Food by Clarissa Dickson Wright

A 20TH CENTURY ANTHOLOGY

This book is nothing less than you would expect from Clarissa Dickson Wright. A thigh slapping good read. This delicious compendium of writing on food is taken from a broad sweep across the kitchen floor of culinary literature.

Matched with a razor sharp brain, trained as a barrister and a love of the written word, the formula could hardly fail. Dickson Wright's passion for food sings out from every page. Her knowledge of culinary literature is unrivalled: she does after all own the Cook's Bookshop in Edinburgh. The prose she has chosen is pithy and wide-ranging from Escoffier to the Monty Python Ode to Spam, the sublime to the ridiculous. The author, in her unmistakable and unforgiving style, introduces each extract. There are no hostages here.

The book is arranged alphabetically and touches on subjects such as aphrodisia. Norman Douglas, a great friend of Elizabeth David, wrote a book on aphrodisia, claiming that crabs did the trick. Apparently crab apples have the same properties, so that is what they are all doing in our English country gardens. Look up the entry for nasty and you will find that margarine was officially known as thus in 1887, previously being called butterine. You will also discover some rather unsavoury facts about its manufacture.

For fear of upsetting herbivores, you may or may not want to read Becoming your own best butcher and the excerpt on Rabbit and other fluffy game found in holes. In shortened form ‘Choose your bunny. Take him or her aside and ask gently, "Have you ever considered a career in catering supply, Bunny!" While Bunny considers a clever reply, stuff him/her in the toaster/oven.'

It is a salutary thought to read the basic rations per person during the 2nd World War in the extract from Margaret Patten's Cooking for Victory. How lucky we are to be able to choose and cook what we please.

All this and much more, Food will make you laugh or cry but whichever it is, Clarissa Dickson Wright's book will be a constant companion. However, a paperback may not have the longevity that this book deserves. Fortunately, it is still possible to buy this in hardback.

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*****

Publication Details:
320 pages. £14.99
ISBN 0091878217. Published by Ebury Press
2000

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