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."
General
Imprint: |
Columbia University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History |
Release date: |
November 2003 |
First published: |
November 2003 |
Authors: |
Colin Spencer
|
Dimensions: |
262 x 184 x 28mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Trade binding
|
Pages: |
416 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-231-13110-0 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
General
Books >
History >
General
|
LSN: |
0-231-13110-0 |
Barcode: |
9780231131100 |
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