A History of English Food

A History of English Foodis a 2011 non-fiction book, a history ofEnglish cuisinearranged by period from theMiddle Agesto the end of the twentieth century, written by the celebrity cookClarissa Dickson Wrightand published in London byRandom House. Each period is treated in turn with a chapter. The text combines history, recipes, and anecdotes, and is illustrated with 32 pages of colour plates.
The book was marked as a future classic byThe Independent; it was welcomed by critics fromThe TelegraphandThe Spectatoras giving the reader a sense of being present in each period described with the lively personal approach, but disliked by the critic inThe Guardianas unsystematic and snobbish.
The book is divided into 15 chapters, forming a strict chronological sequence of periods such as "the Georgian age", from around 1150 to around 2000.The chapters describe the society of each time, often starting with the monarch and rich food and drink, and proceeding down to ordinary people and the common foods of the period. The narrative freely combine outlines of the historical context, descriptions of recipes, stories about significant figures, and personal anecdotes. For example, "The Medieval Larder" has an extensive section on the "medieval pig",leading into a description of Dickson Wright's own childhood memories of helping to kill her father's pigs and makingblack pudding,chitterlingsand sausages, as well as havinghamsandbaconsmoked. To this is added her personal opinion; thus, the medieval chapter ends "The battles ofCrécyandAgincourtwould scarcely have been won had they been fought by soldiers from a destitute nation."
Each chapter is opened with a monochrome illustration from its period, with a detailed caption. There are 32 pages of colour plates illustrating famous cookery writers such asRobert Mayand stages ofEnglish cuisinesuch as "The 1950s kitchen".
The book begins with a short introduction, in which Dickson Wright states that her "great passions" include food and history, so that she "always knew" she would come to write the book.She adds that another passion is field sports, "providing food and controlling pests and vermin", and that this runs like a "silver thread" through the book.
Dickson Wright begins around 1150 in the reign of KingHenry IIandEleanor of Aquitaine, a time of relative peace and wealth. The diet she describes included rabbit, deer, carp farmed in ponds, eels, salmon, poultry, sheep, cattle, cheese, pigs, bread, onions, parsnips, carrots, and beans, washed down with wine and beer. 
Spices such as pepper, cinnamon, and ginger were costly, and not used to try to make rotten meat acceptable; Dickson Wright suggests they more likely masked the salt used to preserve food. The 14th centuryThe Forme of Curyoften uses sugar alongside spices. Recipes were complex; many dishes were served in pastry. Each kind of meat was served with spices thought appropriate to it: for example, venison was eaten with sugar and cinnamon.
Dickson Wright describes in detail the diet and lifestyle of theTudorKings; under the influence ofCatherine of Aragon,Henry VIIIdrank Spanishsherry, importedoranges, and planted salad gardens. Enormous confections were made of marzipan. Commoners too might eat sea and freshwater fish, or beef, though bacon, according to Andrew Boorde in 1542 was "good for carters and plowmen".With the separation of theChurch of Englandfrom theChurch of Rome, religiousfastingwas reduced, and the fasting rules were relaxed in the time ofElizabeth I, so that eggs, cheese, and milk were allowed even on fast days. Pastry developed from 'coffin' cases meant only to hold the food inside during cooking and serving; now pies and pasties of all kinds were available to travellers. Milk and cream were used in desserts such asjunketsandsyllabubs. A treat might consist of buns made with eggs, raisins, and spices. 
In 1604,Elinor Fettiplace compiled aReceipt Book; she had married into an ancient aristocratic family – a Fettiplace fought at theBattle of Hastingsin 1066; at least 20 people ate at her table every day. She lists several recipes for bitter Seville oranges. Food is strongly seasonal; she pickles buds, vegetables, and fruits in season, and makes a spiced fruit cake for 100 people for a harvest or other feast. My Lord of Devonshire's Pudding is made of sliced white bread, dates, raisins, marrow or butter, cream, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar—a recipe that Dickson Wright specially likes.
