Arabella Boxer S Book Of English Food

A Book of English Food is an elegant compendium of brilliant recipes adapted from the cookery books of the 1920s and 1930s by Arabella Boxer, with beautiful new illustrations by Cressida Bell. Arabella Boxer's Book of English Food describes the delicious dishes - and the social conditions in which they were prepared, cooked and eaten - in the short span between the two World Wars when English cooking suddenly blossomed. The food in these wonderful recipes comes from the great country houses, where little had changed since Victorian times, the large houses in London and the South, where fashionable hostesses vied with each other to entertain the most distinguished guests at their tables, and less grand establishments, like those in Bloomsbury where the painters and writers of the day contrived to lead cultured and civilised lives on little money. Containing 200 recipes, drawn from cookery books, magazines of the period, family sources or from talking to survivors who still remember those days, A Book of English Food is a fascinating glimpse into another world, and a celebration of English cooking at its finest. 'That rare thing, a cookery book with an argument: viz, that English cookery was once both good and independent of the cuisines of her neighbours . . . a rollicking good read' Observer 'I still find the calm elegance of her writing an inspiration' Nigel Slater 'A treasury of social gossip . . . immensely enjoyable and useful' Spectator 'A captivating exploration and celebration of the flowering of English cooking in the 1920s and 30s' Financial Times 'I recommend it, not only for its excellent food but also for the superb introductions and details of social history in the great houses with their shimmering hostesses' Evening Standard Arabella Boxer was born in 1934 and educated in the UK, Paris and Rome. She has written for the Sunday Times magazine and the Telegraph magazine and was Food Writer for Vogue from 1966 to 1968 and 1975 to 1991. She was awarded the Glenfiddich Cookery Writer of the Year Award in 1975 and 1978, a Glenfiddich Special Award in 1992 and won the 1991 André Simon Award and the 1992 Michael Smith Macallan Award for fine writing about British food. Arabella Boxer is the author of a number of cookery books, including First Slice Your Cookbook, Arabella Boxer's Garden Cookbook, Mediterranean Cookbook, The Sunday Times Complete Cookbook and A Visual Feast (with Tessa Traeger). A founding member of the Guild of Food Writers, she lives in London.

'To write about the foods of all the countries that surround the Mediterranean could seem an impossibly ambitious task. Some fifteen countries border the sea, to say nothing of its many islands, and they span three continents. Yet when one starts to consider the matter it becomes clear that all these countries have a great deal in common, and the task seems simpler than first imagined. It is as if the sea itself has imposed a strong unifying effect on the areas surrounding it. Different as the countries may be, in terms of race, politics, religion and culture, in the end we are forced to acknowledge that food is based on quite other matters.' So says Arabella Boxer in the Introduction to her meticulously researched and beautifully organized book which constitutes a gastronomic grand tour of the region where spices, olives, tomatoes, yogurt, salads, fruit and the clever use of fish and meat combine so satisfyingly and memorably. Within these pages she conjures up the rich and colorful world of Mediterranean food.

At once familiar and exotic, spices are rare things, comforting us in favorite dishes while evoking far-flung countries, Arabian souks, colonial conquests and vast fortunes. John O'Connell introduces us to spices and their unique properties, both medical and magical, alongside the fascinating histories behind both kitchen staples and esoteric luxuries. A tasty compendium of spices and a fascinating history and wide array of uses of the world’s favorite flavors—The Book of Spice: From Anise to Zedoary reveals the amazing history of spices both familiar and esoteric. John O’Connell’s erudite chapters combine history with insights into art, religion, medicine, science, and is richly seasoned with anecdotes and recipes. Discover why Cleopatra bathed in saffron and mare’s milk, why wormwood-laced absinthe caused eighteenth century drinkers to hallucinate and how cloves harvested in remote Indonesian islands found their way into a kitchen in ancient Syria. Almost every kitchen contains a bottle of cloves or a stick of cinnamon, almost every dish a pinch of something, whether chili or cumin. The Book of Spice is culinary history at its most appetizing.

The English breakfast is one of the best-loved national meals in the world, an edible symbol of England and Englishness. But how did breakfast attain this distinction, what can a national meal tell us about the nation that eats it, what are the links between social and culinary change, and is there more to the English breakfast than bacon and eggs? This biography of the English breakfast shows how the renowned meal came into being over many centuries, reaching its height in the Victorian and Edwardian eras when splendid breakfasts were served from silver dishes in grand country houses across the land. Following this historical analysis are three authentic and complete cookbooks devoted entirely to breakfasts from the heyday of this best of all meals, with some 500 recipes by three celebrated culinary figures of the Victorian age - an elite hostess, a thrifty housekeeper, and a pukka colonial colonel - before the narrative continues up to the present. The epilogue, new to this paperback edition, covers 'the devolved breakfast' (Scottish, Welsh and Irish); the renaissance of the full breakfast during financial crises and the working class 'caff'. Mixing anthropology, cultural biography, the invention of tradition and the study of cookbooks as social documents, The English Breakfast is a truly unique work of food history.

