Food

Sinopse

Through the use of printed and unpublished manuscript sources Brigid Allen provides a fascinating history of the eating habits of families and individuals: how and where they shopped, methods of cooking and cooking utensils, what time they ate and even what names they gave their meals. Dining in and dining out are both addressed, and the experience of travellers abroad entertainingly chronicled. Enforced or voluntary food deprivation is also examined, in a section that considers the effects of war, famine, and poverty, as well as the regimes of prisons and schools and the dubious attractions of dieting. From royal banquets to household accounts, from the Bible to Thomas Wolfe, from the diary of a castaway to instructions for dairy maids, this appetizing collection will appeal to anyone with an interest in food. Whatever your taste, Food will provide lasting nourishment.