James Ibrought a new approach to English food in theStuart era, introducing Scottish customs of boiling puddings in a cloth, cold-smoking fish, and baking biscuits such as shortbread.Gervase Markham's 1615The English Huswifecalls for ingredients as varied as asparagus, capers, olives, lemons, and spinach. Robert May's 1660The Accomplisht Cookis based on his time in Paris, followed by being cook to theGrocer's Companyand to theStar Chamber, providing elaborate feasts. He gives instructions for fattening up wild birds likegodwitsby force-feeding. He offers multiple recipes forsturgeon, at that time common in England's rivers.
TheEast India Companyincreased foreign trade in the 17th century, bringing spices, pepper, cloves, mace, nutmeg, and tea from the East. Meanwhile,bananasappeared from Bermuda. The Duke of York told the diarist Samuel Pepys that English seamen ate only "peas, pork, and boiled beef".The adventurerSir Kenelm Digby, alongside many activities at King James's court, in Italy, and in Spain, wrote a 1669 cookery book,The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Knight Opened. Many of the recipes are attributed to aristocratic connections; hisPan Cottois "as the Cardinals use in Rome".King James II's coronation banquet in 1685 presented some "1,500 dishes ranging frompuffinsto pistachio creams" inWestminster Hall.Gin, at first imported from Holland to accompanyWilliam of Orange'sGlorious Revolutionof 1688, was soon widely distilled; the resultant heavy drinking led to the1736 Gin Act.John Evelynpraised salads in his "pompous and verbose"1699 bookAceteria: A Discourse of Sallets. Theslave tradebroughtmolasses, rum, and sugar, and black domestic servants to England.
Roasting and baking became less laborious withGeorgian erainnovations in fireplace and oven design, approaching akitchen range; the poor prepared their pies and took them to the bakery to be cooked.Josiah Wedgwoodmade fine earthenware dinner services forGeorge IIIand the middle class.Teapotsdiversified;Thomas Twiningopened London's first tea-shop for ladies in 1717. InDundee,James Keiller made marmaladefrombitter Seville oranges. ParsonJames Woodfordedescribed sumptuous Georgian meals in his country parish.
The 18th century, with a literate audience, saw the birth of English cookery books for the general public: some 300 appeared in the century.Hannah Glasse'sThe Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easycame out in 1746 and went through 17 editions by 1800. Dickson Wright comments that the text is clear and simple, and the recipes, "a delight to follow", always work.Glasse introduces recipes forcurry, and forice cream.
In the 19th century,Marie-Antoine Carême, who had worked for the Czar of Russia, introduced the modern system of separate soup, fish, meat, and dessert coursesà la russe.Alexis Soyerintroduced elegant and complexFrench cuisinefor the wealthy, and catered for the 1851Great Exhibition, feeding 1000 people a day.Charles Dickens's 1843A Christmas Caroldescribes a recognisably modernChristmas dinnerwith goose or turkey,Christmas pudding, oranges, chestnuts, andpunch.
Soyer set up soup kitchens in Dublin during theGreat Famine of Ireland, and improved hospital catering withFlorence Nightingalein theCrimean War. Street food in Victorian England grew to includefish and chips, tripe, whelks, and pea soup. Tea became cheap, joining white bread in the diet of the poor, who suffered widely fromrickets, caused by vitamin D deficiency. New foods such as mangoes, pineapples, and rhubarb became available to the middle classes. Curry arrived fromBritish India, along with Indian restaurants.
Dickson Wright characterises theEdwardian erawith the overindulged "Tum Tum", aliasKing Edward VII, who enjoyed sailing, horses, food, and mistresses. She explains Edwardian country house weekends, with soup,game pies,jellies,trifles, shooting, and bed-hopping.Richard D'Oyly Cartestagedoperettasand founded theSavoy Hotelin 1889, introducing the rich tohaute cuisine, cooked simply.George Orwell's 1937The Road to Wigan Pierdescribes the food of the poor, who lived on "white bread and margarine, corned beef, sugared tea and potatoes."TheSecond World War, withrationingand austerity, was a time when many popular foods like bananas and chocolate could not be had; equally, people were forced to eat unfamiliar foods, such asspam, dried egg, and whale meat. Ironically, the population was healthier than ever before, as rationing provided enough for the poorest. Postwar,Fanny Cradockand her husband Johnnie presentedcookery as television entertainment.
