Subject: basic research

From: [email-masked] (Stephen Scobie/Maureen Scobie)
Date: Sat, 27 May 95 15:06:56 GMT

Does anyone have a list of books that would be essential reading for
anyone planning to study the history of food? I would be interested in
books written for both the serious scholar and the interested browser.
Thank you.
Maureen , Victoria.

-- 
Stephen Scobie            Maureen Scobie

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From: Judy Gerjuoy <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 28 May 1995 08:27:31 -0400

The best history of food that I know of is C. Anne Wilson's FOOD IN 
ENGLAND FROM STONE AGE TO MODERN MAN.  It is a well reseached, well put 
together book.  Its main drawback is obvious - it only deal with England.

I do not recommend Reay Tannahill's FOOD IN HISTORY - it tried to cover 
so much time and space in such a (comparatively) small book that it is 
jsut a hasty skimming of the subject.

HISTORY OF FOOD by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, translated by Anthe Bell 
looks good - I haven't read my copy, just skimmed it, but it is a lot 
bigger than Tannahill's book - and it is mostly from a French perspective 
which is interesting.

Dorothy Hartley's FOOD IN ENGLAND is fun to read, but is not too useful 
>from  an historical perspective, since she rarely dates anything.

AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF FRENCH CUISINE by Christian Guy, translated by 
Elisabeth Abbot, has some good pictures.  The text is not terribly 
accurate or useful and the recipes are  redacted translations -withouth the original 
text there is no way to know if they are reliable - or at 
least the early ones are - I have never truly examined the late period ones.

FAST AND FEAST - FOOD IN MEDIEVAL SOCIETY by Bridget Ann Henisch is 
excellent.  The one drawback is that is deals only with Western European 
Medieval food.

COOKS, GLUTTONS & GOURMETS by Betty Watson was published in 1962.  None 
of the redacted (mondernized) recipes are reliable.  The text considering 
when it was written isn't bad - but there are FAR better books available now.

THE DELECTABLE PAST by Esther B. Aresty was published in 1964.  It too 
has unreliable recipes.  The text in general is less useful than COOKS, 
GLUTTONS & GOURMENTS, but does have some nice pictures.  

FFOD AND FEAST IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND by P.W. Hammond is an excellent book - 
it suffers from the drawback that it only covers medieval England.

DINNER IS SERVED by Gerard Brett is a study of the setting and furniture, 
meals of the day, conduct of meals and manners in England from 1400 on.  
It could be more complete, but I haven't found anything better.

FOOD IN CHINESE CULTURE (my copy is lent out, and I can't remember the 
author's name - it was put out by Yale Univeristy Press) is an excellent 
book on the history of Chinese food.

I hope that this list helps you some.  There litterally thousands of books 
deal with food from a historical perspective - many are good and many are 
not, which is why I mentioned books in eaach catergories.  And, virtually 
all that I mentioned were not cookbooks, but books about food.  If you 
want cookbooks, that's another story.

If you want more infomration, feel free to drop me a line.

Jaelle

[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Lynn M Wiegard)
Date: 28 May 1995 06:47:26 GMT

Stephen Scobie/Maureen Scobie wrote:
: Does anyone have a list of books that would be essential reading for
: anyone planning to study the history of food? I would be interested in
: books written for both the serious scholar and the interested browser.
: Thank you.
: Maureen , Victoria.

Interesting reading...Raymond Solokov's 'A Matter of Taste' articles in 
Natural History magazine up to 1994.  History of prepared foods, food 
items, crops...usually includes an historic recipe...usually includes a 
hint as to where to go for more info (people, organizations...)

Food topics range from chocolate to insects to people.

regards-->L.

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This mail has been a service of:           [email-masked]
the Locust                                          [email-masked]
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      An effective way to deal with predators is to taste terrible.

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From: [email-masked] (Bill Hilbrich)
Date: 28 May 1995 10:50:47 -0500

Lynn M Wiegard ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Stephen Scobie/Maureen Scobie wrote:
: : Does anyone have a list of books that would be essential reading for
: : anyone planning to study the history of food? I would be interested in
: : books written for both the serious scholar and the interested browser.
: : Thank you.
: : Maureen , Victoria.

: Interesting reading...Raymond Solokov's 'A Matter of Taste' articles in 
: Natural History magazine up to 1994.  History of prepared foods, food 
: items, crops...usually includes an historic recipe...usually includes a 
: hint as to where to go for more info (people, organizations...)

: Food topics range from chocolate to insects to people.

YES... In fact I wanted to Cry when his feature was canceled.. But being 
an adult, I have to fall back on aggression.. So I canceled my 
subscription to the magazine instead...