All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the Present
This stimulating book is a welcome addition to the new academic discipline of food history. The author does not merely describe the differences in the tastes in England and France. Instead, he takes on the more difficult task of trying to explain those national differences, and to understand ``how social groups develop standards of taste.'' His topics include ``Fasting, Gluttony, the Church and the State,'' ``Puritanism and Food,'' ``Male Chefs and Women Cooks,'' ``Women's Magazines,'' and a really masterly discussion of early English cookbooks and manuscripts. This book is well written, scholarly, and provocative; no reader interested in food history could ask for more. Joyce S. Toomre, Russian Research Ctr., Harvard Univ.Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.