Food: An Oxford Anthology - Hardcover
Food, glorious food. It's a basic requirement of daily life, more essential--and some would even say more comforting--than religion, love, or sex. Its considerable pleasures, not to mention the deeper emotional, psychological, religious, and social resonances connected with it, have long been celebrated and explored by writers in novels, poetry, drama, biography, diaries, and letters. Now, in Food: An Oxford Anthology, Brigid Allen brings together a splendid, soup-to-nuts cornucopia of comment and opinion on food from some of our greatest writers through the ages.
Ranging from royal banquets to afterschool snacks, from the Bible to George Orwell, from the diary of a castaway to instructions for dairy maids, this appetizing collection will entice anyone with an interest in food. From sources both published and unpublished, the selections illustrate how food defines taste and character, contributes to atmosphere, and evokes emotion and humor. There are lively anecdotes and bon mots on dining in and dining out, and entertaining vignettes from travellers to exotic climes (such as the succulent description written b a seventeenth-century visitor to Barbados upon eating pineapple for the first time). There is a menu from a dinner party for King Richard II in 1387--which called for, among many other things, 11,000 eggs, 210 geese, and 720 hens--and a young boy's description of the proper way to eat Cadbury chocolate bars. There is also a section considering the effects of war, famine, and poverty, as well as the dubious attractions of dieting and the regimens of prisons and schools. In one entry, Evelyn Waugh writes that the boys in his boarding school "were able to flick pats of margarine from their knives to the high oak rafters overhead, where they stuck all the winter until released by the summer heat they fell, plomp, on the tables below."
A smorgasbord of comment, criticism, observation, and reflection, Food: An Oxford Anthology is guaranteed to provide lasting nourishment.
Ranging from royal banquets to afterschool snacks, from the Bible to George Orwell, from the diary of a castaway to instructions for dairy maids, this appetizing collection will entice anyone with an interest in food. From sources both published and unpublished, the selections illustrate how food defines taste and character, contributes to atmosphere, and evokes emotion and humor. There are lively anecdotes and bon mots on dining in and dining out, and entertaining vignettes from travellers to exotic climes (such as the succulent description written b a seventeenth-century visitor to Barbados upon eating pineapple for the first time). There is a menu from a dinner party for King Richard II in 1387--which called for, among many other things, 11,000 eggs, 210 geese, and 720 hens--and a young boy's description of the proper way to eat Cadbury chocolate bars. There is also a section considering the effects of war, famine, and poverty, as well as the dubious attractions of dieting and the regimens of prisons and schools. In one entry, Evelyn Waugh writes that the boys in his boarding school "were able to flick pats of margarine from their knives to the high oak rafters overhead, where they stuck all the winter until released by the summer heat they fell, plomp, on the tables below."
A smorgasbord of comment, criticism, observation, and reflection, Food: An Oxford Anthology is guaranteed to provide lasting nourishment.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
About the author:
Brigid Allen is a cookbook writer and food historian with strong literary interests. Her books include several collections of original recipes: Cooking with Garlic, Ginger and Chilies (1992), The Soup Book (1993), and a companion volume on cooking with nuts.
Review:
About the author:
Brigid Allen is a cookbook writer and food historian with strong literary interests. Her books include several collections of original recipes: Cooking with Garlic, Ginger and Chilies (1992), The Soup Book (1993), and a companion volume on cooking with nuts.
'a bumper book of food literature ... skilfully edited by Brigid Allen'
Loyd Grossman, Sunday Times
'delightful ... This is an irresistible menu of titbits whose dominant flavour is literary pleasure.'
Lesley Garner, Daily Telegraph
'Excellent taste has been shown by the editor in preparing this filling feast for consumption. Savour every page.'
Herald Express
'Her book is sumptuous, eclectic, as highly wrought and severely organised as a Mrs Beeton dinner party.'
John McKenna, Irish Times
'... she has been diligent ... hitting pure gold so ofte, ingenious in marshalling her material into thematic sections with interesting juxtapositions, and deft in providing minuscule but highly informative introductions to each of her items. And to cap it all she has chosen a really
thrilling passage from Nabokov (Ada) with which to end her selection. For what more could one have hoped?'
Petits Propos Culinaires 48
'Anyone with a curiosity about food, how it has been acquired, cooked, eaten and celebrated through the ages and round the world will find lashings to devour in this superbly compiled anthology. A rich harvest from biographies, letters and literature.'
Maggie Traugott, The Independent on Sunday
'This is such a fascinating book it is hard to put down ... There are compelling tales of great and wonderful feasts or revolting horrors ... Brigid Allen has produced a rare treasure trove of delightful delicacies to beguile everyone interested in food combined with literature and fun. Her
research is terrific and I congratulate her warmly.'
Weekend
`a treasure trove for anyone interested in food and its history ... It's a fascinating collection of food literature.'
BBC Vegetarian Good Food
`expertly edited by Brigid Allen, cookery writer and historian ... It is a delight to dip into.'
Frances Bissell, Ham and High
Loyd Grossman, Sunday Times
'delightful ... This is an irresistible menu of titbits whose dominant flavour is literary pleasure.'
Lesley Garner, Daily Telegraph
'Excellent taste has been shown by the editor in preparing this filling feast for consumption. Savour every page.'
Herald Express
'Her book is sumptuous, eclectic, as highly wrought and severely organised as a Mrs Beeton dinner party.'
John McKenna, Irish Times
'... she has been diligent ... hitting pure gold so ofte, ingenious in marshalling her material into thematic sections with interesting juxtapositions, and deft in providing minuscule but highly informative introductions to each of her items. And to cap it all she has chosen a really
thrilling passage from Nabokov (Ada) with which to end her selection. For what more could one have hoped?'
Petits Propos Culinaires 48
'Anyone with a curiosity about food, how it has been acquired, cooked, eaten and celebrated through the ages and round the world will find lashings to devour in this superbly compiled anthology. A rich harvest from biographies, letters and literature.'
Maggie Traugott, The Independent on Sunday
'This is such a fascinating book it is hard to put down ... There are compelling tales of great and wonderful feasts or revolting horrors ... Brigid Allen has produced a rare treasure trove of delightful delicacies to beguile everyone interested in food combined with literature and fun. Her
research is terrific and I congratulate her warmly.'
Weekend
`a treasure trove for anyone interested in food and its history ... It's a fascinating collection of food literature.'
BBC Vegetarian Good Food
`expertly edited by Brigid Allen, cookery writer and historian ... It is a delight to dip into.'
Frances Bissell, Ham and High
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherOxford University Press
- Publication date1995
- ISBN 10 0192123270
- ISBN 13 9780192123275
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages432
- EditorAllen Brigid
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FOOD An Oxford Anthology
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ISBN 13: 9780192123275
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Food: An Oxford Anthology Allen, Brigid
Published by
Oxford University Press
(1995)
ISBN 10: 0192123270
ISBN 13: 9780192123275
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Hardcover
Quantity: 1
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