By Ian Crofton
Pub Quercus
Price £ 9.99
This book contains a cornucopia of intriguing stories about the things we humans have put into our mouths from the earliest time to the present. Ian Crofton has chronological arranged an assortment of anecdotal tidbits about the culinary world. Putting a parade of food into historical perspective.
The book is a compendium of trivia, old wives tales, riddles, poems and ancient recipes from plethora of sources. Mix equal parts fascinating history, surprising etymology, add a generous dollop of humor and savor. You’ll never think of ketchup, French Fries, fish and chips, or toast in the same way.
The book does not just deal with unusual food stuffs, however there are description of bizarre and extravagant banquets, both real and fictional. The book contain numerous accounts of the origins of various dishes, from Chicken Marengo, Spanish Omelette and Nesselrode Pudding, to sandwiches, Sachertorte and Tournedos Rossini, Book is for all those food-lover who are ever eager to hear about new, strange and wonderful dishes. The great French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat savarin famously declared that the discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity than the discovery of new star.
Author Thackeray wrote a poem to curry, which he held to be “A dish for Emperors to feed upon’. Dean Mahomat was first to open curry house in England, namely the Hindoostance Coffe House in George Street, London. Although today Indian cuisine is associated above all with the fiery Flavour of chillies, prior to the arrival of the Portuguese this spice from the American was unknown in India, where hitherto the hottest ingredient introduced by the Portuguese to India include papayas, guavas and pineapples, all of which were enthusiastically embraced into Indian cuisine. They also introduced tomatoes and potatoes. Vindaloo, known today as one of the hottest of curries originated in the Portuguese colony of Goa. It owes its name and nature to the Portuguese dish called carne da vinha d’alhas, composed (as the name suggests) of meat, wine and garlic. Those items are also with the addition of spices and the substitution of vinegar for wine. The leading ingredients of vindaloo is also described as Portuguese karhi.
Do you know that Onions ward off Plague. It was noted the onion-seller appeared to be immune to the disease, do you know Guatama Buddha expounded upon the five benefits of porridge: it improves the digestion, quenches the thirst, suppresses hunger, deals with constipation and reduces wind.
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The French ward restaurant (which literally means ‘restoring’) had been applied since the 15th century to any food, cordial or medicine thought to restore health and vigour – specifically a fortifying meat broth. However it was not used of an establishment serving food until a certain Monsieur Boulanger, a seller of this broth, puts up a sign outside his premises in Paris with the dog Latin slogan, Venite adme, ros qui stomach Laboratus, et ego restaurabo vos (come to me, you with laboring stomachs, and I will restore you).
The first Fish and chip shop in England, Although Marranos – Jewish exiles from Portugal – had introduced fried fish to England in the 16th century. It was not until 1860 that Joseph Malin, Jewish from Eastern Europe, began to sell fried fish alongside chipped potatoes at his establishment in London’s East End. Today, there are fewer than 9000 chippies in Britain, but at the beginning of the 21st century they were still selling some 250 million meals a year.
Chop suey is really an American dish, not known in china. The traditional Cantonese peasant dish of shap sui, meaning ‘mixed bits’ was brought to California in the 19th century by in dentured labourers from Southern China.
Neapolitan diplomat Francesco Caraccialo famously observed that In England there are sixty different religious, and only one sauce.
The dancer Isadora Duncan had told an interviewer, “I would rather live in Russia on black bread and vodka than in the United States at the best hotels, American knows nothing of Food, love or art.
The materials Crofton reference is vast and diverse: The Bible, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Rolling Stone Magazines, Brillat – Savarin’s Physiology of Taste, James Joyce’s Ulysses and the first English printed cookbook circa 1600 called A Noble Book of Cookery.
Brilliantly weaves together the history and culture of food. The Perfect book for any intellectual foodies.
The book is excellent, fascinating read from beginning to end with rich, idiosyncratic stories you can relish.
