Book description
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 Andr 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.
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 Andr 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.
