The hundreds of recipes in Maxime de la Falaise's delight-ful book triumphantly attest to the virtues of Anglo-Saxon gastronomy. Rich with the historical sense of taste, this book allows you to cook the rudiments of a medieval royal banquet, an Elizabethan nursery breakfast, or an eighteenth-century tavern lunch. The recipes are divided into five chronological sections, each preceded by an introduction recounting the fashions and the changes in the food and drink of the period; together they provide an overview of the evolution of English cookery. The earliest recipes, dating from the thirteenth century, are presented in their original language ("Take faire Mutton that hath ben roste . . .") as well as in a modern translation, and all measures and quantities have been updated throughout. Many of the dishes are quite simple to make; others are, quite literally, fit for a king. All together they constitute a delectable, sensual cele-bration of the development of English cuisine.

A Book of English Food is an elegant compendium of brilliant recipes adapted from the cookery books of the 1920s and 1930s by Arabella Boxer, with beautiful new illustrations by Cressida Bell. Arabella Boxer's Book of English Food describes the delicious dishes - and the social conditions in which they were prepared, cooked and eaten - in the short span between the two World Wars when English cooking suddenly blossomed. The food in these wonderful recipes comes from the great country houses, where little had changed since Victorian times, the large houses in London and the South, where fashionable hostesses vied with each other to entertain the most distinguished guests at their tables, and less grand establishments, like those in Bloomsbury where the painters and writers of the day contrived to lead cultured and civilised lives on little money. Containing 200 recipes, drawn from cookery books, magazines of the period, family sources or from talking to survivors who still remember those days, A Book of English Food is a fascinating glimpse into another world, and a celebration of English cooking at its finest. 'That rare thing, a cookery book with an argument: viz, that English cookery was once both good and independent of the cuisines of her neighbours . . . a rollicking good read' Observer 'I still find the calm elegance of her writing an inspiration' Nigel Slater 'A treasury of social gossip . . . immensely enjoyable and useful' Spectator 'A captivating exploration and celebration of the flowering of English cooking in the 1920s and 30s' Financial Times 'I recommend it, not only for its excellent food but also for the superb introductions and details of social history in the great houses with their shimmering hostesses' Evening Standard Arabella Boxer was born in 1934 and educated in the UK, Paris and Rome. She has written for the Sunday Times magazine and the Telegraph magazine and was Food Writer for Vogue from 1966 to 1968 and 1975 to 1991. She was awarded the Glenfiddich Cookery Writer of the Year Award in 1975 and 1978, a Glenfiddich Special Award in 1992 and won the 1991 André Simon Award and the 1992 Michael Smith Macallan Award for fine writing about British food. Arabella Boxer is the author of a number of cookery books, including First Slice Your Cookbook, Arabella Boxer's Garden Cookbook, Mediterranean Cookbook, The Sunday Times Complete Cookbook and A Visual Feast (with Tessa Traeger). A founding member of the Guild of Food Writers, she lives in London.

Informative, richly detailed, and entertaining, this book portrays daily life in England in 1700–1800, embracing all levels of society—from the aristocracy to the very poor—to describe a nation grappling with modernity. When did Western life begin to strongly resemble our modern world? Despite the tremendous evolution of society and technology in the last 50 years, surprisingly, many aspects of life in the 21st century in the United States directly date back to the 18th century across the Atlantic. Daily Life in Eighteenth-Century England covers specific topics that affect nearly everyone living in England in the 18th century: the government (including law and order); race, class, and gender; work and wages; religion; the family; housing; clothing; and food. It also describes aspects of life that were of greater relevance to some than others, such as entertainment, the city of London, the provinces and beyond, travel and tourism, education, health and hygiene, and science and technology. The book conveys what life was like for the common people in England in the years 1700–1800 through chapters that describe the state of society at the beginning of the century, delineate both change and continuity by the century's end, and identify which segments of society were impacted most by what changes—for example, improvements to roads, a key change in marriage laws, the steam engine, and the booming textile industry. Students and general readers alike will find the content interesting and the additional features—such as appendices, a chronology of major events, and tables of information on comparative incomes and costs of representative items—helpful in research or learning.

(Prospect Books 1994)