Food in England: A Complete Guide to the Food That Makes Us Who We are

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But at the time of its original publication, (as war-time rationing was coming to an end in Britain), it served to make readers aware of British food and many links to the past. Reading any part of "Le Menagier de Paris" (if you're here you should know this title) will give a similar feeling, albeit of 600 years before Food in England was conceived. A serviceable English ‘tea’ may be made with blackthorn for bulk, and sage, lemon balm, woodruff (the plant), and black-currant leaves for flavour. It is still alive in the pancakes we eat with lemons for Shrove Tuesday or the mincemeat and puddings of Christmas.

In her view, this had a far bigger impact on the quality of food eaten than whether you were rich or poor. But once in a while she really lets go; under the heading "Hedgehog," she gets so emotional she has to put a sentence in all-italics: "[H:]edgehogs are completely harmless, and do an enormous amount of good in the fields and gardens by devouring snails and slugs. The cultural historian Panikos Panayi describes the book as a tour de force, seminal, and richly illustrated; and he notes that Food in England is partly a recipe book, partly a history.

Recipe for 18th century Coconut Bread and for Famine Bread (from Markham, ingredients including Sarrasins corne , or Saracen's Corn). But whether mad or not, Hartley "approaches the cuisine of the past with the humour and sharpness of a journalist. She describes some delicious puddings, cakes and breads, including an exotic violet flower ice cream, an eighteenth century coconut bread and Yorkshire teacakes. Elevenses, for example, were far better in the country than in towns: a "big slice of solid cake" as against some dull "tea and biscuits" in the city. It really does conjure up a whole lost world: not just because of the foods which have fallen out of favour, like mutton or parsnip wine, but because the recipes pre-date a whole raft of exotic ingredients like aubergine and yoghurt.

It shouldn't be read like a cookbook, a history book, or an ethnographic essay because it is none of these things, and all of these things at the same time.

A recent BBC Four documentary on Hartley's life and work presented by Lucy Worsley cast some light on the eccentric pleasures of Food in England, which has been in print continuously for 58 years.

Finally ‘Food in England’ came to fruition in the home she inherited from her mother in the Welsh village of Fron, outside Llangollen. pages will keep anyone busy; presenting a massive stepping stone for those interested in the history of food.It's a sharp and funny compendium of cooking tips and treats, from medieval times to the modern day . The programme tells the story of the woman behind the ultimate book on the history of cooking, ‘Food in England’ (Macdonald, 1954).

Dorothy Hartley's mother was from Froncysylltau, near Llangollen in North Wales, where the family owned quarries and property. She was prodigiously well informed on different English methods for making butter, for example, writing of how plunges, paddles, water wheels and dogs had all been used for churning. Thousands of these harmless little Furze-pigs are run over by motorists on the roadways at night; they do not bolt when frightened, but roll up, lie still, and are crushed to death.

In the original publishers cloth, the spine is slightly toned in places but the cloth and gilt remain bright.