This book was published in 2007, and it is probably then that I bought it, from Waterstones in Exeter, UK. I used Taste as background reading for my Victorians PhD, for it is an historic account of food and cooking in Britain, from ancient times to the present day. I used the chapter on the Victorians for my University teaching on the Victorian period!
I love this book, because it is interesting, excellently well-written and very well researched. I particularly love the story of the discovery of one of the earliest British kitchens on the Bay of Skaill. The kitchen dates back to 3200 BC and was found furnished with vessels, rudimentary tools, stone mortars for pounding and cutting stones. Also, I love the picture of the Battersea cauldron pulled from the River Thames and dating to 800-700 BC. Generally, the book is full of beautiful pictures and illustrations.
Taste explores two thousand years of British culinary heritage and is about all aspects of cooking -- from archaeological finds and chronicles to recipes and menu cards, from cookery and household manuals to the cooking skills or kitchens of personalities like Queen Charlotte, the Carlysles and Catherine Dickens.
I totally recommend Taste to anyone who is interested in culinary history, food culture, history of cooking books and history in general!
Have a good night, always with beauty and a book!
No comments:
Post a Comment