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Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History Ser.: British Food : An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History by Colin Spencer (2003, Hardcover)
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherColumbia University Press
ISBN-100231131100
ISBN-139780231131100
eBay Product ID (ePID)2700840
Product Key Features
Number of Pages416 Pages
Publication NameBritish Food : an Extraordinary Thousand Years of History
LanguageEnglish
SubjectRegional & Ethnic / English, Scottish & Welsh, Europe / Great Britain / General, Agriculture & Food (See Also Political Science / Public Policy / Agriculture & Food Policy), History
Publication Year2003
TypeTextbook
Subject AreaCooking, Social Science, History
AuthorColin Spencer
SeriesArts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History Ser.
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height0.1 in
Item Weight70.5 Oz
Item Length1 in
Item Width0.7 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional
LCCN2003-048492
Reviews[Spencer] ably covers a millennium and more, reflecting intelligently on the dramatic, and often sudden, dietary developments wrought by political and economic change... Spencer's rich lode of information about British food justifies his subtitle's claim that its present vigor caps off 'an extraordinary thousand years of history.', A stimulating work.... What did the Bronts dine on at Haworth Parsonage? How did Jane Austen's family cook prepare the sauce? Colin Spencer will tell you. His book is a joyous, lively mine of information., "[Spencer] ably covers a millennium and more, reflecting intelligently on the dramatic, and often sudden, dietary developments wrought by political and economic change... Spencer's rich lode of information about British food justifies his subtitle's claim that its present vigor caps off 'an extraordinary thousand years of history.'" -- Claire Hopley, Washington Times, " British Fooddescribes the glories -- and the decline -- of the nation's cuisine over the centuries... Spencer traces the country's lamentable decline in cuisine through the Reformation, Puritanism, and the Industrial Revolution... Modern Britons would not recognize the impressive lists of ingredients their ancestors used." -- Library Journal, Never has there been such a breathtakingly comprehensive, wide-ranging and fascinating food history as this stonking great tome by Colin Spencer. The amount of research involved makes the brain boggle., British Food describes the glories -- and the decline -- of the nation's cuisine over the centuries... Spencer traces the country's lamentable decline in cuisine through the Reformation, Puritanism, and the Industrial Revolution... Modern Britons would not recognize the impressive lists of ingredients their ancestors used., British Food describes the glories--and the decline--of the nation's cuisine over the centuries... Spencer traces the country's lamentable decline in cuisine through the Reformation, Puritanism, and the Industrial Revolution... Modern Britons would not recognize the impressive lists of ingredients their ancestors used., A stimulating work.... What did the Brontës dine on at Haworth Parsonage? How did Jane Austen's family cook prepare the sauce? Colin Spencer will tell you. His book is a joyous, lively mine of information., "Never has there been such a breathtakingly comprehensive, wide-ranging and fascinating food history as this stonking great tome by Colin Spencer. The amount of research involved makes the brain boggle." -- Daily Mail, " British Food describes the glories -- and the decline -- of the nation's cuisine over the centuries... Spencer traces the country's lamentable decline in cuisine through the Reformation, Puritanism, and the Industrial Revolution... Modern Britons would not recognize the impressive lists of ingredients their ancestors used." -- Library Journal, "A book so absorbing it may even stop the reader from falling asleep after Christmas dinner." -- London Times, A stimulating work.... What did the Bront s dine on at Haworth Parsonage? How did Jane Austen's family cook prepare the sauce? Colin Spencer will tell you. His book is a joyous, lively mine of information., "Spencer's interesting book is a worthwhile addition to the food history literature. Recommended [for] all levels." -- Choice, "A stimulating work.... What did the Bront s dine on at Haworth Parsonage? How did Jane Austen's family cook prepare the sauce? Colin Spencer will tell you. His book is a joyous, lively mine of information." -- Times Literary Supplement, "A stimulating work.... What did the Brontës dine on at Haworth Parsonage? How did Jane Austen's family cook prepare the sauce? Colin Spencer will tell you. His book is a joyous, lively mine of information." -- Times Literary Supplement, British Food describes the glories-and the decline-of the nation's cuisine over the centuries... Spencer traces the country's lamentable decline in cuisine through the Reformation, Puritanism, and the Industrial Revolution... Modern Britons would not recognize the impressive lists of ingredients their ancestors used., Spencer's interesting book is a worthwhile addition to the food history literature. Recommended [for] all levels.
