This important book is a ground breaking work on the subject of British food. It has been thought that civilisation in Britain, which stems from farming, food and cookery all began with the Romans. But it has now been discovered that thriving communities possessing a long history with their own ritual, laws, culture and food, inhabited Britain long before that time. Food is the fundamental spur to action, innovation, exploration and creativity in humankind. This book explores the roots of our national existence through the cultivation of its land, the production and cooking of its food, revealing the moulding force of climate and the constant invention in technology that produced the food through the centuries. It will end in the present but will also consider the ominous, immediate future with the combined threat of global warming and Peak Oil. It is a breath-taking attempt to trace the changes to and influences on food in Britain from the earliest dawning of time when England became an island, through the Roman occupation, the Plague years, the Industrial Revolution, the rise of Capitalism to the present day. There has been a recent wave of interest in food culture and history and Colin Spencer's masterful, readable account of our culinary history is a celebrated contribution to the genre. There has never been such an exciting, broad-scoped history of the food of these islands. It should remind us all of our rich past and the gastronomic importance of British cuisine.

About the author:
Colin Spencer is one of the country's leading food historians but his prolific output has not been limited to this field alone. He has written nine novels, a dozen cookery books, as well as writing for television and film. For thirteen years he was food columnist for The Guardian. His previous book for Grub Street was the award-winning, British Food An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History. Colin Spencer lives in Seaford, East Sussex.

Pages: 320

Dimensions: 189 x 246 x 28 mm

Publication Date: 01-07-2010

Bind: paperback

Pages: 384

Dimensions: 170 x 240 x 33 mm

Publication Date: 01-09-2010

Pages: 288

Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 19-06-2011

There is something very appealing about the shiny deep purple of the aubergines mostly commonly seen in our supermarkets and markets. But not all aubergines are purplish black and although the aubergine has come to epitomise Mediterranean cooking it is in fact an Asian immigrant from China. So depending on where you travel you can find aubergines in varying shapes, sizes and hues. They may be lilac verging on pink, green tinged or pure ivory (hence their American name, eggplant) plain, mottled or streaked. Some grow long and thin, others are small and perfectly round. As numerous as its possible guises are the methods of cooking the aubergine. You can stew it in the French and Italian style, slice it and fry it, halve it and grill it or bake it whole. So if your repertoire of aubergine recipes is limited to ratatouille or moussaka Nina Kehayan will introduce you to 150 recipes from every corner of the world - from the Near East to the Far East, from South America to Russia and beyond. This book is a unique encyclopaedic guide to the world's aubergine recipes as well as the tale of the author, her family's almost sentimental passion for them and their journey over generations from Russia to Provence. Essentially Aubergines" was published originally to a truly impressive collection of enthusiastic reviews and is now available again in paperback."

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 148 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 01-08-2010

Aphrodisiacs take their name from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. They have been used to stimulate desire for millennia, concocted from spices, herbs, fruit and flowers by poets, lovers, Queens and warriors from every corner of the globe.\nAuthors Julie and Matthew Bruton-Seal, experiences professional herbalists, have brought together their recipes for erotic food, sensual oils and potions, seductive scents and desirous drinks; all beautifully photographed.

Publication Date: 01-02-2012

Born next-door to a pub in 1940, Frank Priestley went on to spend a life steeped in brewing, drinking and the enjoyment of beer. From a young apprentice, he worked his way up to become a master brewer at the famous Castle Eden brewery. Frank shares with the reader his fascination for the way brewing is done, and he weaves in anecdotes about his diverse colleagues, his skilled working life and the unique beers that the individual breweries produced. His tale covers the years from 1959 to 1979 and he left when the traditional brewing industry in Britain reached one of its lowest ebbs. But Frank is now delighted to see the revival of interest in good beer and he ends the book with a brief round-up of some of the best pubs in England where he has had the pleasure of drinking a pint. His story is informative, lively and heart-warming.

A collection of recipes for food from field, woodland, water and hedgerow.

Pages: 192

Dimensions: 220 mm

Publication Date: 01-06-2009

Everyone knows and loves the traditional pumpkin ̶ plump and golden carved into a Halloween lantern ̶ and perhaps you’ve prepared a pumpkin pie or a thick pumpkin soup but in the last few years other more interesting and varied varieties such as patty pans, kabocha, butternut, acorn and spaghetti squashes have become available from famer’s markets and allotment gardeners.
For all those cooks who have wondered what to do with these glorious new vegetables, or those who simply want some inspirational ideas for the good old pumpkin or what to do with that glut of courgettes; here are the recipes. From Pumpkin and White Bean Soup to Minted Courgette Soup, from Squash Couscous to Courgette Bread, from Spicy Pumpkin, Rum and Raisin Ice Cream to Pumpkin wine, there are over 100 easy-to-prepare dishes such as stews, pasta sauces, pickles, relishes, cakes, breads, quiches, biscuits and jams, to take you through the entire year.
For those enthusiasts who like to grow their own produce there are cultivation instructions and seed sources as well as advice on picking, storing and a guide to varieties

Bind: paperback

Pages: 176

Dimensions: 189 x 246 mm

Publication Date: 22-07-2013

This charming little book was first published in 1956 when people in England were still enduring post-war restrictions on both travelling and eating. As Lesley Blanch says in her introduction to a later edition 'benign fate whisked me elsewhere to follow less restricted ways, travelling widely and eating wildly'. She said: 'I don't belong in England, I don't belong anywhere, it is rather restful - I have met everybody and known nobody'. Seductive and piquant like its author, this is 'an appetizer for enthusiastic beginners' rather than a basic cookbook. Lesley Blanch's gastronomic world tour includes eighty recipes each prefaced by an account of where they were first tasted, or with some amusing anecdote.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 200

Dimensions: 129 x 198 mm

Publication Date: 30-10-2012