Revolting Recipes from History Book Review
Title: | Revolting Recipes From History | |
Author: | Seren Charrington-Hollins | |
Published: | June 7, 2022, Pen and Sword | |
No. of Pages: | 208 | |
Cover Price: | $39.95 Hardcover, $19.99 Kindle |
Revolting Recipes From History researched and written by Seren Charrington-Hollins, consists of several essays about food throughout history. The chapters cover foods such as canned fish (some poisoned because in the past they didn’t have the canning techniques quite perfect, so people died), offal (including tongues, kidneys, cow’s udders, tripe, feet, trotters, pig’s ears, and other tempting treats), Blood, frogs, insects, poison seafood, and other delicacies. Expecting recipes that could be used at Halloween, it was surprising to find that this was essentially a history book on foods served through the ages, especially in Britain. That doesn’t make this a bad book; rather it is actually quite fascinating. The essays are well-written and well-researched. However, for anyone expecting a cookbook, there may be some disappointment, since there are few recipes. Unlike most cookbooks, dieters will not be tempted to eat anything described in the text.
There are no photographs, which, I suppose is good because none of the dishes mentioned would be mouthwatering or even palatable. There are no recipes that anyone would actually want to prepare (unless you want to eat P*nis stew or Entrecote à la Bordelaise – a fancy French name for rat with a fancy sauce).
Those of us who love food and consider ourselves foodies, will enjoy reading the essays and learning everything we can about food from the past. We will be very thankful that we don’t have to eat any of the dishes described in the essays. It’s fun, though, to learn so much (the one with the most knowledge wins, of course). If you are interested in food, you’ll want to pick up this interesting history book.
Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.
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