Dewey Edition22
Grade FromCollege Graduate Student
IllustratedYes
Dewey Decimal641.3/00941
Table Of ContentIntroduction Chapter 1: Prologue: The Land After the Romans The Early Church The Countryside Livestock Open Field System Women and the Law Chapter 2: Anglo-Saxon Gastronomy Foods and Fasts Cooking the Food Food for the Elite Feast Halls Herbal Knowledge The Famine Years Chapter 3: Norman Gourmets 1100-1300 The Normans The Earliest Recipes Medieval Sauces Spice and Splendour Colouring The Four Humours Fasting Fish Preservation Game The Kitchen Fruit and Vegetables The Anglo-Norman Cuisine The Significance of the Cuisine Chapter 4: Anarchy and Haute Cuisine 1300-1500 Famine and Feast The Black Death The Forme of Cury A Country Household The Medieval Housewife Milk Drinking Pilgrim Food The Aristocratic Diet The Peasant Diet The Peasant Diet The Church The Wars of the Roses Chapter 5: Tudor Wealth and Domesticity The Reformation Royal Proclamations Tudor Farming Food of the Star Chamber Tudor Cooking Preserving Wealth and Commerce Class Chapter 6: A Divided Century Civil War Gentlewomen's Secrets The Bedford Kitchen The Rise of the Market Garden The Accomplish't Cook New Beverages Samuel Pepys John Evelyn The Rise of Capitalism New Thoughts on Farming Cow's Milk A Coronation and Patrick Lamb, Court Cook La Varenne Chapter 7: Other Island Appetites Ireland Early Medieval Ireland Late Medieval Period The Potato and Famine Modern Period Scotland Early Agriculture The Food The French Influence The Eighteenth Century The Role of Women Scottish Cookery Wales Early Riches The Gentry Cattle Droves Welsh Food The Twentieth Century Chapter 8: Glories of the Country Estate Enclosures Change and Display The Technology of Cooking Tea Time The French and Hannah Glasse Sea Travel White Bread and Potatoes Women Cooks The Country Estate Parson Woodforde Chapter 9: Industry and Empire A Leap Forward The Disappearance of Peasant Cooking A New Town Servants and Cooks Jane Austen and the Brontes Breakfast Street Food Fish and Chips The Food of the Poor Chapter 10: Victorian Food Isabella Beeton Beeton's Book A La Russe French and British Cooking Cheap Imports Convenience Food The Rise of the Fancy Biscuits Drinking Milk Reasons for the Decline of British Cooking Chapter 11: Food for All Food for Heroes Working Class Food Milk Crisis J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. First World War Social Upheaval British Canned Food Diet in the Thirties Rebirth of a Cuisine New Technology and Middle Class Cooking Second World War The Age of Austerity Cordon Bleu Fifties Food Elizabeth David Going Ethnic Chapter 12: The Global Village Health Foods Fast Food Fast Food Diet Towards the Millennium Farming Crisis World Trade The Essential British Cuisine Rebirth of the British Cuisine Appendix I: Wild Food Plants of the British Isles Appendix II: The Traditional British Cooking Notes Glossary Glossary of Conversions Picture Credits Select Bibliography Index
SynopsisThis delectable volume traces the rich variety of foods that are inescapably British and the thousand years of history behind them. Colin Spencer's masterful and witty account of Britain's culinary heritage explores what has influenced and changed eating in Britain-from the Black Death and the Reformation to the Industrial Revolution, the rise of capitalism, and the current pervasiveness of prepackaged and fast foods. The book also shows that in the twenty-first century, British food is experiencing a glorious resurgence, fueled by television gurus and innovative restaurants with firm roots in the British tradition., Until the middle of the nineteenth century, English cuisine was known throughout Europe as extraordinarily stylish, tasteful, and contemporary, designed to satisfy sophisticated palates. So, as Colin Spencer asks, why did British food "decline so direly that it became a world-wide joke, and how is it now climbing back into eminence?" This delectable volume traces the rich variety of foods that are inescapably British--and the thousand years of history behind them. Colin Spencer's masterful and witty account of Britain's culinary heritage explores what has influenced and changed eating in Britain--from the Black Death, the Enclosures, the Reformation, the Age of Exploration, the Industrial Revolution, and the rise of capitalism to present-day threats posed by globalization, including factory farming, corporate control of food supplies, and the pervasiveness of prepackaged and fast foods. He situates the beginning of the decline in British cuisine in the Victorian age, when various social, historical, and economic factors--an emphasis on appearances, a worship of French cuisine, the rise of Nonconformism, which saw any pleasure as a sin, the alienation from rural life found in burgeoning towns, the rise and affluence of the new bourgeoisie, and much else--created a fear that simple cooking was vulgar. The Victorians also harbored suspicions that raw foods were harmful, encouraged by the publication of a key cookbook of the period, Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management. However, twenty-first century British cooking is experiencing a glorious resurgence, fueled by television gurus and innovative restaurants with firm roots in the British tradition. This new interest in and respect for good food is showing the whole world, as Spencer puts it, "that the old horror stories about British food are no longer true."
LC Classification NumberTX717.S754 2003
