Taste: The Story of Britain through Its Cooking

By Kate Colquhoun

From the Iron Age to the Industrial Revolution, the Romans to the Regency, few things have mirrored society or been affected by its upheavals as much as the food we eat and the way we prepare it. In this involving history of the British people, Kate Colquhoun celebrates every aspect of our cuisine from Anglo-Saxon feasts and Tudor banquets, through the skinning of eels and the invention of ice cream, to Dickensian dinner-party excess and the growth of frozen food. Taste tells a story as rich and diverse as a five-course dinner.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: May 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781408834084

Kate Colquhoun

Kate Colquhoun lives in west London and is a keen gardener. ‘A Thing in Disguise’ is her first book.

Reviews for Taste

[wealhtheowwylfing · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An absolutely fantastic history of food in England, beginning in the Stone Age up through the ages as the British learned to cook and refine ingredients.

[bostonian71 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Comprehensive look at British history through its food. This does a good job of explaining how different events and societal influences affected what food was available, and has plenty of details and footnotes. The one major flaw is that there is so much information that I sometimes found it hard to keep track of which foods were popular when.

[simchaboston · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Comprehensive look at British history through its food. This does a good job of explaining how different events and societal influences affected what food was available, and has plenty of details and footnotes. The one major flaw is that there is so much information that I sometimes found it hard to keep track of which foods were popular when.