YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

One of the things I have missed most about the enforced time at home during the pandemic is not being able to eat out. As a chef, hotel and restaurant inspector and food critic, for the last 25 years or so I have been in the habit of eating out as much as five times per week.

My expanding waistline, exacerbated by lockdown, is evidence of the fact that food is, and always has been, at the very top of my agenda.

With an equal passion for literature, it comes as no surprise that, hindered in my constant pursuit of the next tasty morsel, the next best thing is to read about it!

Apart from a keen interest in what I put into my own mouth, I am always interested in what others choose to eat. I believe our food choices say much about how we lead our lives, and what we value most, which has in turn influenced my choice of bedtime reading. As the famous 18^th century epicure and gastronome Brillat Savarin said:

‘Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are’.

Here is a selection of books I have enjoyed reading over the last few months.

Food with the Famous, Jane Grigson 

This cookery book is one of my all-time favourite foodie books, by one of my favourite authors. A great source of inspiration for themed meals, it is packed full of recipes inspired by famous people; diarist John Evelyn, Jane Austen, Alexander Dumas, Emile Zola, painter Claude Monet, plus Thomas Jefferson and the Reverend Sidney Smith.

Eggs or Anarchy: The remarkable story of the man tasked with the impossible: to feed a nation at war, William Sitwell

My enjoyment of this book came as something of a surprise. I had of course heard of Lord Woolton; to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the end of WW2 I made his eponymous Woolton Pie. Not quite one of the highlights of my culinary career.

Sitwell reveals the heroic tale of how Lord Woolton, Minister for Food, really fed Britain, in fulfilling promise to the nation that there would be food on the shelves each week, and how he succeeds against all the odds.

Scoff: A History of Food and Class in Britain, Pen Vogler

In this fascinating social history, Pen Vogler examines the origins of our eating habits and reveals how they are laden with centuries of class prejudice.

Covering such topics as fish and chips, roast beef, avocados, tripe, fish knives and the origins of breakfast, Scoff reveals how we have become experts at using eating habits to make judgements about social background.
Bringing together evidence from cookbooks, literature, artworks and social records from 1066 to the present day, Vogler unravels the aspirations and prejudices of the people who have shaped our eating habits.

Asterix and The Banquet: Album 5,  René Goscinny, Albert Uderzo 

Although a comic book, I could not resist acquiring this. Gaul, what we now know as France, has always been famous for its food and drink. In this tale, on a bet with the Romans, Asterix and Obelix travel round collecting local delicacies and begin their journey home with all sorts of goodies. First, however, they need to outsmart the thieves Villanus and Unscrupulous.

British Regional Food: A cook's tour of the best produce in Britain and Ireland, Mark Hix

Hix tours Britain to re-discover forgotten, traditional regional dishes. Organised by region, each chapter includes fascinating information and anecdotes about the traditions behind some of our favourite meals and indigenous ingredients. The book also provides regional recipes and details of artisan food producers working to revive all that is best in British food; rare breeds and forgotten varieties of fruit and vegetables whose quality rivals that of our neighbours across the Channel.

The Course of History: Ten Meals That Changed the World, Struan Stevens

Many decisions which have had enormous historical consequences have been made over the dinner table, often influenced by an abundance of food and wine. During my time as chef to the British Ambassador to the UN I was witness to this; we could always tell when something of importance was about to happen by who came to dine at the embassy residence.

This book explores the personalities, the issues and the food which has helped to shape the course of history. The inclusion of actual recipes makes this a real treasure chest, with meals a dinner attended by George Washington which sowed the seeds of the American Revolution; a meeting between Richard Nixon and Mao Tse-Tung in Beijing; and in Teheran, where Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt met to hammer out their plan to defeat Hitler.

Menus that Made History: Over 2000 years of menus from Ancient Egyptian food for the afterlife to Elvis Presley’s wedding breakfast, Alex Johnson

Foodies will delight in this entertaining collection of menus from around the world.
Each menu, from the typical food on offer in a 19^th century workhouse, to the extravagance of George IV's coronation dinner, provides an insight into specific events.

