In my last post I discussed, with reference to Samuel Richardson’s 1740 novel, Pamela, the way food is frequently used as an indicator of social status in literature. Continue reading “Game for the Gentry”
Food and Social Status
From the groaning tables of King Arthur’s court in the fourteenth century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight through to Mrs Portman’s pea soup in Thackeray’s short story, “A Little Dinner at Timmins” , food has been used by writers as an indicator of wealth and social status. Continue reading “Food and Social Status”
Bread
It seems strange that it’s taken me a year of blogging – and 800 years or so of English literature – to write about bread when it is such a staple food. In the Bible story of Adam and Eve, the first human beings, God punishes Adam with hard work, saying, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground” (Genesis 3: 19). Bread, the most basic of foodstuffs, will only be earned through back-breaking labour.
A Christmas Interlude
As Christmas approaches, I thought it would be fitting to take a break from my chronological journey through literature and come up with something a little festive. Obviously Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843) has the Christmas meal par excellence, but with the school term having only ended on Friday I don’t think I really have time to roast a goose or make a plum pudding in order to replicate the meal enjoyed by Bob Cratchit and his family. Continue reading “A Christmas Interlude”