Elizabeth David was born into a upper-class family and pursued a rebellious and bohemian life as a student of art and then an actress in Paris, before running off with a married man to Greece and then settling in Cairo, where she worked for the British government. After the Second World War, she returned to England, where she was shocked by poor food into writing first articles, then books on Meditteranean cooking. A Book of Mediterranean Food was published in 1950, inspiring a cookery revolution, bringing new flavours and ingredients to the drab, post-war British diet. Over the next few years, David was to become a major influence on British cooking, yet her classic cookery books show little of the colourful personality behind the public persona. Artermis Cooper, in this refreshing biography, reveals an adventurous and uncompromising personality - a woman with a passion for food, life and men. This is the whole story: of her strong friendships, her failed marriage, tempestuous affairs and the greatest love of her life, told with extensive refererence to David's private papers and letters. 'In this wonderful and creative book, Cooper has brought David to life... she not only writes like an angel, but has done her research with great skill and obvious enjoyment.' Derek Cooper, Sunday Times 'Engagingly well-written, thoroughly researched and documented. One of the delights of Artemis Cooper's book is that it makes you go back, time and again, to the source. And suddenly I will find that I have whiled away the afternoon re-reading, for the sheer pleasure of it, half of Spices or An Omlette and a Glass of Wine.' Frances Bissell, The Times 'Fluent, engaging and astonishingly readable.' Clarissa Dickson Wright, Mail on Sunday 'Artemis Cooper is skilled and wise enough to handle the contradictory sides of David's character without being either censorious or sensational.' Arabella Boxer, The Times Literary Supplement

British and Irish cuisine, rich in tradition and flavour, has faced challenges in adapting to the modern world. Renowned for its hearty ingredients and lengthy cooking times, this style of cooking often clashes with today’s fast-paced lifestyle, where time is precious and health consciousness prevails. Moreover, these cuisines are known for their quirky and sometimes whimsical dish names. This cookbook celebrates the unique and oddly named dishes of British and Irish fare, offering just under 200 recipes for culinary exploration. Each recipe is preceded by a story delving into the dish’s history and distinct features. While some dishes remain widely recognized and cherished classics, like ‘the full English,’ ‘colcannon,’ ‘toad in the hole,’ and ‘bubble and squeak,’ others are regional favourites, such as ‘scouse’ in Merseyside and ‘parmo’ in the North East. There are also lesser-known, rarely eaten delicacies like ‘apple hat’ and ‘collier's foot.’ For those intrigued by the misleading, such as ‘squab pie’ (made with lamb, not pigeon) or ‘Glamorgan sausages’ (meatless, cheese-based sausages), this book is a treasure trove of culinary surprises. And for the more adventurous, how about trying ‘toenail pudding’ or a slice of ‘fly cemetery’? This book promises to pique your curiosity and introduce you to the charming eccentricities of British and Irish cooking.

This book explores the aesthetic pleasures of eating and writing in the lives of M. F. K. Fisher (1908-1992), Alice B. Toklas (1877-1967), and Elizabeth David (1913-1992). Growing up during a time when women's food writing was largely limited to the domestic cookbook, which helped to codify the guidelines of middle class domesticity, Fisher, Toklas, and David claimed the pleasures of gastronomy previously reserved for men. Articulating a language through which female desire is artfully and publicly sated, Fisher, Toklas, and David expanded women’s food writing beyond the domestic realm by pioneering forms of self-expression that celebrate female appetite for pleasure and for culinary adventure. In so doing, they illuminate the power of genre-bending food writing to transgress and reconfigure conventional gender ideologies. For these women, food encouraged a sensory engagement with their environment and a physical receptivity toward pleasure that engendered their creative aesthetic.

'At its heart, a deeply practical yet joyously readable book...you are all set to head off to the kitchen and have a truly glorious time’ Nigel Slater, Guardian Revisit and discover the sensational first cookbook from Nigella Lawson. When Nigella Lawson’s first book, How to Eat, was published in 1998, two things were immediately clear: that this fresh and fiercely intelligent voice would revolutionise cookery writing, and that How to Eat was an instant classic of the genre. Here was a versatile culinary bible, through which a generation discovered how to feel at home in the kitchen and found the confidence to experiment and adapt recipes to their own needs. This was the book to reach for when hastily organising a last-minute supper with friends, when planning a luxurious weekend lunch or contemplating a store-cupboard meal for one, or when trying to tempt a fussy toddler. This was a book about home cooking for busy lives. The chief revelation was the writing. Rather than a set of intimidating instructions, Nigella’s recipes provide inspiration. She has a gift for finding the right words to spark the reader’s imagination, evoking the taste of the ingredients, the simple, sensual pleasures of the practical process, the deep reward of the finished dish. Passionate, trenchant, convivial and wise, Nigella’s prose demands to be savoured, and ensures that the joy and value of How to Eat will endure for decades to come. ‘How to eat, how to cook, how to write: I want two copies of this book, one to reference in the kitchen and one to read in bed’ Yotam Ottolenghi WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JEANETTE WINTERSON