Included is the Hindenburg's last flight menu, meals on offer on board the Titanic and the 1963 FA Cup Final Dinner. Fiction also plays its part, with the inclusion of Ratty's picnic in The Wind in the Willows.

What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories, Laura Shapiro

In this irresistible account readers get to examine the plates, recipe books and shopping trolleys of these extraordinary women; revealing love and rage, desire and denial, need and pleasure.

We take a peek at the lives of Dorothy Wordsworth, cockney chef Rosa Lewis (who became a favourite of King Edward VII), Eleanor Roosevelt, Eva Braun, Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown's idea of “having it all”, and Barbara Pym's novels.

Stories from the Kitchen, Diana Secker Tesdell

This mouth-watering assortment of stories has food very much taking the starring role. From Dickens to Chekhov and Saki to Isak Dinesen, we are served choice titbits from famous novels: the triumphant boeuf en daube served in Virginia Woolf's’ To the Lighthouse’, Proust's ardent memories of watching the family cook prepare asparagus in Remembrance of Things Past, and Zola's extravagant 'cheese symphony' scene from The Belly of Paris.

The Greedy Queen: Eating with Victoria, Annie Gray

Food historian and BBC Kitchen Cabinet veteran, Annie Gray, celebrates Victoria's appetite, both for food, and for life.
In her early years Victoria lived on milk and bread under the ‘Kensington system’ and although in her old age she suffered constant indigestion Victoria continued to over-eat. From state balls and intimate breakfasts with the King of France, to cavorting at tea-parties with her children, her life is examined through what she ate, when and with whom. Insatiable and adventurous in her tastes, Queen Victoria was head of state during a time of revolution in how we ate.

Victory in the Kitchen: The Life of Churchill's Cook, Annie Gray

This culinary biography is the story of a woman who was not rich or famous. She was simply someone who worked hard and enjoyed her life. While Georgina Landemare saw herself as ordinary, the life she lived was anything but. She started her career as a nursemaid, and ended it cooking for Winston Churchill, for whom food was central, both as a personal pleasure and also as a diplomatic tool.

Dining with the Famous and Infamous (Dining with Destiny), Fiona Ross

This entertaining journey into the gastronomic peccadilloes of celebrities, stars, and notorious public figures, explores the preferences of the famous and infamous. Ross delves into the culinary secret lives of people like Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Sinatra, and Woody Allen, among many others. Recreate a 'Get Gassed' afternoon cocktail with Andy Warhol and Truman Capote; shake up the chocolate martini Liz Taylor and Rock Hudson invented on the set of ‘Giant’; and relive the Swinging Sixties with the hedonistic tastes of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones.

The Bloomsbury Cookbook: Recipes for Life, Love and Art, Jans Ondaatje Rolls

Part cookbook, part social and cultural history, this account, told in seven chapters, begins in the 1890s. The Bloomsbury Group fostered a creative way of living that encouraged debate and communication, often across the dining table. Gathered at these tables were many great early 20^th century figures in art, literature, and economics, including E. M. Forster, Roger Fry, J. M. Keynes, Lytton Strachey and Virginia Woolf. Each chapter comprises a series of tales, many of which are enhanced by original quotations and recipes, along with sketches, paintings, photographs, and handwritten notes.

The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard, John Birdsall

I have yet to read this but having been very involved in promoting British food through the James Beard Foundation while living in New York, I could not resist ordering it. The author looks beyond Beard’s public image to give voice to the gourmet’s complex gay life. He is credited with inventing ‘American’ cuisine, and this biography traces the emergence of personality and celebrity in American food while acknowledging Beard’s own need for love and his unapologetic pursuit of pleasure. He was the jovial bachelor uncle presiding over America’s kitchens for nearly four decades. I cannot wait to start turning the pages.