Hungry Empire - Softcover

Collingham, Lizzie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099586959 ISBN 13: 9780099586951

Publisher: VINTAGE, 2018

Synopsis

''A wholly pleasing book, which offers a tasty side dish to anyone exploring the narrative history of the British Empire'' Max Hastings, Sunday Times

WINNER OF THE GUILD OF FOOD WRITERS BOOK AWARD 2018

The glamorous daughter of an African chief shares a pineapple with a slave trader… Surveyors in British Columbia eat tinned Australian rabbit… Diamond prospectors in Guyana prepare an iguana curry…

In twenty meals The Hungry Empire tells the story of how the British created a global network of commerce and trade in foodstuffs that moved people and plants from one continent to another, reshaping landscapes and culinary tastes. The Empire allowed Britain to harness the globe’s edible resources from cod fish and salt beef to spices, tea and sugar.

Lizzie Collingham takes us on a wide-ranging culinary journey, revealing how virtually every meal we eat still contains a taste of empire.

About this title

About the Author

Lizzie Collingham taught History at Warwick University and was a Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge before becoming an independent historian. Her books include Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors and The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food. She is currently an Associate Fellow of Warwick University and the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge. She recently completed a project researching the history of the kitchens of the Indian President's palace and regularly lectures on a gastronomic tour of Kerala. She works in a garden shed near Cambridge.

Review

"An energetic and refreshing account of a little considered aspect of British history ... Collingham skillfully provides a full account of complex, even chaotic international connections ... It's hard to think of a more ingenious way of treating imperial history... The range is dazzling... The Hungry Empire, it should be clear, is supported by meticulous historical research... This book's treatment of food in the empire is innovative and exciting; to bring such vibrancy to an old topic is a remarkable achievement" -- Kwasi Kwarteng * Guardian * "Joyously delicious...In her original and supremely captivating book, [Collingham] has cleverly recreated the fine details of some 20 meals, consumed for four and a half centuries in a variety of homes and ships and tented encampments far from the motherland...In British terms, she is Henry Mayhew and Mass-Observation rolled into one-a stellar observer of the day-to-day and the mundane, a social historian of extraordinary talent" * New York Times Book Review * "One of the charms of this book is that Collingham includes recipes and menus from many periods and colonies ... This is a wholly pleasing book, which offers a tasty side dish to anyone exploring the narrative history of the British Empire ... it is droll to be reminded how many sought merely a square meal." -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times * "Lizzie Collingham's fascinating new book, The Hungry Empire, demonstrates that a cup of tea is never just a cup of tea - it is a history of trade, exchange, land-grab, agricultural innovation and economic change... This is a marvellously wide-ranging and readable book, stuffed with engaging details and startling connections" -- Lucy Lethbridge * Financial Times * "Revelatory ... The Hungry Empire is an original and thought-provoking book and for all the shocking accounts of the consequences of British appetites, a highly entertaining one." -- Daisy Goodwin * The Times *

Edition details

• Publisher: VINTAGE
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0099586959
• ISBN 13: 9780099586951
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 367