- Hardcover: 480 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (1 Oct 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0747585768
- ISBN-13: 978-0747585763
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 4.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 271,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Taste: The Story of Britain through Its Cooking
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More About the Author
Product Description
Jenny Uglow, The Sunday Telegraph
Every page is packed with good things, historical and cuinary, peppered with personalities and salted with wit... Colquhoun makes each period swim into view through little snapshots of the people and their culture... We learn of generations of cooks and kitchen maids and boys, follow the development of technology from Roman cauldrons and Tudor spits to tinned foods and microwaves and trace the fashions and shifts in meal times, utensils and place settings. From the mead halls of Beowulf to 1960s cocktail parties, Taste is a treat, stuffed with scholarly information yet whisked up light as a souffle...
Review
Praise for 'A Thing in Disguise' 'A model of its kind. Like all good biographies, her study makes the past surprising again.' Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year 'If a better biography was published this year, I didn't read it.' Sunday Telegraph, Books of the Year 'Energetic, irresistible, a marvellously invigorating tale.' Francis Wheen, The Observer
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you're interested in cooking and eating this makes an interesting and entertaining read. The book is not just about tastes in food across the ages, but also weaves in technological changes that affected cooking and refers to the influence of political and religious factors on food habits and availability of products.
There are lots of facts about how names of dishes arose and how sayings connected with food came about. One is reminded how recently some of our familiar foods were introduced and how food fads and avoidances are not new. The author, quite rightly, emphasizes the huge gulf that existed until well into the 20th century between what the well-to-do were eating compared with the majority barely keeping body and soul together. The book is thus, inevitably, also about social history.
I finished the book very grateful to be cooking in the modern era and with enhanced respect for those who cooked in the past.
There are lots of facts about how names of dishes arose and how sayings connected with food came about. One is reminded how recently some of our familiar foods were introduced and how food fads and avoidances are not new. The author, quite rightly, emphasizes the huge gulf that existed until well into the 20th century between what the well-to-do were eating compared with the majority barely keeping body and soul together. The book is thus, inevitably, also about social history.
I finished the book very grateful to be cooking in the modern era and with enhanced respect for those who cooked in the past.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"Taste" by Kate Colquhoun tells the story of Britain through what Britons have cooked and consumed through the ages. It begins with a prehistoric rubbish heap and ends with the flashy cuisine of the 1980's; this is a fast-paced and wide inquiry. Along the way the author unearths plenty of weird facts and anecdotes - washers-up protecting their hands with mutton fat, how Henry VIII accidentally changed our relationship with fish - but the story is what sweeps you along. New foods are imported, like the pineapple, or come back into favour (the tomato - people used to think they were poisonous). Different techniques and gadgets make you wonder how people lived without them in the first place. No refrigerator? Either dig a thirty foot hole and fill it with ice or rub salt into meat to stop it going off. No microwave? It's a charcoal brazier or nothing. This book doesn't just tell you about how people used to live, cook and eat, it makes you re-think how we do these things now. It's a fascinating story, and almost makes you want to cook the stuffed cow's udder on page 203. Almost.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I consider this a super buy - full of well-researched info on food fads through the centuries. As a teacher of History I've used the book as a resource to enhance studies of the medieval period. Apart from that I've enjoyed casually dipping in and out of the book when in need of a light but informed read.Have purchased copies as gifts for like-minded friends.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Really interesting
I'm very pleased I bought this book. It is amazing to think where all our culinary inspirations originate from. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Penny M
A history of cookbooks
This book is handsomely produced and Colquhoun's prose is serviceable. Unfortunately she is totally lost as soon as she leaves the kitchen or the dining hall. Read more
Published 21 months ago by James-philip Harries
Disappointing
With its fine illustrations, this volume promises much food for thought, but lacks enough clear historical analysis to add much to the existing literature. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2008 by Giles Fair
Taste: a disappointing turkey
Though it is beautifully illustrated and the cookery texts which are its main basis are carefully considered and explained, the usefulness and value of this book are terribly... Read more
Published on 12 Dec 2007 by Colin Roth
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