After the war, many suggestions for a "perfect meal" were made, varying wildly from pizza to curry, chow mein orroast beef and Yorkshire pudding. The 1970s favoured prawn cocktail, cheese fondue, and Black Forest gateau; the 1990s "embraced sushi".Cookery writers fromElizabeth DavidtoDelia Smithencouraged people to enjoy simple, well-cooked ingredients.Henrietta Greenchampioned local produce andfarmers' markets.
The book ends with an appendix of historical recipes; Dickson Wright lists the ingredients and recipes in modern terms for 18 dishes, from the 13th century spiced wine custard, to the 16th century capon with orange sauce, the 18th century mackerel with fennel and mint, and the 19th century macaroni à la Reine. There is a bibliography and an index.
Several reviewers broadly agreed thatA History of English Foodwas informative, witty, and entertaining,though others found it unsystematic and snobbish.
It was described by Christopher Hirst inThe Independentas "surely destined for classic status". The reviewer remarked Dickson Wright's mention of badger hams in the West Country pubs of her childhood, and the nine sorts oftripeinDewsburymarket, "including penis and udder".
Jane Shilling, writing inThe Daily Telegraph, calls the book "magnificently eccentric and robustly informative", admitting that it is mainly digression, "from Victorian fruit-growing viaRudyard Kipling's poem 'The Glory of the Garden' to her theory that Kipling was never madePoet LaureatebecauseQueen Victoriaobjected to his lines about 'the Widow at Windsor/With a hairy gold crown on 'er 'ead'".Shilling finds this "an impressive tour" from a well-stocked mind.She describes Dickson Wright's approach as "a firmly chronological line across the landscape of culinary history, pausing at intervals to examine objects of interest."She agrees that the book is "opinionated and wildly idiosyncratic", in the tradition of W.N.W. Fowler's "gin-soaked"Countryman's Cookingand Rupert Croft-Cooke'sEnglish Cooking: A New Approach.The book gives, Shilling asserts, a "glorious" impression of English cuisine's long and continuous development since the Middle Ages.The result is in her view "engaging, funny and admirably entertaining."
Fay Maschler, writing inThe Spectator, calls the book a "less stringent, more capricious, generously illustrated account", giving the reader "a magical sense of almost having been there".For her, the book works because of Dickson Wright's evident enthusiasm for food and farming, especially animals.She comments that while the book presents little that is genuinely surprising, it is rich in interesting details; its weakness is an excess of unsupported "suppositions and fancies."In Maschler's view, Dickson Wright brings the book to life when she speaks from personal experience to compare "the taste ofswan,moorhenandrook",or writes of her delight in "the unexpectedly white meat ofbeavertail",or recalls from her childhood "when localsturgeonwere for sale, rough boys sold liveeelsalongHammersmith Mall".
David Evans, reviewing the book forThe Independent, calls it "deliciously rich and moreish", commenting that "what might have been a dry academic exercise is enlivened by her eccentric, opinionated interjections (if you can ignore the slightly snobbish tone)." Evans adds that Dickson Wright gives the impression of having tried everything; she foundsealmeat "disgusting".
Rachel Cooke, reviewingA History of English FoodforThe Guardian, writes that she feels "pretty cross. All of the information in this book can be found elsewhere, and much better done, too." She compares the book unfavourably with Kate Colquhoun's 2008Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its CookingandDorothy Hartley's 1954 "classic"Food in England. Cooke argues that Dickson Wright is "as particular as she is greedy", and "gruesomely snobbish", out of touch with "other people", preferring therefore the overindulgentGeorgianswho could afford a suitable retinue of servants.
British Food in Americadescribes the book as "a stinker", substituting "speculation and snobbish reminiscence for any modicum of research or analysis."