Cooking for the clergy

With Covid-19 raging through nearly every country in the world right now, it would probably be appropriate for me to devote a post to ‘pandemic literature’ (perhaps Daniel Defoe’s Journal of the Plague Year [1722] or Albert Camus’ The Plague [1947]). However, I suspect that, if food is referenced, it is far from tasty, and I also think that, at times like this, we might need to seek solace in a different type of literature. Continue reading “Cooking for the clergy”

Royal Celebrations

Whilst I’m no fervent royalist, some of my fondest memories as a child are of royal occasions. I was seven on the celebration of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, and I remember the party that took place in the street we lived on in Bristol. The children – and possibly the adults too – dressed in red, white and blue, and my best friend Claire and I wore red, white and blue striped ribbons in our hair. There was music and games, and when evening fell the children were packed off to bed whilst the adults continued partying and dancing in the street until the early hours of the morning. Continue reading “Royal Celebrations”

Eating with a French family

As I noted in a previous post – on Virginia Woolf’s To the lighthouse  – French food is very close to my heart (and stomach!). But whilst I have spent many enjoyable an hour in cafes, bistros and restaurants, some of my most vivid and long-lasting impressions of French food were nurtured in the home.  Continue reading “Eating with a French family”

Food in the historical novel

Since I started this blog more than five years ago, I’ve discovered how much literature can tell us about the food preferences and practices of a particular society or culture. Continue reading “Food in the historical novel”