people after World War Two as a result of rising standards of living, the growth of leisure and the emergence of new types of restaurants having wide popular appeal. England Eats Out explores these trends from the early nineteenth century to the present. From chop-houses and railway food to haute cuisine, award winning author John Burnett takes the reader on a gastronomic tour of 170 years of eating out, covering food for princes and paupers. Beautifully illustrated, England Eats Out covers highly topical subjects such as the history of fast food; the rise of the celebrity chef and the fascinating history of teashops, coffee houses, feasts and picnics.




The Last Food of England


Book Description

The map of England bears names which used to resonate through kitchens in the land- Colchester, Cheddar, Hereford, Swaledale, Bath, Lincoln, York, Wensleydale - the list goes on. England has more breeds of livestock, fruit cultivars and vegetable seeds to its credit than any other country in the world. Sussex, for example, was known for its cockles, herrings, truffles, seakale, cabbage, alongside its middlehorn beef, Southdown mutton and Tipper beer. We tend to think that our native food has disappeared off the map completely - and in some cases it is undoubtedly endangered. But Marwood Yeatman shines a light on what remains, and highlights what could endure. His quest to find the 'last food' in England leads to his discovery of the last domestic faggot oven in use; the undertaker-cum-butcher who roasts his own oxen; the fisherman who regularly takes his life in his hands to catch oysters; green top milk being made deep in the forest; crayfish facing extinction; four types of English butter. This book is a wonderful voyage of discovery - an invitation to cook without recipes, travel without guides, and find history without museums. Take time to read about our fertile food heritage and the map of England will never look the same again.




Food in Early Modern England


Book Description

What did ordinary people eat and drink five hundred years ago? How much did they talk about food? Did their eating habits change much? Our knowledge is mostly superficial on such commonplace routines, but this book digs deep and finds surprising answers to these questions. We learn that food fads and fashions resembled those of our own day. Commercial, scientific and intellectual movements were closely entwined with changing attitudes and dealings about food. In short, food holds a mirror to a lively world of cultural change stretching from the Renaissance to the industrial Revolution. This book also strongly challenges the assumption that ordinary folk ate dull and monotonous meals, and explores changes in the English diet and the specific differences between each generation.




Eating and Ethics in Shakespeare's England


Book Description

David B. Goldstein argues for a new understanding of Renaissance England from the perspective of communal eating. Rather than focus on traditional models of interiority, choice and consumption, Goldstein demonstrates that eating offered a central paradigm for the ethics of community formation. The book examines how sharing food helps build, demarcate and destroy relationships – between eater and eaten, between self and other, and among different groups. Tracing these eating relations from 1547 to 1680 - through Shakespeare, Milton, religious writers and recipe book authors - Goldstein shows that to think about eating was to engage in complex reflections about the body's role in society. In the process, he radically rethinks the communal importance of the Protestant Eucharist. Combining historicist literary analysis with insights from social science and philosophy, the book's arguments reverberate well beyond the Renaissance. Ultimately, Eating and Ethics in Shakespeare's England forces us to rethink our own relationship to food.




Food & Feast in Medieval England


Book Description

Based on archaeological and written evidence, this book deals with everything we know about medieval food, from hunting and harvesting to food hygiene and the organization of a large household kitchen. Peter Hammond evaluates the nutritional value of medieval food, the customs associated with its serving and eating, and the organisation of feasts, supported by innumerable facts and figures and examples from sources. The book is now available in a smaller paperback edition with black and white illustrations.




America's Founding Food


Book Description

From baked beans to apple cider, from clam chowder to pumpkin pie, Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald's culinary history reveals the complex and colorful origins of New England foods and cookery. Featuring hosts of stories and recipes derived from generations of New Englanders of diverse backgrounds, America's Founding Food chronicles the region's cuisine, from the English settlers' first encounter with Indian corn in the early seventeenth century to the nostalgic marketing of New England dishes in the first half of the twentieth century. Focusing on the traditional foods of the region--including beans, pumpkins, seafood, meats, baked goods, and beverages such as cider and rum--the authors show how New Englanders procured, preserved, and prepared their sustaining dishes. Placing the New England culinary experience in the broader context of British and American history and culture, Stavely and Fitzgerald demonstrate the importance of New England's foods to the formation of American identity, while dispelling some of the myths arising from patriotic sentiment. At once a sharp assessment and a savory recollection, America's Founding Food sets out the rich story of the American dinner table and provides a new way to appreciate American history.