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.
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'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 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